Campag rear mech, how many speed?

hi, i have a campag veloce rear mech that i have had for a few years and wondering if there is a relatively easy way to tell how many speed it is? i am wanting to run friction shifters and a 10 speed cassette, so hoping its a 10 speed mech!

I tried a quick google but didnt see anything helpful....

cheers

Up to 2007 if the RD was 9 or 10 speed, it said so on the body.

By 2007 (when all groups were 10 speed) the B-screw had moved from below the derailleur mounting bolt, to below the pulley wheel cage pivot.

Also, if you want to use friction shift than then the number of speeds doesn’t really make much difference as the shifting is controlled by you, not the indexing.

Thanks SS, that's really helpful. So there are no markings, and therefore I will assume it's 10 speed....I have tried to upload a photo to show it

Yoav, I'm not so hot on gears but wanted to make sure the reach (between low and high cogs) would make it. I assume 9 speed and lower the mech doesn't have as much reach??

Cheers

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Yes, 10 speed: you can just see the teeth on the B-screw adjuster.

I couldn't say whether a 9 speed (or lower) mech would cope with a 10 speed cassette, but the more variables you can remove the better IME.

Don’t think the reach would be an issue. When setting up mechs you always have to set the limit screws to reduce the range of movement between the smallest and largest cog.

Maybe going off on a slight tangent here but if the shifter and rear cassette are matched surely the rear derailleur used is fairly irrelevant provided its able to cope with the full range of movement? Ie 9 speed Record shifter with 9 speed Record cassette will work ok with 8 speed Record derailleur?

Not necessarily. You are assuming that for a given cable movement at the shifter, the mech is going to move the same amount irrespective of the make and model but this is not always so.

For example;

On one of my bikes, I currently use a combination of 10 speed road Shimano shifters, 10 speed Shimano MTB cassette and a 9 speed Shimano MTB rear mech which all work together but if I tried it with a 10 speed MTB mech, it wouldn’t work as the Shimano altered the shift ratio between road and MTB groupsets when they moved to 10 speed.

I’m not familiar with Campagnolo shift ratios but as the OP wants to use friction shifting, it’s not really a problem.

When setting up mechs you always have to set the limit screws to reduce the range of movement between the smallest and largest cog.

Good point!

When Campag introduced 10 speed, the RD were redesigned and the existing 9 speed groups got the same makeover: the "new" 9 speed Ergo and RD aren't compatible with the "old" 9 speed ones.

And 10 and 11 speed Campag cassettes have variable sprocket spacing across the cassette, although I have no idea if that affects the RD or if the trickery is contained with the Ergo.

Either way, it is my experience that Campag will throw a (peanut butter) spanner into the works when you least expect it: the less you stray from the path, the fewer problems you'll encounter...

@Scilly.Suffolk Ever heard of a successful repair of a cracked rear derailleur? Got this 9speed Titanium unit that i'm loathed to throw out but i'm a bit nervous about using it on road. Chances of it breaking off?

Crack shown here.

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Crack above fixing bolt

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Anyone able to help? Would be seriously miffed at having to launch this out.

Sorry: I read it, but forgot to reply.

No, I don't know of any being repaired and am not sure how it could be.

Who could say if/when it will give up the ghost, but if/when it does it will likely make a mess of the hanger, probably launch itself into the rear wheel and could well introduce your face to the road.

Aye, that was my summation also. Initial thoughts were that as it wasn't cracked on the other side of the fixing bolt then it probably shouldn't be an issue. Not sure if this theory holds water though?!?

Might try removing fixing bolt, applying super strength bond to crack then gently close crack over with mole grips to help bond.

If anything, I'd be inclined to leave well alone: aluminium becomes weaker the more it's flexed.

And whatever stress it was that cracked it in the first place, has now been relieved.

Which is not the same as saying it's safe to ride as is, just that what you propose is unlikely to improve the situation.

It's a very pretty paperweight.

aluminium

What about Titanium?

It depends on the alloy (commercially pure Ti is quite poor in this regard), but fatigue strength is generally good relative to tensile strength and compares well with both steel and aluminium.