Chorus Dropping Gears

how old is the drivetrain? Could be the chain and cassette are worn. This will cause the chain to skip under load as you describe.

KGnagey said:

how old is the drivetrain? Could be the chain and cassette are worn. This will cause the chain to skip under load as you describe.

Brand new (almost). Wipperman Connex 9sp and Veloce 12-23 9sp. They have about 1000km on them. The front rings are older but I wouldn't expect it would make too much of an impact. Occurs on both the small and the large ring.

--brett

sideshow_bob said:

Hi,

I've got Chorus 9 speed on my bike, including 9 speed ergos and 9 speed rear. I think they are 2002 models.

My problem is this. I adjust the rear derailleur as per the Campy spec sheet and shifting is perfect. On a ride when I stand up and load the drive train either climbing or sprinting the chain will drop into higher gears, usually it won't just drop one it will keep popping down until I sit down and push the inner level on the ergo's (which takes you to lower gears).

Any ideas what might be causing this?

--brett

Check chain and cassette as previously suggested, if not that then you might need an ergo lever rebuild. Typically new G springs & carriers are required. Here's a bit more on that:

velonews.comlevers.htmlOpen ↗
yellowjersey.orgergo1.htmlOpen ↗

If this looks daunting, lots of bike shops do it for a standard charge (usually $20 plus parts).

KGnagey said:

how old is the drivetrain? Could be the chain and cassette are worn. This will cause the chain to skip under load as you describe.

Actually the other thing I should include is that if I'm riding on the hoods and have my middle finger resting on the bottom of the hood where there is a slot in the rubber cover, when the gears drop I can actually feel the mechanism ratcheting down with each drop in the rear cog.

--brett

I had the same problem. It was the shifter. The "index" wheel was worn out and won't hold a gear. Campy shifters can be rebuilt. The wheel runs about $25.00 and another $25.00 to have it done. Branford does these repairs.
Good luck !

http://www.branfordbike.com/

sideshow_bob said:

Hi,

I've got Chorus 9 speed on my bike, including 9 speed ergos and 9 speed rear. I think they are 2002 models.

My problem is this. I adjust the rear derailleur as per the Campy spec sheet and shifting is perfect. On a ride when I stand up and load the drive train either climbing or sprinting the chain will drop into higher gears, usually it won't just drop one it will keep popping down until I sit down and push the inner level on the ergo's (which takes you to lower gears).

Any ideas what might be causing this?

--brett

Check your RD hanger it may be out of alignment. An LBS can check that for you in minutes. You have to have a lot of miles with a lot of shifting to have the ratchet go bad. Check to see what year they actually are. In 2001 the RD changed the parallelogram shifting mechanism slightly. If you have an older RD and are trying to use it with the new calipers and cassette there might be a problem. This sounds strange. I have C-Record 1990, Chorus 2004, Record 2003, Daytona 2001, and Centaur 2005 on my various bikes and going from the mechanic stand adjustment on all the bikes has been flawless. Your best bet rather than guessing would be to take the bike to the closest shop LBS that specializes in Campy and have one of the wrench jockeys adjust the bike and take it for a trial ride. It might be cheaper than trying to guess and go through parts changes. Would be a good time to get some tips from the local guru on campy.

Thanks for the tips on rebuilding.... I will have to do this to my 1998 levers SOON !!!!!!!!!!!

sideshow_bob said:

Hi,

I've got Chorus 9 speed on my bike, including 9 speed ergos and 9 speed rear. I think they are 2002 models.

My problem is this. I adjust the rear derailleur as per the Campy spec sheet and shifting is perfect. On a ride when I stand up and load the drive train either climbing or sprinting the chain will drop into higher gears, usually it won't just drop one it will keep popping down until I sit down and push the inner level on the ergo's (which takes you to lower gears).

Any ideas what might be causing this?

--brett

Sounds like a chainline prob - can be caused by a number of things. What crankset do you use and what is the length of the BB? Is the the chain new or have stretched? What is the frame?

sideshow_bob said:

.I adjust the rear derailleur as per the Campy spec sheet and shifting is perfect. On a ride when I stand up and load the drive train either climbing or sprinting the chain will drop into higher gears, usually it won't just drop one it will keep popping down until I sit down and push the inner level on the ergo's (which takes you to lower gears).

