FSA Crank-Campy Rings-- Compatability

Sooooie said:

I have a good one for you gear geniuses. I bought a used Kuota Khan bike. Lots of trouble getting the shifting perfect. I'm about to change out the cassette and chain, which were Mavic to match the Carbone wheels. It has FSA carbon Team Issue cranks, presently with a 44 tooth FSA K-Force carbon TT chainring that is worn. I also have a regular 43 tooth FSA chainring off the bike, but it is also worn.

So, I'm thinking of replacing the chain rings and looking for my best option. My initial thought is that maybe I should get Campy record rings to go with all of the rest of the components except the crank. But, I don't know if those rings would be compatible with this FSA Carbon Team crank. Does anyone know? Does anyone have any thoughts on whether I should just go with new FSA chainrings or whether Campy would give me significantly better shifting. My goal is to make the shifting as perfect as possible.

My LBS has great mechanics and I trust them to work on my bike, but when it comes to the nuances of race bikes and high end equipment, they aren't really that knowledgeable and probably don't fully appreciate how obsessive compulsive I am about getting my bike spot-on, dialed in perfect.

Thanks for your responses.

Unless you already have a 135mm BCD FSA crankset (most are 130mm), you will not be able to use Campagnolo rings. I bet that the chainrings for that crankset use 130mm BCD.

Thanks.

So, over lunch I'm at my LBS dropping off the bike for the cassette and chain change and we are talking about this issue. The mechanic suggests that I put Shimano chainrings on as they have a special patent on the ramping of their rings that makes them shift quicker and better than Campy or anyone else. He says the Shimano rings should work with the FSA crank no problem, but he didn't know whether the Campy Record chain would be compatable with the Shimano rings. Any thoughts?

Sooooie said:

Thanks.

So, over lunch I'm at my LBS dropping off the bike for the cassette and chain change and we are talking about this issue. The mechanic suggests that I put Shimano chainrings on as they have a special patent on the ramping of their rings that makes them shift quicker and better than Campy or anyone else. He says the Shimano rings should work with the FSA crank no problem, but he didn't know whether the Campy Record chain would be compatable with the Shimano rings. Any thoughts?

The Campagnolo chain will work with the Shimano rings. In my experience, the FSA rings do not shift as well as Shimano or Campy.