Shimagnolo brifter hack - success stories?

[Bryan Dalik]

Inspired by Roman's Roadini (and I think Antonio has a Roadini with this hack as well), I want to jump down the Campy/Shimano rabbit hole to make some 10 speed Campy shifters work with a Shimano 9 speed cassette and XTR deraileur. Here's what I've got and hope to make work - 

XTR m950 rear deraileur

Shimano HG 11-36T cassette

Currently scouring the internet for some 10 speed Campy brifters for a good deal (anyone have some?) but can this work? Do I need to do the funky cable routing?

Is anyone out there using this setup with good success? Would love to hear from you.

Thanks!

Bryan

[Oliver Moss]

Hey Bryan,

I've done this and it does indeed work, but you will need to route the cable at the derailleur clamp if the funky manner. I'm currently using a JTek Shiftmate to use Campy 10sp brifters with a Dura-Ace 7700 derailleur, and this also works very well, but the Shiftmates are getting hard to find. 

Good luck, and have fun trying stuff out.

~Oliver

[Michael Connors]

I haven't done it, but here is an article:

https://www.cyclinguk.org/cyclists-library/components/transmission-gears/derailleur-gears/shimergo

[Spencer Robinson]

I am running my Heron Road with Campy 10 speed  centaur bifters, Shimano Long cage XT Rear Derailleur with a shiftmate…on a large, wide range 10 speed cassette.  I think it performs flawlessly. 

[Stephen A]

I have used the JTEK Shiftmate 3 in both road and mountain configurations
Road: 10s Ergopower + 10s Dura Ace 7800
Mountain: 9s Ergopower + 9s XT M739

Sometimes threading the pully requires a couple tries to get to the correct configuration, but once you get the cable threaded properly, it works great.
I suggest using OEM shimano cassettes and not cheap 3rd party ones because the machining tolerances need to be tighter for this setup, otherwise some gears will skip.

Nothing more satisfying than Ergopower, have fun ^_^

Note:
I got my pulley on ebay from SJS cycles here (if you are looking for a source): https://www.ebay.com/itm/166530753309

[Eric Marth]

Hi Bryan — I haven't done this myself, but yes, it works. 

It seems Shimano and Campagnolo set out to make sure their parts we not cross-compatible. But they didn't think about backwards compatibility. As far as I understand it, Campy 10 speed will shift Shimano 8 speed with no modifications. Campy 10s will shift Shimano 9s with the alternate cable clamping trick (described in this CX magazine article) which adjusts the pull ratio. No Shiftmate required but you "lose" a gear. If you're okay with topping out at 9s you should be good to go. 

Finding Campy 10 speed Ergopower stuff is a real pain. It took me longer than expected to track down a nice pair of Chorus 10s shifters with nice silver levers. Not a ton of em out there, hard to find them in real nice shape and when you do they're often expensive. They are coveted and often used with the shift levers removed. Rene Herse recently started a program where they will trade your Ergopower shifters for bicycle tires. I suggest you create an eBay saved search and keep an open mind about purchasing from sellers in Europe. 

Ronnie Romance also made a video about using Campy shifters and Shimano derailers together:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDMk-W6QDrw 

I just checked the Riv blog post on Roman's Roadini and you can see he has done the alternate clamping at the rear mech. Roman also links the same CX mag and Ronnie tutorials above. 

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[Brent Knepper]

I'm running the campy->shimano:10->9! it works great :) I forget what site I modeled my alt-cable routing, going under the bolt then around and outward. it looks different than the Roman pic from Eric. it still works! no glitches in the getup. biggest cog I've seen an m950 rear derailleur clear is a 34t, but maybe it can squeeze around a 36t??

shifters: centaur 10

rear derailleur: ultegra 6500 GS 9 spd, b-screw maxxxed in to clear the 32t

rear cassette: XT 11-32 9 spd

chain: kmc x9 SL

crud: excess chain wax+mud+rain combo

Brent in NY

[P W]

A longcage m952 clears an 11-36 10speed cassette running 46/30 upfront, no problem at all.

For what it’s worth!

P. W.

~

(917) 514-2207

~

On Jul 18, 2025, at 2:22 PM, Brent Knepper <in...@brentknepper.com> wrote:



<IMG_0143.jpeg>

<IMG_0136.jpeg>

Brent in NY

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/bc91628a-76f1-4c36-ba4c-823093f908can%40googlegroups.com.

