Eastway82 said:Anyone got any advice/tips, for stripping/rebuilding Campag Ergos? I bought a Record carbon fibre right hand unit yesterday for 10 euros from a boot sale. It's had a lot of use by the look of it (pivot pin for the brake lever is well worn and needs replacing), but it seems to work. I thought I'd strip it and see if the internals are ok, and if so I'll sort it and look for a left unit to go with it (anyone got a spare...?). If it's not worth rebuilding then at least I'll have gained a bit of experience which might come in handy later, and that's got to be worth 10 euros!
Anything to look out for/avoid? And what about parts? Anyone got a good souce, preferably UK or France?
Oh, the unit is 9 speed, with 'Carbon BB System' on the hood which might help someone date it...
Presuming you haven't started, yet, the MAIN thing you need to know is that the LARGE "clock" spring is going to be the most difficult piece to get back in place ... and, it may surprise you when you are disassembling the lever (if it hasn't already!).
As someone remarked: ... if you get it back together the FIRST time, then you are a "god."
A "problem" with the ERGO shifters is that the replacement parts are REALLY expensive ... your LBS should be able to order the parts.
The G-springs probably need to be replaced on your shifter ... perhaps, the ratchet wheels. I believe it is the G-spring which keeps the engaged mechanism from slipping ... that is, on a bumpy roadway, if the shifter(s) change without your manual input, then the G-springs are "worn."
IF the hoods are REALLY worn smooth, figure they probably have at least 12,000 miles of use ... I think Branford suggests a rebuild timetable. At 12,000+ miles, the time may have arrived ... BUT, 12,000 miles (?) is JUST an estimate because everyone shifts at a different rate per mile/kilometer because terrain/etc. varies AND people grip their levers differently (if hood wear is used as an indicator).
The good news & bottom line is that you can cannibalize the least expensive (e.g., XENON) shifter for most of the parts (~25GBP? per XENON shifter ...) IF you need more than just the G-springs ... a new, cannibalized shifter will also provide you with a FRESH hood ($15US+/~10GBP?, each!). By my observation, only the CENTRAL SHAFT & ball bearing cartridge are a different size (and, because the bearing is different, the composite housing is undoubtedly a different size, too). I think the cost of a new hood + G-springs will come close to equalling, if not exceeding (depending on your LBS) the cost of a XENON shift lever ... so, if there are any other bits that need to be replaced, then buying the individual bits could become a disappointing process.
FWIW. Roughly, the stenciling makes it sometime pre-2002, I think ... but, the time frame could be as early as 1998. I think it was somewhere in the 2001-2002 timeframe that Campagnolo introduced their 10-speed ... maybe, earlier; but, 9-speed shifters were still available (old stock?) in Record & Chorus, AFAIK.
FWIW2. I had a 1998 (i.e., the first year of the "current" style) Chorus lever which needed to be re-built (I finally got around to attending to it last year) ... after pricing the EXTRA (more-than just G-springs ... HMmmm, now that I think about it, I seem to recall that as long as I had the two levers apart, I was going to replace the ratchet wheel on the Chorus with the one from the Mirage, but it couldn't be swapped, so whatever fits on the central shaft is exclusive to either the Record/Chorus OR Centaur/Veloce/Mirage/Xenon shifter, respectively) bits-and-pieces, I realized that it would be more expedient to cannibalize all the internals from another, so a recent Mirage shifter was sacrificed for the endeavor. Originally, I wanted to maintain the housing's central Ball Bearings (vs. a bushing) ... of course, THAT is when I learned the shafts were a different size! In the end, having taken the TWO apart, I ended up simply moving the shift blade & brake lever to the Mirage body!
Motivation is the key to rebuilding an(y) ERGO shifter. If the 1998 Chorus had been my FIRST EXPERIENCE, then it would have been horrendous. Fortunately, I had rebuilt two other shifters before BUT I still have two others to rebuild which I stashed in a box a couple of years ago! THAT is one way of saying I just don't have the motivation to put them back together!
