OK. It’s time to put a fork in my SRAM conversion experiment because, it’s done!
Today’s 46 mile ride in Cherokee County with our friends from the local tandem club provided a really good test for the 10-speed SRAM X.0 shifter mated to my Campy Ergo 10-speed shifters, as I feel like I spent nearly the entire ride shifting across the full range of the rear cassette to deal with the ever changing terrain. However, unlike many rides in the past, every shift today was spot-on with only one small tweak needed on the in-line rear derailleur adjuster about 35 miles into the ride… a normal thing with new derailleur cables… yeah, I ended up changing out the cable during one of yesterday’s rebuilds. But, other than that, every up-shift and downshift was really spot-on today, which in some respects was kind of strange. I can’t remember a time in recent history when I didn’t have to use a little English on the Ergo shifter to silence some chain chatter in a few different gear combinations and today there wasn’t any of that in evidence.
By the way, any of the SRAM 10-speed shifters will work, not just the X.0. We learned this today when we did a mid-ride ‘tweak’ of a friends new Co-Motion tandem that was originally fitted with a SRAM X9 10-speed rear derailleur and a Jtek Shiftmate. As we learned from our friend Rick T, that combination does not work. So after removing the pulley from the Jtek body and making some adjustments, the shifting on their Campy 10 + SRAM X9 10-speed + Shimano-10 speed cassette was purportedly excellent. More on that in our May PEACHES ride post later, perhaps.
Now, I also believe the original configuration we started with — the 9-speed SRAM X.0 with the Jtek Shiftmate 5S mated to Campy 10 speed shifters and a Shimano or SRAM 10 speed cassette — will also deliver very reliable and consistent shifts. The key is using a better quality stainless steel derailleur cable from Campagnolo or a Shimano SIS cable, even if a cable splitter was needed to allow the use of two single bike-length derailleur cables. The issues I had with my 9 speed SRAM X.0 and Jtek were clearly related to the problem I was also having with my shifters as well as the Teflon coated Aztec DuraCote cables and then the cheaper, less flexible Performance Bike branded cable as well as a pulley alignment issue with my Jtek. I say this only because I’ve just been in contact with too many other folks who have been using the SRAM + Shiftmate solution as well as other Jtek users who simply haven’t had any of the issues with pulley walk that I’ve seen, noting I’ve seen it on two different Jteks where both were used with the same black ‘slickwire’ on our Calfee.
However, if someone was starting from scratch I can’t think of a good reason not to go with the 10-speed SRAM shifters… why bother with an adapter if you don’t need one? Not taking anything away from the Jtek; it works great.
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OK, to review… here’s what I’m using right now:
- 2008 Campagnolo Record 10-speed Ultra Ergo Shifters
- 2010 SRAM X.0 10-speed rear derailleur, long cage model
- 2011 Shimano M771 10-speed 11x32t cassette
- KMC X-10 Ti Nitrate 10-speed, 5.88mm wide chain
Do NOT use a Jtek Shiftmate with a SRAM 10-speed rear derailleur!
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- 2008 Campagnolo Record 10-speed Ultra Ergo Shifters
- Jtek Shiftmate Straight 5S
- 2010 SRAM X.0 9-speed rear derailleur, long cage model
- 2011 Shimano M771 10-speed 11x32t cassette
- KMC X-10 Ti Nitrate 10-speed, 5.88mm wide chain
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By the way, if anyone has just discovered this subject and wants to see the history, the following is an index of the seven (7) prior entries that go through the entire experiment, beginning with the 9-speed SRAM X.0 rear derailleur and Jtek Shiftmate.
- March 5th: Thinking About Using 9-speed SRAM X.0 + Jtek Straight.
- March 8th: Upgrade complete; seems to work well in the stand.
- March 13th: SRAM + Jtek working very well, but not perfect.
- April 24th: Jtek exhibits some pulley walk: probably my derailleur cable.
- May 27th: Jtek still not perfected; but 10-speed SRAM X.0 may be the holy grail.
- May 28th: 10-speed SRAM shows great promise!!
The TandemGeek's Blog 
Argh: over the years, I’ve happily matched Campy shifters to Shimano derailleurs on our tandems (sometimes using JTeks.) Then I went to build up an old single frame this past weekend for a solo loaded tour, and hearing that a Jtek would mate Campy shifters with a SRAM derailleur, I snagged a SRAM X-9, a fresh 11×32 cassette, cabled it all up to a pair of rebuilt Campy 9-10 spd shifters and: no go, as in, can’t even get the derailleur to climb above the middle cogs = the Campy shifters take 2+ shift strokes to get up one cog. So is it only the SRAM road derailleurs that work with Campy, and then I’ll have to check their capacity = my old knees would like a 32!
gary in pasadena
Something’s not quite right. Are you sure you have everything matched up correctly and the cable routed correctly on the Jtek?