<IMG_0143.jpeg>

<IMG_0136.jpeg>

[Nick Payne]

About a dozen years back I had a bike built up with Campagnolo Chorus 11s shifters (pre-2015 shifters, Campagnolo changed their 11s cable pull in 2015) and Shimano 9s XTR RD and Shimano 9s 11-36 cassette. That combination worked fine with no funky cable routing. Chris Juden (former CTC technical officer) and Art's Cyclery both used to have web pages detailing all the mix and match possibilities, but both those pages seem to have disappeared, though someone has saved the Art's Cyclery information on Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/document/392071911/Art-s-Cyclery-Blog-Science-Behind-the-Magic-Drivetrain-Compatibility.

Nick Payne

[Bryan Dalik]

Thanks y'all! This is definitely giving me some confidence - 

Eric - you're not kidding about 10spd shifters being tough to find. Ebay is proving to be very expensive for good looking levers in good shape. Do you have your Chorus shifters on a bike? I'd love to hear about that setup.

Brent - that's a great setup. I've got that derailleur as well since I know that one will work with 8 spd, but I'd love to get the shifters to work with 9spd I've got. I know for a fact the XTR can shift 36T, so it's up to the pull on the shifters I guess? Either way, I'll give it a shot once I find some shifters. Anyone? Bueller?

Thanks again - would love to hear more success stories! I emailed Roman for some intel but he's on vacation.

On Sat, Jul 19, 2025 at 3:20 PM Nick Payne <njh...@gmail.com> wrote:

About a dozen years back I had a bike built up with Campagnolo Chorus 11s shifters (pre-2015 shifters, Campagnolo changed their 11s cable pull in 2015) and Shimano 9s XTR RD and Shimano 9s 11-36 cassette. That combination worked fine with no funky cable routing. Chris Juden (former CTC technical officer) and Art's Cyclery both used to have web pages detailing all the mix and match possibilities, but both those pages seem to have disappeared, though someone has saved the Art's Cyclery information on Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/document/392071911/Art-s-Cyclery-Blog-Science-Behind-the-Magic-Drivetrain-Compatibility.

Nick Payne

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/aZboCGteuy4/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/40b09f7e-c82a-46ed-b744-f5e1b3b50290n%40googlegroups.com.

[ian m]

As mentioned, Campagnolo 11spd shifters will pull the correct amount of cable to run a Shimano 9spd cassette with no alternate cable routing just like Campagnolo 10spd shifters pull the right amount to run a Shimano 8spd cassette with no change in cable routing. As you already have the 9spd cassette and a derailer you'd like to use, and need to purchase the shifters, it makes more sense IMO to get 11spd shifters, as I don't think you'll pay more relative to the 10spd, and you won't have to figure out funky cable routing. Make sure the shifters DO NOT say QS on the lever (I don't know that Campagnolo continued Quick Shift into 11spd, but just as a precaution). The shifters don't care about the size of the cogs on your cassette, either.

I run Campy 10spd to Shimano 8 with a 9spd rapid rise derailer, and the system works great together and is a joy to use. The Campy levers are truly the best in class for looks and comfort.

[Mojo]

As Nick and Ian have discussed, I have two bikes with  Campy 11speed brifters and Shimano 9speed cassettes and derailers. Works simply great. One Shimergo bike is a Rivendell road custom with 36/50 chainrings and 12-27 cassette and an Ultegra derailer. Shown here is my Legolas with 34/48T front chainrings, the ubiquitous, useful, inexpensive Shimano 12-36 cassette, and mid-range XT derailer.

[Mojo]

[Bryan Dalik]

Such good info! Thank you all. Looks like there's a lot of possibilities here. I am on the lookout now for 10 spd or 11spd Campy shifters, proving very hard to find for non astronomical pricing. With the "dummy" gears, does the shifter still index and just not shift? Not sure if that would annoy me or not...

[Nick Payne]

I found that the Chris Juden mix-and-match page is still available: https://www.cyclinguk.org/cyclists-library/components/transmission-gears/derailleur-gears/shimergo.

