My brothers and I were really into magic
when we were young, always reading books on the subject and collecting the
props necessary to mystify our friends. Special birthday and Christmas gifts we
received were boxed tricks and gimmicks given by family and friends, and we
would practice over and over until the illusions would come off just right.
I was reminded of these days long ago while attempting a couple of new skills that became necessary to learn while working
on my friend Frank’s Colnago build. While the parts included in these
procedures didn’t involve any deception, there was definitely a certain sleight
of hand required to put everything together correctly.
I have often pointed out to customers the
advantage of Mavic wheelsets, as the freehub can be switched from one that is Shimano
compatible to one which works with Campagnolo cassettes (and vice versa).
However, I have never before had to take on the task myself.
From what I had read on the subject, it
didn’t seem too difficult of a prospect, mostly involving the insertion of an
Allen wrench into the hollow axle and using a cone wrench to loosen the nut
that holds everything together. Photos are borrowed from the Llave
Inglesa (Spanish for “English key”’- in other words, a wrench) blog
that had come to my aid with useful directions.
I won’t go into the whole process, as if you
are interested enough, you can read about it yourself, but the trickiest part
was tucking the springy pawls (the ratchet-like wedges that grab when you pedal
and clickety-click when you coast) into the Campagnolo freehub as I slid it
down over the axle. One false move and SPROING,
who knows where it will all end up on the shop floor!
I had a good hold when things didn’t quite
line up the first time, so nothing went flying, and on the second attempt, it
all came together. Frank’s formerly Shimano-equipped Mavic Aksium wheelset is
now compatible with the rest of the Campagnolo Centaur gruppo with which we are completing the build.
The other new skill I worked on was
rebuilding a Campagnolo brake/shift lever. You may recall that previously I had refurbished
an early Shimano RSX lever, so I hoped the procedure would be similar. Well it
turned out to be much more complicated, as all of the tiny Campagnolo parts included
can all be replaced as they wear out – which is obviously a huge advantage to longtime owners of
their products!
The RSX model was Shimano’s only
shift lever that could be rebuilt. I suppose the company has taken the attitude that
theirs are less expensive, so customers should just buy a new one. Actually, after the initial shock
of the up-front cost, Campagnolo’s “repairability” makes their levers the
choice that’s easier on the wallet – that is, if you have the patience/skills
to do the work yourself!
The right shift lever on my Pinarello had
some noticeable slipping at the end of last season, so I planned to use it for
practice before working on Frank’s lever. Except for some roller bearings in the upscale Chorus Carbon version, my levers had practically identical inner
workings to Frank’s Centaur levers.
I had a good idea what to look for as far as
worn parts, and knew that at a minimum the G-shaped springs that control the ratcheting
action should be replaced, and besides cleaning and lubing, that was the main
functioned I performed on my
shifters. Frank on the other hand had a few parts that needed to be swapped out,
including (from left to right in the photo below) a broken coil spring, which
provides the back tension in the shifter, a cracked G-spring carrier and a
snapped G-spring. A “healthy” G-spring is on the right.
The real complication to this work would be
not having the cool Campagnolo mount on which to work, which, as shown in the
video, nicely frees up both hands. I ended up using a couple makeshift jigs,
and at one time even squeezed the whole assembly between my knees as I
tightened everything.
I would encourage you to click on the link
below and watch the whole disassembly and rebuild, just to get a sense of what
I had to do. The first time around took about 1 ½ hours, as I had trouble with
a couple parts of the video, as far as understanding visually what was being
accomplished. I had to turn to a text version
of the operation a couple of times to review the techniques involved. The
second time took just half an hour!
By the way, I was
trying to resurrect a set of Universal AER brakes that Frank had included among
his boxes of stuff. I think they would have looked very cool on the Colnago, but they were
missing some parts, most notably the distinctive quick release (circled in
photo below). Despite about 20 emails I sent around the country and “across the
pond” to various shops and collectors, I came up empty.
We decided to sell the AERs
and a set of vintage Dia Compe brakes that would definitely look out-of-place
on this Colnago. We “settled” on a very reasonably priced Centaur set of
calipers. I also found a very nice rear derailleur, now all I need is a front,
braze-on mount derailleur, and I can wrap up this project as well.
The Athena
derailleur we needed for spare parts arrived last week, and I was finally able
to finish off Ron’s Monteverde bicycle. The mounting washer was a bit thinner
on this double derailleur than on Ron’s triple version, but I was able to
remedy the problem effectively by inserting another thin washer I had among my
miscellaneous supplies. Ron was understandably pleased with his “new’ ride...
To wrap things up, I was
also able to complete Chris’ Lemond Alpe d’Huez, as the last few small parts
arrived, including a very affordable pair of Dura-Ace pedals in wonderful
lightly-used condition!
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