– We’re still running Campy 10 Ergos + SRAM X0 10-speed rear derailleur + 11x32t Shimano 10 speed cassette on our Calfee tandem with excellent shifting.
– We have friends who are running nearly the same set-up other than running the SRAM X9 9-speed rear derailleur; same story.
– Another friend has been running Campy 9 Ergo + SRAM X9 9 speed + Jtek 5S + 12x27t Shimano 9 speed on their Litespeed for several years, no issues.
– I set up our Erickson with Campy 9 Ergo + SRAM X0 9 speed + Jtek 5S + 12x27t Shimano 9 speed cassette two weeks ago and it worked just fine, but not as well as the Campy 9/10 Record long-cage with Jtek Model #1… so that’s what we sent the bike off with for the US Nationals.
Can you be more specific as to which components you have, to include 9 or 10 speed X9 and cassette? Again, if you have a 10-speed X9 rear derailleur you won’t need the Jtek.
Mark,
I have been using Campy Ultra 10 Ergo bifters with a Campy Record Long Cage RD and a Shimano 9 speed 11-34 cassette. No adaptor was used. My LBS says this combo is known to work and it does work ok but there is in theory .2 mm/shift mismatch. This does catch up to you when shifting to the last and largest cog and to the smallest cog. This could be corrected by a Jtek #1 adaptor. There is also the issue of using a RD designed for a 29 tooth large cog with a 34. Adjusting the B screw allows it to work but the spacing between the upper jockey pulley and the cogs is not optimum across the cassette.
I would like to retain the Campy bifters but go to a SRAM XO to handle the larger cogs. I think this is the setup you are suggesting. There seem to be two theoritical issues with this setup. First, the SRAM deraileur is expecting either 3 mm or 3.1 mm of cable pull/shift (depending on who you believe-SRAM is not very forthcoming with designed cable pull) while the Campy bifters only pull 2.8 mm on avarage. It seems like I would still have the .2 mm/shift mismatch. This could be corrected using a Jtek #1 adaptor but it seems you did not use one in your setup. Would shifting be even better if you included one? Second, the Campy bifters pull different amounts of cable for the various cogs while SRAM deraileurs expect constant cable pulls. Did you see any impact from this mismatch in your setup?
The Campy 10 shifters + SRAM X0 10 speed rear derailleur + Shimano 10 speed 11x32t cassette + KMC 10 speed chain continue to deliver the best shifting performance we’ve experienced in quite some time… absolutely no complaints. In fact, I was thinking about just how nice it has been not thinking about our shifting or having to use any “english” on the shifter paddles to cancel out minor gear chatter.
Using the Jtek shiftmate 5S (the in-line Jteks used with SRAM) creates all kinds of problems.
We also used the Campy 10 Ergo / Record Long Cage w/Shimano 9 speed cassettes in both no-Jtek & with Jtek with pretty good results. It worked best with the Jtek & 12x27t cassettes; nearly flawless shifting. Going to the 11x32t would cause the 32t cassette to ride on derailleur’s upper jockey wheel in the 30x32t and 32x32t granny gear combos that we used and I found that going Jtek less also required a little of the aforementioned “english’ on the Brifter paddles to dial out chain chatter now and again.
Again, bottom line is the Campy/SRAM X0 10/Shimano 10 has been a very pleasant surprise for us.
Since we have many other bikes with Shimano brifters (my wife says to many), I don’t want to switch to Campy brifters. I would like to use the Ultegra 6703 10 speed brifters with my custom ratio Shimano 9 speed cassette 11-12-13-14-15-17-20-24-30 to eliminate the Travel Agents and the shifter cables that interfere with a handlebar bag. I don’t really trust 10 speed chains at this point yet and I can’t make a custom 10 speed cassette in a ratio I want.
Has anyone tried Shimano 10 speed brifters with a 9 speed cassette with:
1. DaVinci SRAM X9 rear derailleur
2. JTek adapter and Shimano XTR rear derailleur
Trying to figure out which gives the best shifting and reliability.
Do you ‘recommend’ using Campa 10sp shifters with the Sram X0 RD on a normal road bike?
Unless someone needed to run a 32t or 34t cassette on their normal road bike, probably not. IMHO, hybrid shifting configurations like this are work-arounds for tandems when an integrated system like Campy Ergo doesn’t offer a rear derailleur & cassette with gearing that’s low enough for a given team’s needs. Trust me, if Campy had offered a rear derailleur with 32t or 34t capacity and the associated cassettes in those ranges, our tandems would have always run full Campy.
Thanks.
I now run a full Campa Veloce setup, but I want a MTB-like gearing for the mountains. Also, I’m quite disappointed with the limited cassette options Campa offers and the absurd price for their low-end cassettes.
