Campy Short, Medium or Long Cage Derailleur?

Hi,

I'm building up a bike with 2007 Campy Centaur compact CT groupset and have
a question on which length rear derailleur to choose. This is my first
foray into compact chainrings and I'd appreciate it if the Campy gurus on
this newsgroup can advise me on the appropriate size to get for 34-50
crankset. As for the cassette, I'm still undecided but would probably go
for 11-23 for now. However, I would like to be able to use the 13-29 in the
future. In other words, which length derailleur is able to accomodate the
front compact chainrings as well as *ALL* the different cassettes?

TIA,

Ted

I have 48-34 chainrings and a short cage Centaur RD works fine with both
11-23 and 13-29 cassettes. Campagnolo reckon I should need a medium cage for
this but I already had the short cage and it worked fine. However, if you
haven't yet bought the RD then I would go for the medium cage.

Long cage is only needed if you use triple chainrings.

Nick

"Ted Boniface" wrote in message
...
Hi,

I'm building up a bike with 2007 Campy Centaur compact CT groupset and
have
a question on which length rear derailleur to choose. This is my first
foray into compact chainrings and I'd appreciate it if the Campy gurus on
this newsgroup can advise me on the appropriate size to get for 34-50
crankset. As for the cassette, I'm still undecided but would probably go
for 11-23 for now. However, I would like to be able to use the 13-29 in
the
future. In other words, which length derailleur is able to accomodate the
front compact chainrings as well as *ALL* the different cassettes?

"Nick Payne" wrote in
:

I have 48-34 chainrings and a short cage Centaur RD works fine with
both 11-23 and 13-29 cassettes. Campagnolo reckon I should need a
medium cage for this but I already had the short cage and it worked
fine. However, if you haven't yet bought the RD then I would go for
the medium cage.

Long cage is only needed if you use triple chainrings.


That tallys with what I've been told. For curiousity's sake, just what
would happen if I use a long cage derailleur with compact crankset and
smallish cassette, say 11-23? What kind of adverse shifting/reaction can I
expect, if any? Chain dropping frequently? Misshifts? Slow shifting?

Ted

Ted Boniface wrote:
Hi,

I'm building up a bike with 2007 Campy Centaur compact CT groupset and have
a question on which length rear derailleur to choose. This is my first
foray into compact chainrings and I'd appreciate it if the Campy gurus on
this newsgroup can advise me on the appropriate size to get for 34-50
crankset. As for the cassette, I'm still undecided but would probably go
for 11-23 for now. However, I would like to be able to use the 13-29 in the
future. In other words, which length derailleur is able to accomodate the
front compact chainrings as well as *ALL* the different cassettes?

TIA,

Ted


I can use all the campy cassettes with a 34-48 Campy compact crankset
and a medium cage rear derailleur. No problem at all.

Lou
--
Posted by news://news.nb.nu

Ted Boniface wrote:
Hi,

I'm building up a bike with 2007 Campy Centaur compact CT groupset and have
a question on which length rear derailleur to choose. This is my first
foray into compact chainrings and I'd appreciate it if the Campy gurus on
this newsgroup can advise me on the appropriate size to get for 34-50
crankset. As for the cassette, I'm still undecided but would probably go
for 11-23 for now. However, I would like to be able to use the 13-29 in the
future. In other words, which length derailleur is able to accomodate the
front compact chainrings as well as *ALL* the different cassettes?

TIA,

Ted

With the CT, a short cage will work fine with all the combos mentioned
including a 13-29...One can use a short for a 13-29 even with a 53/39
crank, but ya gotta make sure the chain length is proper. If you are
'worried' about chain length, get the medium cage.

Ted Boniface wrote:
"Nick Payne" wrote in
:

I have 48-34 chainrings and a short cage Centaur RD works fine with
both 11-23 and 13-29 cassettes. Campagnolo reckon I should need a
medium cage for this but I already had the short cage and it worked
fine. However, if you haven't yet bought the RD then I would go for
the medium cage.

Long cage is only needed if you use triple chainrings.


That tallys with what I've been told. For curiousity's sake, just what
would happen if I use a long cage derailleur with compact crankset and
smallish cassette, say 11-23? What kind of adverse shifting/reaction can I
expect, if any? Chain dropping frequently? Misshifts? Slow shifting?

Ted

Nothing of the sort. It is just a place to put additional chain length
if needed..it doesn't affect the operation of the RD at all.

Ted Boniface wrote:

"Nick Payne" wrote in
:

I have 48-34 chainrings and a short cage Centaur RD works fine with
both 11-23 and 13-29 cassettes. Campagnolo reckon I should need a
medium cage for this but I already had the short cage and it worked
fine.