Any ideas what might be causing this?

--brett

If the chain keeping droping down one cog after another, it can't just be a problem with wore cogs, or chains, or misaligned derailleur. Worn cogs and chains might cause the chain to jump one cog. A misaligned derailleur might cause the chain to jump once to seek a new center with the derailleur cage. But the chain won't keep jumping down once it dropped past the derailleur to the otherside.

The only way the chain can keep dropping down one cog after another is if the derailleur is moving down the cogs with the chain. So the only way this can happen is if the rachet in the shifter is not holding the derailleur cable steady.

sideshow_bob said:

Actually the other thing I should include is that if I'm riding on the hoods and have my middle finger resting on the bottom of the hood where there is a slot in the rubber cover, when the gears drop I can actually feel the mechanism ratcheting down with each drop in the rear cog.

--brett

Agree with bikeyguy and chuck...it's got to be the shifter mech that's worn out, allowing the cable to unwind and shift out to the smaller cogs.

At least the Campagnolo shifters can be rebuilt. I'm running 2003 Shimano DA 9 sp shifters, and certainly hope they don't start doing this any time soon.

Suggest you check with your LBS first on the repairs; a buddy with Campy told me one of the LBS here does them often.

An ergo shifters are so complicated that a do it yourself (and even LBS) rebuild creates more harm than done and may be an expensive exercise into futility. Even campy does not have a manual for this coz they don’t advise it. Unless you know exactly whats wrong and parts that need replacing it is best to leave it be. However it is possible and bike guys at campyonly.com have done it and the instructions/schematics are available in the site.

But at this point you still don't know 100% if it’s the shifters although they're the prime suspect. What is peculiar in this case is that how come it happens only during climbing or when much load is applied. A defective derailleur (ie. cracked parallelogram) can also cause this.

What you can do to find out once and for all is to install the shift lever in a similar drive train (chorus9, centaur9, veloce9) and see if the same happens. But only do this once you are certain that your chainline is sound, the rear der. Is OK, there is no cable stretch, and the chain is still ok.

Another way to ascertain if the rachet mech in the shift lever is giving out is this. A chorus 9 speed shift lever has 8 shift points. If you are in a certain gear when the jump happens, say, the fifth gear, and it shifts a cog (going into the 4), you should have 3 remaining shifts to go to top gear. This means the shifter is skipping a rachet. But if you still have 4 remaining shifts then the problem could lie somewhere else.

hd reynolds said:

An ergo shifters are so complicated that a do it yourself (and even LBS) rebuild creates more harm than done and may be an expensive exercise into futility. Even campy does not have a manual for this coz they don’t advise it. Unless you know exactly whats wrong and parts that need replacing it is best to leave it be.

I have to disagree here. Rebuilding a campy shifter is not that hard. I've done a few myself. Check out this site for all the info you need. They even have a diagram. http://campyonly.com/howto/ergo_rebuild.html
More than likely you just need new springs. R: EC-RE209 / L:EC-RE210.
Take it to a LBS if your not comfortable with mechanical things. The center bolt EC-RE307 is reverse threaded if I remember correctly.

hd reynolds said:

An ergo shifters are so complicated that a do it yourself (and even LBS) rebuild creates more harm than done and may be an expensive exercise into futility. Even campy does not have a manual for this coz they don’t advise it. Unless you know exactly whats wrong and parts that need replacing it is best to leave it be. However it is possible and bike guys at campyonly.com have done it and the instructions/schematics are available in the site.

But at this point you still don't know 100% if it’s the shifters although they're the prime suspect. What is peculiar in this case is that how come it happens only during climbing or when much load is applied. A defective derailleur (ie. cracked parallelogram) can also cause this.

What you can do to find out once and for all is to install the shift lever in a similar drive train (chorus9, centaur9, veloce9) and see if the same happens. But only do this once you are certain that your chainline is sound, the rear der. Is OK, there is no cable stretch, and the chain is still ok.

