help me find Campy ergo shifters that aren't BIG BUCKS!

[65swb45]

My buddy and I took a ride to Chinatown this morning for New Year's day dimsum. Locked my Bianchi up outside with a cable lock and didn't think twice about checking anything when we came out. Apparantly, someone had loosened the QR on my front wheel before discovering the cable prevented the wheel leaving the bike.;p

Well you know what happened next. About 6 miles into the return ride, I pulled up on the handlebars to ease the transition over a 2" driveway apron from the street to a bike path, and the front wheel fell off!

I got kind of banged up in the resulting fip, but luckily, I am used to controlled dives and falls from playing a lot of volleyball. My ride unfortunately is not.

My Campy Eros front brake and shifter shattered on impact. I straightened everything else back out on the bike, and reset the stop on the front derailleur to keep the chain on the middle ring for the rest of the ride home. A quick check online of Nashbar prices for Campy components reminded me why I bought a whole bike in the first place.

Anyone know a good source for a used Campy lever? I remember when these came out, there were all kinds of people pulling these OFF their bikes because they couldn't get the shifters to work right. I NEVER had that problem [owned the bike since 1994] So where do all those used levers go?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Ruadhrigh]

whoa, big suck.

maybe ebay, or Road Bike Review classifieds.

 

[GREENPEA]

x2 the eBay idea but Craigslist might be another place to check out.

Good excuse to upgrade though. Glad to hear you're ok.

 

[Fast Eddy]

I pulled up on the handlebars to ease the transition over a 2" driveway apron from the street to a bike path, and the front wheel fell off!

No Lawyer tabs? That had to be a bad feeling.

My Campy Eros front brake and shifter shattered on impact.

Google says that's not the right name. I'm guessing Binachi Eros with Campy components. Record or Athena or other? 7 speed?

It may be hard to replace a 7 speed lever without a lot of internet detective work. The integrated lever alone may be the same as the brake-only lever. Some campy shop would know. Call a shop in San Jose called Slough's. They're open only M, W and F. They have lots of Bianchi, Campy and NOS parts. 1-408-293-1616 ??

If you want something from there, and they don't want to ship, I'll get it and ship for you.

I ... reset the stop on the front derailleur to keep the chain on the middle ring for the rest of the ride home.

Three rings on a roadie? Were you already old in 1994?

 

[65swb45]

Three rings on a roadie? Were you already old in 1994?

Considering that I've broken the spindles on 3 different sets of pedals pushing a 52 x 42 x 32 ROAD triple, age has NOTHING to do with it!

Campy Ergo was pretty new to the market in '94. I think it was on Record models in '92, Ultegra in '93. I'm certain I didn't pay for Record, but not as sure if I do or don't have Ultegra. Doesn't really matter now; if I can find any level of component that I can make work, I will make it work.

The front derailleur has already been changed to a Shimano STX.;p

See what you can find out for me Ed.

 

[Fast Eddy]

Considering that I've broken the spindles on 3 different sets of pedals pushing a 52 x 42 x 32 ROAD triple, age has NOTHING to do with it!

Campy Ergo was pretty new to the market in '94. I think it was on Record models in '92, Ultegra in '93. I'm certain I didn't pay for Record, but not as sure if I do or don't have Ultegra. Doesn't really matter now; if I can find any level of component that I can make work, I will make it work.

The front derailleur has already been changed to a Shimano STX.;p

See what you can find out for me Ed.

52? Whoa.

7 speed or 8 speed?

Ultegra is Shimano. Less-than-Record was Athena, I think. Later it was Chorus. Now they have about five levels of 10 and 11 speed.

# speeds matters. I'm now guessing you have 8 speed, Athena components. I would expect the shifting to be really good.

This is what you want, right?

 

[alkarich]

It's the front shifter he's looking for isn't it? So should only be triple or double specific.

 

[alkarich]

Well the other nice thing about Campy Ergo levers versus the Shimano STI stuff is that it is rebuildable. 65swb45 could you post up some pics of the carnage. Might be cheaper to rebuild, my local shop sadi average was $35-100. If the internals are alright, it might be at the lower end.

 

[65swb45]

My bad there Ed. I remembered I'd mis-typed as I was driving to work this morning. Mirage groupo on my ride.

alkarich, you and your shop certainly could be right. From what I can tell, only the plastic housing that the pins of the lever pivot on was broken. If I could get the housing, chances are I could rebuild the lever assembly. A couple of years ago I rebuilt a STI lever assembly for a buddy of mine.

Thanks for checking into this for me guys. Really.

 

[alkarich]

Hey Mark, that doesn't look too buggered. Will be interesting to see how much the quote is.

 

[emr88]

Mark,

Check with Budget Bikes in Eaglerock, they do all the repairs and maintainence for a friend that has at least 3-4 Campy Record equipped bikes. I bet if anyone can fix it, Manuel, their mechanic can.

I was in Chinatown visiting a client last week. New Dragon Seafood on Hill st makes some great food!

Also, I'd toss your skewers and replace them with the allen key "bolt-on" skewers, you need to carry allen keys anyways.

 

[65swb45]

Mark,

Check with Budget Bikes in Eaglerock, they do all the repairs and maintainence for a friend that has at least 3-4 Campy Record equipped bikes. I bet if anyone can fix it, Manuel, their mechanic can.

I was in Chinatown visiting a client last week. New Dragon Seafood on Hill st makes some great food!

Also, I'd toss your skewers and replace them with the allen key "bolt-on" skewers, you need to carry allen keys anyways.

Great points on both fronts! I have a pair of Campy aero wheels I bought from Budget back in the late 90's. The Bianchi sticker on my 45 came from there too. I don't know how I could have forgotten about them.

 

[Fast Eddy]

Great points on both fronts! I have a pair of Campy aero wheels I bought from Budget back in the late 90's. The Bianchi sticker on my 45 came from there too. I don't know how I could have forgotten about them.

Mr. Slough saw your picture and says you broke the "body". The catalog only goes back to y2k and the Campy Mirage levers are all plastic by then. If you send him the broken lever, he can dig around in his stash and see if he has a body that will work. You can get the lever off without removing the clamp (and bar tape) by pulling back the rubber and removing the 5mm allen bolt.

The whole front Mirage lever for a triple in black plastic is $90.

 

[65swb45]

Budget ROCKS! Went by there on a 40 mile road ride last Saturday and they dug around for one of the bodies. He pulled out one that had the ratchet mechanism and levers [less brake lever] still in it, and offered the bare body for $20!

I pulled the remains of the old one off last night and took it down today to compare them. He didn't feel like taking the ratchets out and sold me the whole housing [minus brake lever] for $40!

Hopefully I'll get the Bianchi back on the road this weekend. I'd kinda forgotten how SLOW the Schwinn is.

 

[MT-PTK]

Glad you weren't seriously hurt and that you worked out what you needed in the end.

Just an FYI, another great place to get parts/bikes is The Serotta Forum Classifieds:

Serotta Competition Bicycle Forums - Classifieds

Mostly higher end stuff, and it has a great reputation for honest transactions. Just say William sent you.



William