9 speed Campy on 8 speed hubs- possible??

Ben Reuter said:

I have a Campy 8 speed Vento rear wheel and wonder if there is anyway to use a 9 speed cassette
without have to buy a new cassette body- does any company make a conversion spacer or cog kit??

9-speed sprockets will not fit without modification because the spline tabs are too long. The tabs
can be ground down and made to fit - I've done this sucessfully, but it's a lot of work. The
lockring can /just/ cope with the extra cassette width (if you want to use all 9 sprockets) - your
frame may or may not (a 12T top may help instead of 13T).

If you have 9-speed shifters then it should be possible to use eight 8-speed sprockets re-spaced for
9-speed (and lock-out first position with rear der limit screw), and use one or two 0.5mm spacers
behind cassette to bulk it out. I'm not sure where you'd find the spacers right now (I haven't done
the sums*) but there will be a solution, I'm sure. A 9-speed chain should be best with this.

* Bear in mind that 8sp sprockets are thicker than 9sp
* Spacing info: sheldonbrown.comk7.htmlOpen ↗

~PB

Ben Reuter said:

I have a Campy 8 speed Vento rear wheel and wonder if there is anyway to use a 9 speed cassette
without have to buy a new cassette body- does any company make a conversion spacer or cog kit?? Any
info will be appreciated. Thanks

You need one more cog and a set of Wheels 2.5 mm purple spacers. Tiso also makes and has available
2.4 mm spacers that would work even nicer but most shops won't waste their time finding the source
domestic distributor. It is a standard Campy 10 sp spacer and I don't know who sells them
individually at an economical price.

You will be wide by ½ mm on the stack and the end cog will engage the crooves in the cassette.
You'll shift 9 fine. Making a 12/23 into a
12/26 works fine.

13.5 mm spacers are availalbe from Wheels mfg to convert Campy cassettes to Shimano spacing.