I'm buying myself a Record grouppo (although Chorus looks really appealing at this point)

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I built a 10 speed rig chorus mostly, some Record , carbon levers ,alloy crank set.I have an old 8 speed Athena group bike as well, which seems smoother than the tens speed. I had trouble with crank arm pullers ,as the first few thread are easy to damage with the bolts. But enjoy the bike,it seems the finish is not as good as groups from 4 -7 yrs ago, They had more luster . You will like the ergo levers.

just follow the instructions and the bike will come together. the BB/cassette lockring tool, you will need (for Chorus and above, the same tool does cassette and BB, Centaur and lower BBs require a different tool). it's no harder than Shimano to build up.

Thanks for the input. Very cool that BB and lockring tool are the same.

Any advice regarding the cable routing around the handlebars? I guess that's the most prominent difference between Ergo and STI.

the fatso

I have used single & double grooved bars , both work well . Buy thick padded bar tape . You may know this already Some people cross the shift cables between the bottom bracket and down tube bosses (old style shift lever mounts ) . So the cables don't chaff the paint on the head tube ( bow away from the frame to opposite lever ). Newer frames with cable bosses on the head tube don't have that problem.

Few things.

Campy will take some time to break in and smooth out...I would bet 50 miles or so.

Check out the ends of the campy cables (they think of everything).

I prefer double groove bars, use a strong tape (I use 3M Super 33 electrical tape) to hold the cables to the bar.

Before you wrap the bar and secure the cables put the bike in a trainer and make sure you like the position of the levers (and shift levers) from both the hoods and the drops of the bar, I can shift from damn near anywhere.

Before you install the levers make sure that you know where the 5mm bolt is to tighten them to the bar. It is under the hood, make sure that you have your cables in the lever before you put them on, this just makes things easier. (just the inner wire really).

When you wrap the bar you may notice a small rubber plug type thing that is on the bottom of each lever (part of the hood) seems to me everytime I wrap a bar the tape covers where this plug would go...now I always just cut this little bit of rubber off the hood before I even put it on the bike.



I will let you know if I think of any others.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

I love Campy stuff. Well made, reliable. Nice.

If you have built Shimano, you can build Campy - just get the correct BB tool - I believe it's the Park BB-5, can't exactly recall, though. Any chain whip will work for the cassette. The chain might be a bit tricky to install - time was you had to acquire a special tool to work on the campy chains, but I don't know if that is still the case. I run SRAM PC-89r chains right now.

There are a lot of little differences between dialing in a Campy bike and a Shimano bike. Fortunately, Campy includes thorough installation instructions with their products and also has it available on their website. I recommend you read the doc twice before starting work. If you follow their specifications exactly you will get good results. Chain length, chain assembly, and rear derailler installation and adjustment are three specific areas to watch. There are also some tricks to installing their bar-end shifters that you will want to keep in mind if you ever decide to use Campy on your tri bike.

Concerning tools you will need, just go to their website now, read their doc, and buy any tools you don't have.

Have fun!

-Marc

The ONLY tool that would not be in a standard decent home mechanics tool kit is the BB/Cassette tool, I would get the Campy one just cause.

You no longer need a special tool for the chain, I use a Park (the $45.00 one). But have used mini chain tools.

I am not sure I agree with the read the directions twice thing...only real trick to the Ergo lever install is that you want to push the THUMB lever down a few times to make sure that you are at the max cable lenth prior to installing the cables to the der.'s. Brakes are the same as any other but for the release in the lever as opposed to on the caliper.

DO NOT grease cables, the housing is pre-greased.

You dont need to de-grease the chain either, they are not coated with that shit that ShimaNO chains are coated with.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

My only advice...ENJOY your new Campy components. I made switch 4 years ago and will never go back to Shimano.

For me, Campy feels better, shifts better and only gets better with age. If your shifters start having problems after a few years and a few thousand miles, you can rebuild them easily and they are like brand new once again.

I would use the Campy chain but instead of getting their expensive chain tool, buy a superlink connector. Tehy make them for 10speed chains (green packaging I think). After cursing campy's chain pin I have switched to super links on all my campy bikes.

Jim

Good point Jim. Whipperman also makes a great chain that works great with Campy.

I will say that I have never ever ever had any issues with any Campy chain properly installed.

I would NEVER use a SuperLink and have and broken them. On chains that I see broken; if they have a superlink - that is where they break. I can not suggest stronly enough to NOT use those links (and I know I am not the only one)

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

What do you mean by "Campy?"

There are a lot of things I can tell you if you get me out of the habit.

I have put over 10000 miles on the super link (on multiple chains and multiple superlinks) without ANY issues. I had them suggested to me by a frame builder that puts them on all of his bikes along with the shop that I am sponsored by. I love them ... I have also had good reports about the Wipperman but never used them.

Jim

I realize we are not curing cancer here, but little things can help you get the most out of the gear. Here are a few examples.

The process to adjust the rear derailler is very different between Campy and Shimano. For Campy you use the limit adjusters for top and bottom cog and cable tension to fine tune on the fourth cog from the bottom. Campy also provides specific guidelines for setting the chain length and front derailler position in their doc that make a difference in shifting performance. Also for the Campy bar-ends, the internal components can be oriented two different ways--- One orientation, everything works great, the other, your rear shifting will jump all over the place. It will be so bad you will think that something serious is wrong with your bike. (That one caused a bike shop full of great mechanics to pull their hair out for a couple of days.)

The main tool you will need is a 5mm hex wrench, but if you're going all out why not get a torque wrench while you are at it. Campy provides torque values for every bolt so with a good wrench you can know that every bolt is adjusted to the perfect tension.

I still think it is worth it to read through the doc a few times. The Campy engineers clearly put a lot of thought into it and if you are going to spend those bucks on the equipment you might as well make sure you install it in the way the designers recommended you install it. Of course, I'm a computer guy for my day job, so maybe it's my geek heritage that leads me to say that.

-Marc