Trainer Cassette Compatibility Campagnolo and Shimano

Equipment
1

Hello all,

Apologies if this has been talked about before. I have a road bike running Campagnolo 12 speed mechanical and a wahoo Kickr with a campy 12 speed cassette. Looking at acquiring a triathlon bike which will most likely have Shimano 11 speed. What are the options for being able to use the same trainer for both bikes? My initial thought was to do one of the following:

A) Use the existing 12 speed campagnolo cassette for both bikes and find a suitable gear to use with the 11 speed Shimano drivetrain on the tri bike

B) Install an 11 speed cassette on the trainer and find a suitable gear that works with the campy 12 speed drivetrain

I guess the main question is: Is it safer to run a 12 speed setup on an 11 speed cassette or the other way around? The trainer is used almost exclusively in erg mode so shifting performance is not of much concern to me. Retrofitting campagnolo eps onto the future tri bike is also out of the question.

Thanks in advance!

2

IDK for a fact, but I’ll hazard a guess that it’s better to run a 11sp chain on a 12sp cassette as the chain is very slightly wider. Going the other way, the chain will be narrow compared to the cassette teeth and might bind or wear. The difference is chain width is very small so it might not be an issue anyway.

3

In all likelihood, it is 6 of one, half dozen of the other. I’d do which ever is easier.

I’d most likely just default to what the freehub body is on the trainer and let that be your determining factor, otherwise you are gonna have to buy and then swap out the freehub body, which is just an extra unneeded expense and hassle.

4

When I purchased my new campag groupset, I also bought the campag freehub/ spare cassette for the kickr. I still have a Shimano free hub and 11 speed cassette available to use

6

If you’re just running in erg, find the quietest gear with the straightest chainline and call it good.