I have a new (actually used) bike arriving next week, and it has a complete Centaur grouppo with an 11-23 rear cassette. The 23 won't do for me in the local hills so I'll have to go up to a 13-26 or 13-29. I understand that if I go to the 29 I also have to change out the rear derailleur to the medium size - more money, but probably the sensible thing to do for these 45 year old knees. I have a couple of questions....

Can I mix together components from Record, Chorus and Centaur? For instance, can I put a medium Record or Chorus rear derailleur - I'm presuming everything is 10 speed - with a Chorus cassette and the rest of the Centaur system? Are these interchangeable? I've been to the Campy website, but it doesn't quite address this specific issue.

Is this something I can do myself? I'm a relative newbie with very limited tools, but provided there isn't any real danger of doing damage or some sensitive microadjusting, I'd like to do more wrenching on my bikes. However, I want it done right, so if if's something for a pro mechanic, so be it.

Thanks in advance for your help...

I have a new (actually used) bike arriving next week, and it has a complete Centaur grouppo with an 11-23 rear cassette. The 23 won't do for me in the local hills so I'll have to go up to a 13-26 or 13-29. I understand that if I go to the 29 I also have to change out the rear derailleur to the medium size - more money, but probably the sensible thing to do for these 45 year old knees. I have a couple of questions....

Can I mix together components from Record, Chorus and Centaur? For instance, can I put a medium Record or Chorus rear derailleur - I'm presuming everything is 10 speed - with a Chorus cassette and the rest of the Centaur system? Are these interchangeable? I've been to the Campy website, but it doesn't quite address this specific issue.

Is this something I can do myself? I'm a relative newbie with very limited tools, but provided there isn't any real danger of doing damage or some sensitive microadjusting, I'd like to do more wrenching on my bikes. However, I want it done right, so if if's something for a pro mechanic, so be it.

Thanks in advance for your help...

10 spd Centaur, Chorus and Record would interchange with each other just fine. Sounds like for special tools all you need is the rear cassette lockring tool and of course a chain tool........but speaking of chains don't forget that you will likely have to lengthen your chain. You might luck out by buying the $16 connector kit which has 2 pins and about 6 to 8 links instead of forking over for a whole new chain (my guess is your chain now has about 106 to 108 links....you'll probably need about 112 give or take 2 (new ones come with 114).

Before you go out and buy new derailleur see if the Centaur will work. It wasn’t until 2004 that Campy offered three cage lengths for the Centaur. According to Branford Bikes website (another great source of Campy information) the max for a Centaur is 29 teeth.

You shouldn’t have a problem mixing different component groups. I’ve done it and it works perfectly fine.

If you do need to get a new rear derailleur and cassette the switch out is simple enough to do it yourself.

Enjoy the ride.

also, as i found out through this forum, the Centaur Bottom Bracket/crankset is NOT interchangeable with the Chorus/Record group. The centaur utilizes a different spindle length, while the Chorus and Record are the same.

I have a new (actually used) bike arriving next week, and it has a complete Centaur grouppo with an 11-23 rear cassette. The 23 won't do for me in the local hills so I'll have to go up to a 13-26 or 13-29. I understand that if I go to the 29 I also have to change out the rear derailleur to the medium size - more money, but probably the sensible thing to do for these 45 year old knees. ...


On the Branford bikes web site they have the calculations that are made to work out when you need to change derailleur sizes. I worked them out and found that you really don't need to make the change. I then sent my concers, thinking I did the math wrong, to the guys at Branford bikes and they stated that you indeed did not need to upgrade the size. This was with a 52/39 front.

Also if your main issue is your knees with climbing I have been contemplateing the following. Rather than changing the rear cogs which would give me wildly different gear rations I was thinking of (please no cringing) changing to an FSA crank. With the FSA BB I can then have two crank sets, the smaller double made for climbing and a "standard" when I am not anticipating hills. Obviously that requires some swapping out before rides and probably costs more money, but it will mean lighter weight and more gearing options in the long run.