Servicing Campag Shifters

The Crunch

Hi,
Does anyone know if there is anyone reliable in Ireland that can service Campag shifters?
I have a Record 10 speed right hand lever that has gone a bit 'woolly' on shifts. Some internet research suggests that I probably just need a replacement 'G-spring' (cue juvenile jokes..) which is a relatively cheap part.
I know of a couple of places in England and the US that advertise a Campag repair service but I can't afford to be without the lever for more than a couple of days.
Has anyone out there tried doing it themselves? From the exploding diagram it all looks a bit swiss watch-like.
Any thoughts?

Chips Lovell

I have a left hand shifter I need to replace the paddle on. I have the diagrams and videos, but have yet to take it apart.

That means I've a right hand ten speed record shifter, if you want to borrow it while you send your own one off.

The Crunch

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

I have a left hand shifter I need to replace the paddle on. I have the diagrams and videos, but have yet to take it apart.

That means I've a right hand ten speed record shifter, if you want to borrow it while you send your own one off.

Well I just might take you up on that! Give you a shout later.

I'd still love to know if anyone is doing Campag servicing in Ireland. I spoke to Jimmy Humphries earlier and he said Derek would have a look at it but I don't think they're big into taking ergo levers apart.

AstraMonti

Cyclesuperstore is supposed to be a pro campagnolo shop, so they are supposed to do that kind of stuff.

Give a shout to Karl in fitzcycles as well, he is good with campag stuff.

doozerie

I've rebuilt both my left and right Chorus 9-speed levers recently. It's actually quite straightforward, but it is fiddly. The only problem I encountered was in putting them back together as you have to pre-tension a spring (well 2 springs in fact but you tackle one at a time) and keeping that in place while trying to put in the bolt was a challenge - surprisingly this was substantially more tricky with the left lever than with the right (same basic construction across both levers but I think part of the spring on my left shifter was a little shorter so provided less margin for error).

I found the following links useful:

* a video of rebuilding a 10sp lever. The only problem with this video is that it zips through the process of pre-tensioning the spring. There is a knack to this which becomes obvious when you try it. One end of the spring attaches to either the body of the lever (left lever) or a column within the lever (right lever), the other end attaches to a cylinder that you out in place just before the spring. This cylinder slots onto a nut (via two flat edges at its base), and that nut is what the final bolt threads into. To pre-tension the spring, don't slot the cylinder home, instead gently push it part of the way home, then attach the spring to the cylinder. Now, with a screwdriver rotate the cylinder (mine rotated about 180 degrees I think) and then push it down into the nut that it slots into. It should grab and hold itself in place, leaving you free to remove the screwdriver, and grab and install the final bolt. I suspect that reads like being a lot more complex than it really is.

* this has photos which are of limited use.

* this has an exploded diagram which is useful, plus instructions.

*this is an older version of the manual. I think the new manual differs a bit. I bought the new manual (only a few printed pages stapled together) and I found it useful as a reference, though it reads like a mess too until you are up to your elbows in the levers!

Some things to be aware of though:

* the official instructions seem to suggest pre-tensioning the spring using a tool specifically for this (I assume you use it to grab one end of the spring, rotate/tension it, and shove it home). This differs from the technique I mention above and might well be less fraught, but I don't know where you'd get the tool. You might be able to make one though, as I suspect it is quite simple (I haven't seen a picture of one, I'm just imagining what it might look like based on how I think it might work).

* at least one of the URL's above suggests not removing the brake lever/blade to do the re-build. I tried their suggested approach first and it was a real pain. I ended up removing my brake levers/blades, pushing an allen key in to the nut behind the blade, and clamping the allen key in a vice. This made a world of difference, making it a lot easier to manage the whole thing. Another option to the attach the whole ergolever to the end of a handlebar but my preference would still be to instead use a vice holding the allen key.

doozerie

Incidentally, as well as replacing the G springs in both my levers I also replaced the spring carrier and thumb button return spring in the right lever. The spring carrier has a post to which one of the spring attaches and that post was snapped off in mine. From what I've read this is a common enough problem for older levers (mine date from 1999), the new carrier has reinforcements on the post. It was the broken post that was causing me occasional issues for at least a couple of years - when changing gear I'd often end up changing two gears with one click (or more like 1.5 gears in fact - I'd have to feather either the gear lever or thumb shifter following some changes). If you have any symptoms like that it may be worth replacing your carrier too just in case.

I've read that the thumb return spring in the right lever is good for about twice the mileage of the G springs but I replaced mine "as I was in there" to keep future problems to a minimum. The levers are as good as new since I rebuilt them.

The Crunch

Cheers! Now that, Doozerie, is a comprehensive reply! I phoned CSS and he reckons a couple of hours work at 30 quid an hour and maybe 30-40 quid in parts. And he won't know what he needs for sure until he takes it apart, which is fair enough, I suppose but it'll cost about 100 quid all in and he may have to order parts which will leave it out of commission for a bit. Vlad's offer would come into play there, perhaps.
I might just have a crack at it myself.
Not sure I'll be quite as quick as the chap in that Campag video, mind...
Thanks for the help.

doozerie

No problem. I hummed and hawed for ages before rebuilding mine as I was concerned too that I'd be biting off more than I could chew. In the end I'm glad I tackled it as it worked out well and it's another area of my bike that is now (mostly) demystified.

