campy double to triple 9 / 10 speed

Hi,

current set up is campy Mirage 9 speed 52/39 x 13/26. This gearing is
simply too high for my old legs now and I need to gear down. I've
discounted a compact chainset as a 34 x 26 is still not low enough.

Can I get a lower gear with a standard campy triple chainset?
What parts do I need to change? Chainset, BB, Front and Rear mechs?
Should I just change the whole lot to 10 speed triple?
Can you get a sachs 10 speed chain yet? The price of the campy 10
speed chain is very off putting as this consumable part need to be
changed so frequently,


Advice gratefully recieved

Davy

wrote:
Hi,

current set up is campy Mirage 9 speed 52/39 x 13/26. This gearing is
simply too high for my old legs now and I need to gear down. I've
discounted a compact chainset as a 34 x 26 is still not low enough.

Can I get a lower gear with a standard campy triple chainset?

yes, a 30t small ring.

What parts do I need to change? Chainset, BB, Front and Rear mechs?

Cranks, front der is the minimum. If the frame has a 28.6 and maybe a
31.8mm seat tube, no need for a BB as the Campag triples use a 111mm
BB, like on your current setup. You can use the short cage rear der but
may have a chain length issue(too short) for big ring/big ring combos.
For safety, a long cage is recommended.

Should I just change the whole lot to 10 speed triple?

No need, no advantage to 10s, 9s stuff from Campag still plentiful.


Can you get a sachs 10 speed chain yet?

Not officially but a Sram PC89 is the same width as a Campagnolo one
but we sell Wipperman/Mavic 10s chains for $40.
The price of the campy 10
speed chain is very off putting as this consumable part need to be
changed so frequently,


Advice gratefully recieved

Davy

wrote:
current set up is campy Mirage 9 speed 52/39 x 13/26. This gearing is
simply too high for my old legs now and I need to gear down. I've
discounted a compact chainset as a 34 x 26 is still not low enough.

Back when I only had one Campagnolo bike, I converted the bike to
triple for a week long ride in the mountains. Then converted back when
the trip was over. Easily done.


Can I get a lower gear with a standard campy triple chainset?

Crank comes with 52-42-30 chainrings. Assuming Mirage, Veloce,
Centaur. The inner ring is standard 74mm bcd so you can put on as
small as a 24 tooth inner ring for very low gears.

What parts do I need to change? Chainset, BB, Front and Rear mechs?

As already mentioned, crank and front derailleur. I think rear
derailleur is a must too since a short cage will not wrap up enough
chain to easily use anything but the biggest cog or two with the inner
ring. 111mm bottom bracket for Mirage is one of the choices for the
triple cranks. 115mm bottom bracket is for bikes with large seattubes.

If you get a long cage rear derailleur, get the LONG cage model.
Campagnolo makes short, medium, and long cage rear derailleurs. The
long cage will wrap up more chain and allow you to easily use a very
small inner chainring with about any cog in the back. A medium cage
rear derailleur will not wrap up enough chain when using a 24 tooth
inner ring and anything but the biggest 3 cogs in back.


Should I just change the whole lot to 10 speed triple?

Changing to 10 speed is completely independent of going to a triple.
None of the parts required for 10 speed (chain, cassette, left Ergo
shift disk) is needed to go from a double to a triple. If you are
concerned about chains being expensive, the 10 speed cassettes are
double the price of 9 speed cassettes.

wrote:

Can I get a lower gear with a standard campy triple chainset?

Significantly lower, and can be made lower still by changing the stock
inner ring for a smaller one, down to 24T. Not a bad idea to stick a 28T
on there straight away.

What parts do I need to change? Chainset, BB, Front and Rear mechs?

115.5mm BB is supposed to be required for Mirage/Veloce/Centaur triple
when seat tube is 32+mm, but the standard 111mm BB (that you will have) is
often OK in practice with 32mm seat tubes. Chainline is better with 111.

~PB