Can I use a 10 speed Campagnolo Crankset with a 10 speed Shimano drivetrain and chain?

Question

I'm looking at rebuilding an older Cervelo R3 which had a Campy Record setup. Most of the gear is pretty old now and probably needs replacing, and I have a set of race wheels which are set up for Shimano 10 speed (these are also interchangeable with my Merida that I use for commuting hence why I have them)... I was planning on fitting out the Cervelo with new (ish) full shimano components, then read somewhere that cranksets are pretty much interchangeable...

SO, to save money - Even though I'd be committing a cardinal sin - can I use my old Campy Crankset + BB (which I know fits the bike), to work with a shimano Front Derallieur, Shimano Chain and Shimano RD + Shifters?

Any help appreciated thank you!

Answer 1

You don't say what generation of Campy you have. There are small differences in chainring width and spacing for 9/10/11 speed groupsets; perhaps in extreme circumstances, you could wedge the chain between the chainrings if you put an 11-speed chain on a 10-speed crankset, but I think this would be rare.

The differences between Campagnolo and Shimano for a given number of speeds are very small and shouldn't be an issue at all.

Other than that, I don't think there would be any potential problems with this mix-and-match setup.

Answer 2

Can I use a 10 speed Campagnolo Crankset with a 10 speed Shimano drivetrain and chain?

Yes.

I have a Campagnolo Record 10-speed crankset on a bike that otherwise has DuraAce 7800 components on it. It shifts fine, better in fact than any other bicycle I have, although that's probably mostly due to the DuraAce 7800, which is probably the best-shifting non-electronic Shimano groupset ever*.

Add in the Campy Record crankset is just about the stiffest crankset I've ever ridden, and that's got to help shift quality also.

* - Running the shifter cables under the bar tape comes with quite a penalty in shifting quality, and 7800 was the last DuraAce groupset that didn't run the shifter cables under the bar tape.