I bought my spare parts here, they have a comprehensive range that I wasn't able to find anywhere else when I looked. You just have to make sure you choose parts from the correct year. For reference, including delivery ($16) my order came to US$100 (plus I think I was charged for VAT and import duty if I remember correctly) - that got me 4 sets/pairs of G springs (2 sets per lever so that I have a spare set for each lever for the future), a spring carrier plus teflon-coated bushing for right lever, right thumb shifter return spring, a copy of the manual, and a tub of their grease.

By the sound of things you'd need less parts than I did, but if CSS charged 100euro all in then that's not bad value at all for one lever. It took me a couple of hours to do my right lever, much of that time was spent in failed efforts to put everything back together until I finally took the allen-key-in-vice approach and it went very quickly after that. The left lever took nearly as long due entirely to the thumb shifter return spring refusing to stay put while I worked on pre-tensioning the outer/coil spring.

Edit: Oh, and delivery from that site wasn't bad. I ordered my stuff on a Tuesday, it was shipped the same day, and arrived the Thursday of the following week.

bcmf

There are a few ways around this..
Buy 'new' parts by either buying the parts seperatley or keep your eye on ebay etc for a set of Xenon/Mirage and scavange them for spares.
Its an easy enough job you just need time and patience (and a long nosepliers with some small headed screwdrivers)
Or you could try here -> http://www.campagservice.co.uk/ergo.htm

The Crunch

bcmf wrote: »

Or you could try here -> http://www.campagservice.co.uk/ergo.htm

Cheers, I've got rear mech parts from them before. Good value and parcel arrived quickly, as I recall.

Al Wright

Just spoke to mate who has a Campagnolo Chorus 10 speed equipped bike and he rebuilt an assembly recently. He says its not very difficult, took about an hour to replace the G springs (but the small table vice still on Aldi's special offer is invaluable).

He got the parts here

http://www.sidcupcycles.co.uk/products.asp?l1=CAMP

He has a couple od spare springs (cost about Euro 2,- each)
PM me and I'll put you in touch.

rurs

Great info here, cheers to all.

5 hours in the rain a couple of weeks ago left my left thumb shifter sticky. It wouldn't always spring back, particularly on the second click. It seems to have cleared up now, but it got me thinking. Presumably a bit of mud or something found it's way in, but which part was bunged up?

How easy is it to work on the shifter while still attached to bars? I've pulled back the cover a bit, not enough to see inside though. Can you just peel the cover off easily, and get it back on? I'd like to have a peek and see if there's anything still in there.

Xenon BTW

The Crunch

rurs wrote: »

How easy is it to work on the shifter while still attached to bars? I've pulled back the cover a bit, not enough to see inside though. Can you just peel the cover off easily, and get it back on? I'd like to have a peek and see if there's anything still in there.

Xenon BTW

I'm fast turning into an expert. I met Al's friend Joe earlier and he furnished me new g springs and a load of photo stills he'd printed from the relevant youtube tutorial as well as a bunch of links to said videos, fair play to him. My faith in humanity, and the community value of Boards in particular, is greatly renewed.

My levers are 10-speed record but I reckon you'll have no problem peeling back the hood and cleaning out the ratchet mechanism with spray teflon lube while it's on the bike.
No doubt the mechanic nazis will be on like a shot calling for an immediate lifetime ban for that one. (This is a joke...)
They'll probably recommend taking the lever apart, cleaning it in gunk and regreasing with something that looks like Assos chamois cream and costs twice as much.
By the sound of it, it's not too bad but prevention is always better than cure, I suppose.

doozerie

rurs wrote:

How easy is it to work on the shifter while still attached to bars? I've pulled back the cover a bit, not enough to see inside though. Can you just peel the cover off easily, and get it back on? I'd like to have a peek and see if there's anything still in there.

I haven't used/seen Xenon but I'm assuming it's the same as Chorus and Record. As much as you can do to the internals of lever while it is on the bars is to poke something in, or spray something in, through the slot underneath to try to clear out any dirt. As you'll have seen though the opening is minimal so access is very restricted. Spraying in lube is probably worth a try if you are reluctant to dismantle the lever, but even if it works you may find that you have to do this regularly from now on as the lube probably won't have the staying power of the grease that you may be washing out. Not a big deal perhaps, but a bit of a hassle that I'd opt to avoid if I could. You wouldn't have to remove the rubber hood to do any of this, although it might help to peel it back a little to give easier access to the slot underneath.

In the worst case the spring attached to the thumb shifter may have been dislodged, although if that were the case then I wouldn't expect it to have recovered any degree of spring in it at all. The thumb shifter would still function in that case, you'd probably just have to pull it back up manually after each thumb click. In that situation I think the only option would be to dismantle the lever for which you'd have to remove it from the bars (the bolt which holds the rotation/spring mechanism together is accessed from the back).

rurs

Hmm, I've read in a few places that it's best to leave whatever grease is in there to it's own devices, so I don't think I'll spray anything in. As I said, it's back working again, so I'll leave well alone.

I'll probably pick up another set anyway, I managed to fall off 3 times in week, and the shifters took a few knocks. Still working though. I'll keep the old ones for spares. I had hoped it was possible to work on them while still attached to the bars, I think I'll wait til I absolutely have to to take them off ad fiddle with the mechanism.