Replacements

Several years ago, IKEA aired a television ad about the replacement of a household lamp. In the ad, the old lamp is thrown to the curb, set out to be picked up with the trash. Pelted by rain, the discarded lamp looks on towards a window where a new lamp can be seen sitting in the warmth of the house. Just as you start to shed a tear for the old lamp, a man walks into frame and says, "...you're crazy...it has no feelings, and the new one is much better".

This is the essence of our consumer economy. New and improved products are brought to market every day to replace old, inferior models. The bicycle industry is no different. And in the case of drivetrain components, repair or overhaul is usually superseded by replacement.

My "A" Bike Rear Derailleur

My rear derailleur started its life as a part of the 2004 Campagnolo Centaur 9 speed gruppo. I had decided to make the change to Campagnolo at the end of the 2005 cyclocross season. At the time, all the wheels I owned were Shimano compatible. I couldn't afford to replace them, so to help reduce the financial cost of the switch, I opted to run a mixed drivetrain of 9 speed chains and cassettes from SRAM and Shimano with Campagnolo 9 speed shifters and derailleurs. A quick glance at Sheldon Brown's cassette spacing crib sheet reveals why this combination works.

The difference in center-to-center spacing between Shimano and Campy 9 speed cassette cogs is around 0.2 mm. If you adjust the rear derailleur so that it is optimally aligned with the center of the cassette, the maximum error when shifted to either end of the cassette is 0.8 mm. This is easily compensated for with the rear derailleur's limit screws and there is enough "slop" in a  9 speed system for acceptable shifting across the entire cassette.

Campy purists will cry blasphemy over this setup. But there are occasions where pragmatism must overrule passion, and my wallet ruled in favor of the former. However, I eventually built up a collection of Campy compatible wheels. And when the time came to move completely to 10 speed components, I felt my derailleur hadn't outlived its usefulness.

In 2001, a year after Campy introduced 10 speed to the world, they updated the design of their 9 speed system. They modified the indexing so that 9 speed used the same parallelogram geometry from their newer 10 speed rear derailleur. The only significant difference between the two derailleurs was the width of the pulleys. So after purchasing a set of 10 speed pulleys, my old derailleur was now updated to the newer 10 speed standard. Since then, I've only replaced the pulleys one additional time. The derailleur continues to serve reliably on my "A" cross bike.

Lately however, I have thought about replacing it. Campagnolo has a tradition of trickling the features of their flagship products down to the lower end components. The introduction of 11 speed shifting in 2009 introduced several enhancements to Campagnolo's long standing rear derailleur design. These enhancements have since been integrated into the 2011+ Centaur 10 speed gruppo.

2012 Centaur Rear Derailleur

One of the most obvious design changes is the increased size of the outer plate and the parallelogram. The oversized features of the new derailleur are meant to increase rigidity and reduce stress on the joints of the assembly. This helps the derailleur battle the wear and tear that inevitably causes "play" in the parallelogram. Campagnolo has also updated their pulley design to the larger 11 tooth size also used by Shimano and SRAM. Manufactured from a rubber compound, they are designed  to help reduce friction and excess vibration in the drivetrain. And in a move unlike Shimano and SRAM, the derailleur is rebuildable.

Excerpt from the 2011 Campagnolo Spare Parts Catalog

There is a caveat if you upgrade to the new derailleur. Like the change a decade ago to their 9 speed system, the new 10 speed derailleur requires updated shifters to accommodate the geometry of the new parallelogram. If you're using the old Ergopower shifters, you're out of luck. There is no upgrade path. However, if you are like me and using the newer Ultra-shift levers, you can replace the right shift lever assembly separately, bringing your system up to par.

Campagnolo 2010-2012 Rear Derailleur Compatibility Chart

These enhancements are compelling, particularly for the rough world of veldrijden, and some day I'll make the jump. I think the new design would out perform and last even longer than my old derailleur. But I'm hesitant to upgrade now. Maybe it's because I know my rear derailleur has a few more years left in it. Or maybe I'd rather spend the money on more tubulars. In any case, the thought of retiring a trusted component who has served me well for many years of racing is hard to swallow. Or maybe I'm just a little crazy.

Something Must Change in the Rear!!!

The title of this post is a translation of the famous words Tullio Campagnolo uttered to himself after victory slipped out of his reach on the famed climb of the Croce d'Aune.

"Bisogno cambiá qualcossa de drio!"

Struggling with the removal of his rear wheel to change his gearing on the climb, Tullio lost an opportunity to win against the top champions of his day. That experience would inspire him to invent the quick release hub and launch a company whose name is synonymous with the sport of cycling.

As a young cyclist, I had always coveted Campagnolo components. But when the time came to purchase my first road bike, my money could only buy an entry-level, Shimano equipped, Miyata 312. Several of my friends had fathers who were cyclists providing them a constant stream of handed down components. I was always a bit jealous when one of my friends would show up with a new Record derailleur or seatpost.

An excerpt from the 1988 Miyata catalog.

I eventually purchased my first Campy equipped bike while attending graduate school. It was a 1996 Bianchi Campione d'Italia equipped with a mix of Mirage and Veloce components. I loved that bike. I rode my first century on it, joined the university cycling team, and competed in my first road race. That bike opened up my eyes to the sport of cycling. But newer bike purchases eventually replaced the Campangolo components with Shimano.

It wasn't until I took up cyclocross that Campangolo would come back into my life. During my first years of racing cross, I struggled with bike handling. I never felt comfortable controlling my bike with Shimano shifters. The ergonomics did not suit my hands and I spent most of the time braking from inline levers mounted on the tops of my handlebars. I had my own revelation that something must change.

I went back to Campy and everything did change. With the Ergopower shifters, my hands were now comfortable braking from the hoods. In inclement conditions I found I could more reliably control shifts. It changed the way I brake and shift and helped me improve as a veldirjder.

Grazie Mille, Tullio!!!