Another way to ascertain if the rachet mech in the shift lever is giving out is this. A chorus 9 speed shift lever has 8 shift points. If you are in a certain gear when the jump happens, say, the fifth gear, and it shifts a cog (going into the 4), you should have 3 remaining shifts to go to top gear. This means the shifter is skipping a rachet. But if you still have 4 remaining shifts then the problem could lie somewhere else.

HDR,
I have rebuilt and upgraded levers for Veloce,Daytona, Centaur, Chorus, Record, and C-Record early ergo and once you know how to do it it is relatively easy to rebuild the shifter your self. Go to www.branfordbike.com or www.campyonly.com and you can find the instructions on how to rebuild the ergo shifter. The Shimano STI shifters can be rebuilt too but Shimano discourages the practice. The ability to rebuild Campy components is one of the great features of Campagnolo. They sell the parts to rebuild the Ergo Shifters quite cheaply and they are usually readily available from the really experienced Campy dealers. That is the great equalizer in any price difference between Campy and Shimano. Dropping the buck for a new set of STI levers is quite a bit more and the 1st rebuild makes the initial price difference quite moot. I have taken my 8 and 9 spd and upgraded them both to 9 and 10 spd respectively.

Altho they're suspect, the cause of the problem hasn't been determined - yet you guys are talking of rebuild.

For the mechanically adept a rebuild is possible. If not better go to an LBS that knows how to rebuild campy ergos.

Altho they're suspect, the cause of the problem hasn't been determined - yet you guys are talking of rebuild.

For the mechanically adept a rebuild is possible. If not better go to an LBS that knows how to rebuild campy ergos.

hd reynolds said:

Altho they're suspect, the cause of the problem hasn't been determined - yet you guys are talking of rebuild.

For the mechanically adept a rebuild is possible. If not better go to an LBS that knows how to rebuild campy ergos.

I guess I got off topic. I was simply giving a rebuttle to your emphatic statement on the difficulty of rebuilding campy ergo levers and gave a source of where to get good information. Just part of a friendly discussion.

Without seeing the bike there is no way of giving any definitive suggestion on what to do. I really think that a trip to an LBS with a decent wrench jockey will be his only solution to the dilemma.

I have been riding campy for a long time and the only time I have had gears change spontaneously on me was when I installed the bolt on my friction DT shifters and forgot the washer behind the spring. I couldn't get the tension tight enough. With ergo I haven't had any problems at all. I typically get more than 10K before I even think about doing any work on the ergos. Again appologize for getting off topic...sort of.

Deanster04 said:

I guess I got off topic. I was simply giving a rebuttle to your emphatic statement on the difficulty of rebuilding campy ergo levers and gave a source of where to get good information. Just part of a friendly discussion.

Seems to me he got it figured. There's no reply from him.

hd reynolds said:

Seems to me he got it figured. There's no reply from him.

Hi,

I had to wait to this last weekend until I was able to get my bike into the shop. Turns out the ergo needs a rebuild or replacment. Here in Austraila the rebuild cost is approx $100(AU). The other option is replacing both mechs with Centaur 9 speed which I can get for around $170(AU) and fit myself.

The group is actually 2001 and I've had it across a couple of bikes now, with it currently sitting on a Cannondale 2004 Team Replica. The other option is pulling the entire group off (except the brakes) and replacing with 10 speed Chorus.

At this stage I've written off the idea of a rebuild and am leaning towards putting a new gruppo on.

Thanks to everyone for all their input.

--brett

sideshow_bob said:

Hi,

I had to wait to this last weekend until I was able to get my bike into the shop. Turns out the ergo needs a rebuild or replacment. Here in Austraila the rebuild cost is approx $100(AU). The other option is replacing both mechs with Centaur 9 speed which I can get for around $170(AU) and fit myself.

The group is actually 2001 and I've had it across a couple of bikes now, with it currently sitting on a Cannondale 2004 Team Replica. The other option is pulling the entire group off (except the brakes) and replacing with 10 speed Chorus.

At this stage I've written off the idea of a rebuild and am leaning towards putting a new gruppo on.

Thanks to everyone for all their input.

--brett

Chorus 10-speed is super nice 🙂

If you lived in the US.. I'd buy those used Chorus levers off of you, I'm gonna be needing a set soon.