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So I have an old road bike and instead of coughing up cash for new one I've decided to just start upgrading parts now and slowly build a better custom bike, one piece at a time.

My bike currently has shimano rsx group set minus the shifters which were replaced with Shimano sora flight deck triple shifters. Old stuff I know!

Triple ring in front and 8 in back.

So I wanted to get this wheel set: http://www.wiggle.com/campagnolo-zonda-clincher-wheelset/

But it says compatible with 10 and 11 speeds.

How can I get this working on my bike?

without having to get a newer crankset (10 or 11 speed) or group set. I want to get a new group set but rather get wheels first to make riding more fun and fast.

Any advice is mush appreciated! Relatively new to upgrading.

3 Answers 3

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My advice is "don't".

Campagnolo doesn't typically play nice with non-Campy stuff without jumping through hoops (see footnote). In particular, Shimano cassettes (which you need for <=10 speed systems for Shimano shifters) won't go on a Campagnolo freehub. So, you need to either move completely to Campy (expensive) or buy a rear wheel which is Shimano compatible. A 11 speed Shimano comaptible freehub will take an 8 speed cassette with some spacer(s) thrown on. Most <11 speed Shimano compatible freehubs will not take a 11 speed cassette since they are too short (exception is some Mavic ones).

[Zinn has found that the 11 speed stuff plays OK with each other, but Sora isn't a 11 speed set]

I'd personally recommend getting a wheel (if you had to) which has a Shimano compatible freehub on it. And for what its worth, 8 speeds is plenty - you may want a different cassette in the back or whatever, but you'll get a lot more gain if you become more fit [you may also feel faster on a racier bike; given that wheels are one of the most expensive parts of a bike (along with the frame and shifters), you may just want to upgrade to a whole new racier bike ]. For this reason, I'd say if the wheel is working, don't bother replacing it (or if it isn't and it needs minor repairs, e.g. truing, get that done and go ride).

Footnote: I understand there are hacks such as JTek Shiftmates for interfacing Campy wheels+hubs with Shimano shifters and what not, but this is not an ideal option [and I don't know the entire Campy compatibility ruleset, so I choose to ignore it]. There are also freehubs which have parts which can be swapped for switching between Shimano and Campy (made by Mavic), but this is also rather expensive.

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  • Thanks for the insight! I was actually going to get the shimano free hub. You can see here chainreactioncycles.com/us/en/… that either you can choose campy ed11 free hub OR shimano m11 free hub, which is what I would get. So in this case, will it work with spacers? I've been trying to look up tech specs and figure out what size spacer(s) I would need but no luck. Did find this slowtwitch.com/Tech/Cassette_How-To_-_Part_2_3257.html but doesn't mention 8 speed. Any idea?
    – John_911
    Aug 4, 2014 at 5:23
  • If you have the Shimano compatible freehub, then yes, you should be able to get it working. That particular freehub is made by Mavic, so you need the Mavic spacer (which is a bit bigger than the ones you would get from Shimano) - you can go to your LBS or somewhere and look for the spacer for 8 speed cassettes on a Mavic Shimano compatible freehub (2mm Mavic specific). It should come with the wheel but you should double check that.
    – Batman
    Aug 4, 2014 at 6:57
  • Campagnolo sell their wheels with either Shim or Campy freehub. So chose the right one. To mount an 8-sprocket cassette you'll need spacers of 3mm or 1.8mm before you put the cassette in.
    – Carel
    Aug 4, 2014 at 7:36
  • Thanks a lot! Can't wait to start building a better ride.
    – John_911
    Aug 4, 2014 at 8:07
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Campagnolo (not Mavic) make a Shimano-compatible cassette body for the Zonda.

It's the same unit as they also use on the Fulcrum wheels and it will take a genuine Shimano cassette directly.

Whilst the cassette body is advertised as 10/11s, it will work fine with 8s - the spline pattern on the inside of the cassette sprockets is the same.

You will need to use the supplied spacer under the cassette in order to lock it firmly in place.

HTH, Graeme - Velotech Cycling Ltd - Campagnolo main UK SC

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Yes, this is old but: get the Shimano freehub, no problems at all. Zonda is a nice awheel set at a good price. Hope you bought them.

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    Welcome to Bicycles.SE. Please see the Tour for an overview of how this and other Stack Exchange sites work. By "no problems at all" do you mean that you have experience with this problem? Are you able to expand your post to answer the question more fully? If not, you should probably just upvote the answer by Graeme.
    – Gary.Ray
    Sep 10, 2014 at 20:32

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