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I have a wheelset with a Campagnolo cassette body. I want to run Sora 9-speed brifters with my wheelset. Will this work?

I believe that it will because according to the information posted on Sheldon's site (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cribsheet-spacing.html), and that a Campagnolo cassette with Shimano spacers is within 0.03mm of a Shimano cassette's spacing all the time, and this matches the tolerances of a SRAM cassette - which is known to work with Shimano components.

A Campy cog is 1.75mm thick. A Shimano cassette is 1.78mm thick. A SRAM cassette is 1.8mm thick. However, SRAM spacers are 2.54mm thick. Shimano spacers are 2.56mm thick. So it appears that SRAM makes up for its extra cog thickness by reducing spacer thickness. There is a 0.05mm difference between a SRAM cog and a Shimano cog, but the spacer is thinner on SRAM setups - by 0.02mm, so the net difference between Shimano and SRAM in terms of cog center to cog center is only 0.03mm.

A Campagnolo cassette with Shimano spacers will similarly have a 0.03mm tolerance as Campagnolo sprockets are 0.03mm thinner than Shimano cassettes.

So, will it work? Any real life experiences?

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  • Other points to consider : will it wear out the chain or cassette faster ? Is the chain compatible ? Are the cogs the exact same shape as the Shimano one ?
    – Bibz
    Commented Jun 26, 2015 at 19:56
  • They aren't exactly same but close enough. 9-speed Campagnolo is noisy and apparently designed to be so, it's fine.
    – ojs
    Commented Jun 27, 2015 at 7:21

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A normal Campagnolo cassette will work, but possibly not as smoothly as pure Shimano or Campagnolo setup. The width difference between 9-speed Shimano and Campagnolo cassettes is 1.9 mm. If you adjust the derailleur for middle cog and fix the smallest and largest cogs with limit screws, cogs 2 and 8 will be off by 0.73 mm. This setup has been used in races where neutral support has only one brand of wheels.

If you mix in Shimano spacers, the largest error will be 0.1 mm, well below tolerances in derailleur or adjusting accuracy. It will work. You may need an extra spacer below the cassette to compensate for the width difference.

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Yes, it works. I ran a Campy hub and cassette with Shimano DuraAce shifters and derailleurs with no problem. Chain was usually SRAM or Shimano. 9 speed is wonderfully versatile in this regard! Just make sure your rear derailleur hanger is straight. That tends to exaggerate tolerance discrepancies more than anything else.

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