Note, however, that the information on that page pre-dates Campagnolo's change to the cable pull of their 11s shifters in 2015, and I don't know if a post-2015 Campagnolo 11s shifter will mate successfully with Shimano 9s derailleur and cassette.

Nick Payne

[Oliver Moss]

Hey Nick, 

I spent some time yesterday looking into the change Campy made in 2015 to their cable pull but couldn't find much that was any help. Do you know if they also changed the 10 speed cable pull as well, or just the 11?

Thanks for any help.

~Oliver

[Nick Shoemaker]

Here's an incredibly extensive spreadsheet that I came across at some point when researching possible "Campy x _______" combos; it includes cable pull & derailleur ratio for just about everything out there ("compatibility" tab):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16C3Rz6qmzmurSNd-L3IeMSFukkBFV6D1DRbfS59EDrE/edit?gid=965182040#gid=965182040

Like others, I ran Campy 10 shifters, with Shimano 8/9 derailleurs and Shimano 8 cassettes for many years without issue. Campy 11 shifters are probably fine, but that was the point when they got rid of some of what made Campy shifters "special" in the first place (new hood shape & lever design; no longer rebuildable part-by-part like the old ergos; no more "window" on the metal shift levers...). There are recent anecdotal reports that Campy 9s Shifters + a Shimano 11s Road derailleur (or Tiagra 10s derailleur) + Shimano 9s cogs "will work". I haven't tested that combo yet myself, but plan to at some point in the future - maybe worth trying if you happen upon a good deal on some 9s Ergo levers?

[Oliver Moss]

Thanks Nick, that's a hell of a spreadsheet. 

[Eric Marth]

Thanks, Nick, Owen and Mojo, great idea about looking for Campy 11s as well. I should have mentioned that Campy shifters will work with Shimano "minus 2 gears" without modifications. I belieeeeve (?) that Campy 9 will shift Shimano 7 as well? 

@Nick S. Good golly, what an insane sets of sheets. Really pushing the limits of Google Sheets. A pleasure to look at, some great coded information here, mesmerizing gradients. Fun to browse. I wonder if I'd ever get technical enough to sort and apply any of this data.  

[chrisd]

I've used Branford Bikes to rebuild Campy Ergo shifters. Since most shifters are used it helps to get them cleaned up and replace springs.

Chris

[Bryan Dalik]

UPDATE! I've acquired 10 speed Campagnolo Centaur shifters in beautiful condition - they're in the mail now. Whoever is running 10 speed campy w/ a 9 speed Shimano cassette, do you just run the alternate cable routing? How does that work for you? I am thinking of ordering a JTEK Shiftmate 2 for this particular setup but it's quite expensive (75$ shipped from the UK). Thanks all for all the info! Very excited to see how this'll work.

Bryan

[Oliver Moss]

Hey Bryan, glad to hear you found some levers. 

I've got a bike that has 10 speed Campy levers running a 9 speed Shimano cassette, funky routing around the clamp, and it shifts just fine.

I also have a bike with 10 speed Campy levers running a 10 speed Shimano cassette with a Shiftmate #3, and it is also great. I wouldn't bother with the Shiftmate to go 10sp Campy to 9sp Shimano, to be honest. Just run the funky routing and it'll go. If you wanted to still run 10 speed I can highly recommend the Shiftmate, though.

Anyway, have fun. 

~Oliver

[thwart]

Running Campy Chorus 10 spd ergos with a da Vinci Designs converted SRAM X9 on one of my bikes... basically a slightly more polished version of the alternative RD cable routing outlined above. Using a FSA 46/30 crankset, a DA 12-27 9 spd cassette and a 10 spd Connex chain (which seems to work a bit better than a 9 spd DA chain does). Too bad the da Vinci folks only made those RD conversions for a few years.

Shift quality is quite close to my bikes with all Campagnolo 10 spd drivetrains.

- TH

[Eric Marth]

Bryan — Nice job tracking down the Ergopower bits. I'd suggest trying the alternate cable routing/clamping, see how it works (it probably will), before ordering the expensive Shiftmate. 

[Bryan Dalik]

Yeah, Eric I think that is the plan. Although another member here emailed me and told me that Peter White still has some stock I believe. If it's not terribly expensive, I may reach out to see if he has any.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/aZboCGteuy4/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/bf57670e-9fc9-4beb-a90e-315091802f0fn%40googlegroups.com.