I’m guessing it’s a safer bet to go with a Shimano mid or long cage RD in conjuction with a Shiftmate?
PS: Pardon my english, I’m from rainy Belgium.
There are a number of different combinations that work. The Shiftmates work well with Campy/Shimano/Shimano, Campy/SRAM/Shimano. You just need to make sure the roller/cam stays aligned properly after removing a rear wheel or any maintenance.
You could use Miche individual cogs which are very reasonable on either a campy or Shimano hub. They have up to a 29 tooth. The only downside is that you need a strong derailleur spring to shift quickly to smaller cogs. You could also use a larger Shimano cog, up to 34 T, wih the Miche cogs and their Campy spacers. I have heard of broken final Miche cogs, so you could use a Campy/Shimano final cog.
I eventually bought a Sram X9 10 spd RD with a medium cage and mounted a shim. 105-cassette (11-28) on a borrowed wheel. It took some time to find the right cable tension but I got it to work almost flawlessly. 🙂
I’ll post a brief videoreview when I get to it.
I’m impressed aswell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A54DnqK4kyc 🙂
I recently bought a road bike equipped with SRAM apex 10 speed components. For the most part they are fine but I really don’t like the limited trim ability on the front derailleur. After constant adjustments it seems I am still getting cage rub in far to many gear combinations. I know that people are using Campy 10 speed brifters with Sram R.D.’S, but my question is if I swap out to a 9 speed SRAM cogset & mate it with 1998 Campy Veloce brifters will it still work as well as the 10 speed conversion. any thoughts would be much appreciated. thanks.
By 1998 Campy Veloce, you mean 9 speed and SRAM 9 speed is the same as Shimano 9 speed with regard to cassette spacing. The missing piece here is with which rear derailleur? Regardless, JTek Shiftmates exist for just about any combination that you’d want to run and they provide very reliable shifting performance.
I’ve used Campy 9 Ergo w/Campy 9 Rear Derailleur, Shimano 9 cassettes and a the narrow SRAM chains in the past without an adapter like a Jtek with some success, but it takes some careful adjustment to keep the chain from chattering. I currently use Campy 10 Ergo w/a SRAM X.0 rear derailleur and Shimano 10 speed cassettes and no adapter as well with pretty precise shifting. Again, not a lot of room for any mis-adjustment.
You just need to decide what you’d like to use and then figure out how to make it work; there’s usually a solution.
TG, hope you dont mind me dusting off this old thread. Theres not a ton of info on the web about the subject, and Im hoping for first hand knowledge before investing in parts.
I plan on running a set of Campy ultrashift 10spd shifters on my in-process cyclocross rig. Because of the terrain, it would be great if I could use a clutch type mtb derailleur. From what Ive read theres zero chance of success with Shimano Shadow+, so that leaves SRAM Type 2.
I dont believe your X0 derailleur had a clutch. Do you know if it takes the same cable pull as the Type 2 models? Even better, would you happen to know anybody who has tried this particular set-up? Any guidance would be great. Thanks!
Paul, this is coming to you too late, I assume, but I feel like it’s worth doing on a page that might be _the_ reference for Campy shifters x SRAM RDs.
I have the following setup:
– Campy 10spd shifters
– Jtek Shiftmate 1
– SRAM GX 10spd (with clutch)
When I started this build, I tried to use TG’s setup, which is with no ratio converter. This definitely didn’t work. I chalk it up to the clutchless Exact Actuation RD being somehow different to the new generation clutched 10 spd RDs.
This is puzzling, as I thought all SRAM 10spd stuff (road and mountain) happened to be cross-compatible, so why would model of RD matter here?
In any case, once I used the Shiftmate 1 with a decent cable layout to the RD, the shifting was pretty much perfect.
Hi, i found old mtb bike, and i have campy 10sp shifter and 10sp wheel.
And how i’m understand
2008 Campagnolo Record 10-speed Ultra Ergo Shifters
2010 SRAM X.0 10-speed rear derailleur, long cage model
2011 Shimano M771 10-speed 11x32t cassette
KMC X-10 Ti Nitrate 10-speed, 5.88mm wide chain
that’s work fine? (i think casstte and chain can be different but of course 10sp)
It works well enough for the tandem but the adjustment of the derailleurs needs to be spot on. Not sure how it might work on a non-tandem bike as I’ve had mixed results when I’ve tried similar hybrid shifting systems on my singles. For example, I have a Dean Ti Castanza with Campy Chorus 9 speed shifters and rear derailleur and a Shimano cassette that was re-spaced to match the Campy cassette spacing. Shifting has always been spotty, never crisp. Some day I’ll get a Campy wheelset for that bike, but in the interim it has been doomed to sit on the rollers in the exercise room for rainy day spins in-doors.