How much better does a compact FD work with a compact crank as opposed to the std Campy Record 10 FD?

Will the Std Campy record 10 FD shift like crap? i'm switching from Std chainrings to a compact FSA crank, at least for a bit until I get back in form, so i dunno if i want to invest $100 in a FD i'm only going to use for 1-2 months.

thanks

If money is an issue, why would you switch from a standard to a compact? The compact front derailleur makes a major difference on most frames. Instead of foregoing this important component, at your weight, you would be far better off to forego virtually any of the other lightweight components that you have bought. You are the type of cyclist that most shops love to have as customers: the one that spends freely to follow the latest fad.

dnalsaam ,

Damm you are a preachy one..........you make alot of assumptions.

As a former factory sponsored racer from a decade ago, I keep up my relationship with contacts there, I still get a lot of free equipment, hence all the bikes, all Giant.

Also I happen to have an extra compact crankset sitting around, so i'm not spending money on that.

Plus you have no idea what my height and build are, i'm over 6'2" so 190 lbs isn't too bad, if i was 5 ft, 200 lbs would really suck. I'll admit i'm not in racing form anymore....then again you are probably not on a TDF pro roster........are you?

Cyclists who spend money and buy everything from bike shops ARE the reason the industry exists, if the world of cyclists was made up of the elite and hardcore few who bought stuff super cheap online or from catalogs or got it from sponsors, then 90% of the companies wouldn't be around.

Get off your fricking high horse. All I asked was a simple question, which you answered, Thanks for that. I didn't need all your un-informed commentary.

If money is an issue, why would you switch from a standard to a compact? The compact front derailleur makes a major difference on most frames. Instead of foregoing this important component, at your weight, you would be far better off to forego virtually any of the other lightweight components that you have bought. You are the type of cyclist that most shops love to have as customers: the one that spends freely to follow the latest fad.

It would make sense to me to try the standard FD first, If it doesn't work to your satisfaction, then buy a Centaur compact FD for $50.

http://www.excelsports.com/new.asp?page=8&description=Centaur+Frt+Der+Compact+Braze%2Don&vendorCode=CAMP&major=1&minor=33

With FSA cranks the standard Record FD usually shifts best. The compact Record FD is very closely tuned to the compact Campagnolo rings and often doesn't work well with rings from other manufacturers.

Thank Divve,

I am planning to use a spare FSA compact crankset I have sitting around, I will give it a try with my Std Record FD...thanks !

With FSA cranks the standard Record FD usually shifts best. The compact Record FD is very closely tuned to the compact Campagnolo rings and often doesn't work well with rings from other manufacturers.

you may wanna try their Compact FD as well. if just testing run standard but get a dogtooth (chain watcher) as biggest issue with reg front der. and compact cranks is dropping the chain. Chain watchers are under 10 bucks usually

With FSA cranks the standard Record FD usually shifts best. The compact Record FD is very closely tuned to the compact Campagnolo rings and often doesn't work well with rings from other manufacturers.

I'm running a Centaur compact front with a Bontrager (nee Truvative) compact crank and it shifts beautifully. My "backup" bike is Campy 8 speed with the same crank (50-36) but with an Ultegra 9 front. It doesn't shift nearly as well but is quite serviceable.

The real issue is running a 50-34. Standard front derailleurs don't work very well at all despite Shimano's claims to the contrary.

I am running FSA cranks (both 50/36) on both my Campy bikes. One with a standard Veloce derailleur, the other with a Chorus CT FD. The Chorus FD works ok, but not stellar. I have had to adjust it a lot. Prior to going Campy I used the IRD FD, which was excellent. I sold that off with my gruppo and wish I had not.

On the other hand, the Veloce standard FD works just fine. Set it and forget it. I keep thinking about trying the FSA Compact FD, and probably will at some point.

If you are running a 34 it will probably make a bigger difference given the 16 tooth jump.

BTW, I have agreed with C40 twice today. Not sure if that is a good thing! :-)

I put a compact crankset (FSA carbon) on My EV2 Bianchi about 6 months ago; the head wrench at my lbs suggested I try something he called a "third eye" and see if that worked before ponying up for a compact Campy front derailleur. It worked (and works) wonderfully. The chain drops down and pops back up between rings smoothly and quickly and has yet to fall off to the inside. The "third eye" is some kind of small, black plastic thing that bolts on to the very bottom of the seat tube, at the point where it interesects with the bottom bracket. It costs about 9 bucks and is all but invisible on my frame (which is black anodized). Did the same thing on my wife's Specialized S-Works with the same results. Worth a try, for sure.

I am running FSA cranks (both 50/36) on both my Campy bikes. One with a standard Veloce derailleur, the other with a Chorus CT FD. The Chorus FD works ok, but not stellar. I have had to adjust it a lot. Prior to going Campy I used the IRD FD, which was excellent. I sold that off with my gruppo and wish I had not.

On the other hand, the Veloce standard FD works just fine. Set it and forget it. I keep thinking about trying the FSA Compact FD, and probably will at some point.

If you are running a 34 it will probably make a bigger difference given the 16 tooth jump.

BTW, I have agreed with C40 twice today. Not sure if that is a good thing! :-)

Since you're running a 50/36, which has the same 14 tooth difference as a 53/39, you shouldn't even consider running a compact FD. A regular FD will work best.

Since you're running a 50/36, which has the same 14 tooth difference as a 53/39, you shouldn't even consider running a compact FD. A regular FD will work best.

This is not true at all! The shape of the useful shift arc changes quite dramatically as the chainrings get smaller. On my racing tandem, I have a 40/50/60 which shifts much more easily than when I fit the same bike with a 36/46/56 and move the derailleur down to accomodate the smaller chainrings. Most non-compact derailleurs are designed for optimum functionality with a 39 tooth small and a 52-54 large chainring; anything different makes for a less than optimum shift. This does not mean that it won't work, but rather it is not the optimum that the designer calculated for. In the pre-compact time, no road component designer would have taken anything smaller than a 39 into consideration, so you are looking at a situation that was not taken into consideration. If it works, great! If not, don't blame the designer for less than optimum functionality as it was not foreseen as a possible need.