So obviously there is no need to spend money :-)

However, if you haven't yet bought the RD then I would go for
the medium cage.

Long cage is only needed if you use triple chainrings.


That tallys with what I've been told. For curiousity's sake, just what
would happen if I use a long cage derailleur with compact crankset and
smallish cassette, say 11-23? What kind of adverse shifting/reaction
can I expect, if any? Chain dropping frequently? Misshifts? Slow
shifting?

None of these. The shifting action is determined by the position and
movemente of the upper pulley wich is AFAIK the same for all the range.
Other than style I also see little reason not to use the long cage
version. It is 25g heavier and you will need something like four (?)
additional links on the chain. Might be another 30g. The advantage is
that you still have the possibility to go for a triple crankset with a
wide range cassette just in case you want to go for nasty mountain
climbs with camping gear or maybe carry a kids trailer. It also clears
a 32 tooth sprocket I used this summer for a special event. The short
and medium version might also be capable of this, but I did not test
this.
Checking for the weights on the Campagnolo web pages I just noticed that
the long cage version on Veloce level (Race Triple) is not polished any
more, but painted black. The Comp Triple looks nice and is actually
lighter than the short or medium derailleur of the Veloce group.
Strange marketing.

Günther

Ted Boniface wrote:
Hi,

I'm building up a bike with 2007 Campy Centaur compact CT groupset and have
a question on which length rear derailleur to choose. This is my first
foray into compact chainrings and I'd appreciate it if the Campy gurus on
this newsgroup can advise me on the appropriate size to get for 34-50
crankset. As for the cassette, I'm still undecided but would probably go
for 11-23 for now. However, I would like to be able to use the 13-29 in the
future. In other words, which length derailleur is able to accomodate the
front compact chainrings as well as *ALL* the different cassettes?

TIA,

Ted

Get the long cage, not the medium. The long cage works with everything
including a triple in all chainring combinations. The medium will not.
If you used a 13-29 cassette and a triple with 52-42-24 rings, the
medium cage will not take up enough chain except in the largest 3-4
cogs. The long cage gives you options in the future. The medium
restricts them. If you are worried about looks, the medium and long
both look long so neither would be considered racy. A medium cage will
take up all of the chain for a 48-30 crankset and 13-29 cassette. I
had the medium because I replaced it with a long cage on a triple bike
and then used the medium cage on a micro compact I built up.

On Sun, 08 Oct 2006 19:53:41 +0200, Günther Schwarz wrote:

That tallys with what I've been told. For curiousity's sake, just what
would happen if I use a long cage derailleur with compact crankset and
smallish cassette, say 11-23? What kind of adverse shifting/reaction
can I expect, if any? Chain dropping frequently? Misshifts? Slow
shifting?

None of these. The shifting action is determined by the position and
movemente of the upper pulley wich is AFAIK the same for all the range.

I don't know that I agree with this. I had a long-cage rear derailleur
with a compact front and moderate rear cassette (13-26 9-speed), and found
that the shifting improved considerably when I switched to a short-cage
derailleur (I needed the long one for the tandem, anyway).

For me, the short cage was noticeably "crisper" shifting. Still, if you
want the option of using a triple, you will need at least the medium cage,
which is probably a good compromise.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve
_`\(,_ | death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to
(_)/ (_) | them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.
-- J. R. R. Tolkein

David L. Johnson wrote:

On Sun, 08 Oct 2006 19:53:41 +0200, Günther Schwarz wrote:

That tallys with what I've been told. For curiousity's sake, just
what would happen if I use a long cage derailleur with compact
crankset and smallish cassette, say 11-23? What kind of adverse
shifting/reaction can I expect, if any? Chain dropping frequently?
Misshifts? Slow shifting?

None of these. The shifting action is determined by the position and
movemente of the upper pulley wich is AFAIK the same for all the
range.

I don't know that I agree with this. I had a long-cage rear
derailleur with a compact front and moderate rear cassette (13-26
9-speed), and found that the shifting improved considerably when I
switched to a short-cage
derailleur (I needed the long one for the tandem, anyway).

Did you compare them side by side? If the upper parts are the same, the
longer cage can not account for any difference in functionality. I
can't compare the two as I just have the long version at hand. And then
I will blame the Shimano cassette for any problems with shifting
anyway.
BTW, things change when going for genuine MTB derailleurs. My SRAM X.7
does not follow the shallow slope of a 13-25 cassette and just looks
strange when used with a road cassette. Despite this the combination
works really nicely. And on this specific bike the cable routing of
SRAM offers a real advantage. Too bad their new road derailleurs do not
show this detail. If they did I would buy one as in contrast to
standard road bikes a short cage is clearly favourable on front-driven
bikes - heel clearance and load on the cage from cornering.

Günther