7 speed block

[limey]

My bike and myself are now antiques. I have a wheel (which I recently rebuilt) that has a Campy thread-on 7 speed block. It is now apparent that it is badly worn and no longer acceptable. I cannot locate a compatible replacement and I was scratching my head and thinking whether it would be any easier to find an 8 speed. I certainly no longer use the 11 tooth sprocket so I would be happy never being able to shift to it. I believe that the cog spacing on 7 and 8 are the same, so it should work.
Can anyone give me any help with this problem? Thanks.

[nfmisso]

Hi Limey;

Most of us on this board are not familiar with Campy. I would suggest that you check out:
http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php/181-Classic-amp-Vintage
where there are a significant number of people with Campy.

From: http://sheldonbrown.com/cribsheet-spacing.html it appears that Campy 8 speed spacing is 5.0mm; the same as Shimano compatible 7 speed.

You said thread on block; which in USA terms is a freewheel, a very different animal from a cassette - not interchangeable.
http://sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

All Campy 8 speeds are cassettes, not freewheels (thread on block).

If you have a freewheel, an 11T sprocket is unlikely. Suntour had a 12T, but just about everyone else was 13T or 14T for the smallest sprocket.

Also, I you have a freewheel, you are not limited to Campy; other brands should work. Personally, I have had poor experience with Shimano, and good with DNP, SRAM and Sunrace.

[limey]

(01-13-2014, 01:27 PM)nfmisso Wrote:  Hi Limey;

Most of us on this board are not familiar with Campy. I would suggest that you check out:
http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php/181-Classic-amp-Vintage
where there are a significant number of people with Campy.

From: http://sheldonbrown.com/cribsheet-spacing.html it appears that Campy 8 speed spacing is 5.0mm; the same as Shimano compatible 7 speed.

You said thread on block; which in USA terms is a freewheel, a very different animal from a cassette - not interchangeable.
http://sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

All Campy 8 speeds are cassettes, not freewheels (thread on block).

If you have a freewheel, an 11T sprocket is unlikely. Suntour had a 12T, but just about everyone else was 13T or 14T for the smallest sprocket.

Also, I you have a freewheel, you are not limited to Campy; other brands should work. Personally, I have had poor experience with Shimano, and good with DNP, SRAM and Sunrace.

Thanks. I didn't realize that when campy went to 8 speed, that they changed from spin-on (threaded) to cassette type - that blows my idea out of the water. I guess that I have to keep searching for 7 speed and any compatible brand will be fine.

[1FJEF]

Do you have the tool to remove the old freewheel, or are you going to destroy/remove?
Any 7 speed freewheel should work as your bike does not have indexed shifting (you said antique).

[limey]

Hi Jef, I made a tool to remove thread on blocks, so I will be removing. It should be fairly loose cos I've only done one ride on it since refitting it. Actually I do have index shifting. A few years ago , Sachs made 7 speed index shifters unders contract from Campy and I fitted those. With some fine tuning, they work well enough with my Shimano Ultegra wheel too. At the moment I am trying to locate a 7 speed block that will screw onto a Campy hub which I presume is Italian thread. Not worried about brand, Regina, Suntour etc., but I don't want to pay $250 for an antique Campy Record. If push comes to shove, I'll have to break the wheel down again, buy a 7 / 8 cassette hub and rebuild it.

[1FJEF]

So it's not that ancient! Do a simple test fit to check the thread, a local shop or friend should have something to test with. If not an excellent hardware store (ironmongers) can gauge the thread pitch.
I thought campy indexed was different from shimano.

[limey]

It is slightly different, but as I said earlier, my days of using the smallcog are over, so if I adjust within the range I use, I can set it so that it's smooth.

My problem right now is with my spare wheels, I hadn't used the Campy block in a couple of years and when I rebuilt the hub and reused it, I found that it was 'grinding' under pressure. Plus it wouldn't change smoothly - the chain wants to jump multiple cogs. I will be fitting a new chain, but from experience, I know that the block is most to blame.

[nfmisso]

(01-14-2014, 04:13 PM)1FJEF Wrote:  ...
I thought campy indexed was different from shimano.

That varies with the number of speeds (cog) in the cassette/freewheel. See Sheldon's cribsheet (link in my 1st post above)

[limey]

In practice, using the Campy designed 7 speed index shifters on a Shimano 7 speed block, results in a slight chain rubbing at the extremes as the slight spacing difference builds up. If you discount the line-up on one cog (small) and adjust the changes between the remaining 6, you get almost if not perfect shifting. If you want to use the entire block, you have to accept a slight rub .

Since I have problems with my Campy set up at this time, I will be swapping to my Shimano wheel today and will be problem free. I will continue my search for a suitable thread-on block. Thanks everyone.