gear question to you mechanical geniuses!

[mimitabby]

Okay. there are these different kinds of gear groups. campy veloce, campy record, shimano ultegra..

If i bought a bike with Campy Veloce, does that mean I would get the same gears as another campy veloce bike? the same granny gear and the same speeding gear? or is that a separate entity? I'm not talking custom bikes.
I'm talking more of off the shelf types of bikes.

Thanks

[Bluetree]

Not sure about the questions you're asking, Mimi, but a LBS has this chart/description of the various levels of Campy and Shimano groups. You have to scroll down almost to the bottom to find it, but I hope it helps.

http://thebikepalace.com/page.cfm?PageID=52

[mimitabby]

Good chart, thanks but that doesn't answer the whole question.

actually, that website has a lot of good info on the gears too!

the gears, they have different numbers of teeth. so if you buy a bike with the veloce gear set, will it have the same teeth numbers as the next bike with Veloce gear set? or are some more set up for flats and some more setup for hills?

[xeney]

I think it depends on if it is the same Veloce components. There is a compact double Veloce now, and when I bought my bike there was a double Veloce option and a triple option. I'm not sure if there are different rear cassettes, but probably there have been changes year-to-year. So if you have a 2002 bike with a Veloce triple setup, it is probably not exactly the same as what you'd buy now, when most bike sold with Veloce components (which isn't many!) have the compact double.

And I know that goes for Shimano, too.

[DebW]

Okay. there are these different kinds of gear groups. campy veloce, campy record, shimano ultegra..

If i bought a bike with Campy Veloce, does that mean I would get the same gears as another campy veloce bike? the same granny gear and the same speeding gear? or is that a separate entity? I'm not talking custom bikes.
I'm talking more of off the shelf types of bikes.

Thanks

No. You can still pick your cassette range and chainring options within a group. Though you are limited to 39-53 double or a 34-50 compact double in chainrings. 10-speed cassette options are:

11-25, 12-23, 12-25, 13-26, 13-29, 14-23

And I don't see why you couldn't mix some Veloce components with another Campy group, or perhaps even some Shimano parts if you wanted to.

[mimitabby]

No. You can still pick your cassette range and chainring options within a group. Though you are limited to 39-53 double or a 34-50 compact double in chainrings. 10-speed cassette options are:

11-25, 12-23, 12-25, 13-26, 13-29, 14-23

And I don't see why you couldn't mix some Veloce components with another Campy group, or perhaps even some Shimano parts if you wanted to.

oh, no, Deb, you're going over to the dark side now!! lalalalalalala


but thank you kindly for answering the question. maybe next spring. hmmmmmmmmm

[DebW]

oh, no, Deb, you're going over to the dark side now!! lalalalalalala

Why, because I said the word Shimano?

That info is on the Campy web site. Just because something is available, though, doesn't tell you what some manufacturer will outfit their stock bikes with.

[mimitabby]

Why, because I said the word Shimano?

no, not at all~ ! because you said i could mix up different types with each other. !! That sounds so far beyond what I could conceive of or understand.
I also had heard that if you were mixing campy with shimano, you needed other special gadgets. If I buy a bike,they're probably not going to sell me half chorus and half veloce.. you just went beyond what i can handle in my brain (can you hear the synapses cracking?)

I just don't want to buy another bike and find out that it doesn't do hills because it has the wrong gears..

[DebW]

Mimi, you need to decide what gears you want before you buy the bike and then insist that the LBS swap parts until you get what you want. Using Shimano shifters on Campy freewheel, or vice versa, requires gadgets. But you could probably use any Campy freewheel with Veloce shifters. Or use Chorus shifters with a Veloce freewheel. But do any part swaps when you buy the bike because then you pay for the difference in price only and the LBS keeps a brand new part to sell.

Back in my day, bikes didn't come with "gruppos". You'd get a Suntour freewheel, a Regina chain, and Simplex shifters. Everything worked together.