downtube shift to flight deck?!?

johnnyboy4711

Has anyone done this?
I would like to upgrade my bike from the old style down tibe gear shifters to the brakes lever(flight deck type).
I was wondering if anyone has experienced any problems in routing the cables especially when you remove the down tube levers?
thanks
john

kenmc

"Flight deck" is the name of Shimanos Bike Computer, not the type of shifters - they're called STI in the shimano world (Shimano Total Integration). They are also commonly referred to as 'brifters' (brakes and shifters). The flight deck controls are integrated into some of their brifters, so you can control the computer from the hoods, without having to take your hands off the bars. They also indicate the gearing you are in.
anyway, semantics aside....
You should be able to do it no problems. HOWEVER, if you only had friction shifters rather than indexed, I'd say your derailleurs will not be compatible, so you will need to change them too.
Also, you will need to find or manufacture some cablestops which you will mount on the downtube where the shifters were - there should be some bosses there when you remove the current shifters - these are to terminate the cable housing from the brifters.
So in short, it's doable, but it's not going to be cheap. A new pair of brifters (Chain reaction cycles, Tiagra, which would be the bottom level i'd recommend) are £120. Front derailleur £21, rear = £15 or £35.
here are some cablestops. £10

CheGuedara

Hey, haven't done it myself but have a friend that has.

Seemed pretty simple, take off downtube shifters, put on cable stops in the same place, put brifters onto bars and set up the brakes and gears.

You'd get 9 and 10spd ones almost anywhere and they're a bit of change dep on the level you pick even 8spd are available bit still retails for a bit of cash

blorg

I think you just need to replace the downtube shifters with these yokes. Not sure how far you might have to go with regard to changing the mechs, cassette, maybe even rear dropout spacing depending on frame age etc.

Morgan

kenmc wrote: »

They are also commonly referred to as 'brifters'

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

That word is an abomination.

biker_joe

ok first things, first, before you change a things ? we must ask the question of what you have first ??? if you are using down tuber shifters then you probably have a 7 or 8 speed block ( cassette ) count the cogs mounted on your rear hub, then get back to us !!!
Indexing is done by the lever's ! so you might need a older set of 8 Speed STI levers ....... they should work with your current rear mech .....

Biker Joe

kenmc

Morgan wrote: »

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!
That word is an abomination.

You may not like it, but unfortunately that doesn't make it disappear.

blorg

To be honest the shifters are by far the most expensive part, unless you can get some sort of great deal on closeout ones I would plan on changing the cassette and rear mech also and upgrading to 10 speed or at least 9. What I would wonder is whether your frame has modern (130mm) dropout spacing or something narrower (6 and 7 speed are 126mm.) You can cold set (bend) a steel frame to take modern spacing if necessary.

Note as an alternative you can get "bar end" shifters that will get the shifters onto the bars and work 100% with your current setup as an alternative to STIs (and for much less money.)

johnnyboy4711

I have a giant bike circa mid to late 90's,have done it up somewhat but wondering if i should put more money into it.
it was originally set up with a double front and 7 speed rear.
bought newer wheelset that has a 8-9 capacity on the back and at the moment i have a 7 speed rear cassette with a spacer(but no too confident with it coupled with the downbar shifters can and does go over the top and jams it up!OTB!!!).
I want to get a better front and rear mech and would like to max out the capacity on the rear wheel be it 8 or 9 speed(what will determine this?is it the width across?)
thanks
john
PS: like to do it as economically as possible

kenmc

if the wheelset has an 8/9 hub on it then it will take a 9, which puts you into either Sora (8) or Tiagra (9) range of gears, Tiagra being better.
So now you're looking at a pair of tiagra shifters, new front and rear mechs, new casette, new chain, down tube cable stops - for a 10+ year old bike. Only you can decide if you want to put this investment into it. Workwise though it's easy, no more than about an hour or so of work to switch over.

johnnyboy4711

kenmc wrote: »

if the wheelset has an 8/9 hub on it then it will take a 9, which puts you into either Sora (8) or Tiagra (9) range of gears, Tiagra being better.
So now you're looking at a pair of tiagra shifters, new front and rear mechs, new casette, new chain, down tube cable stops - for a 10+ year old bike. Only you can decide if you want to put this investment into it. Workwise though it's easy, no more than about an hour or so of work to switch over.

the hubs are not the problem, its the frame as to what speed cassette it will take.
ty
j

johnnyboy4711

kenmc wrote: »

if the wheelset has an 8/9 hub on it then it will take a 9, which puts you into either Sora (8) or Tiagra (9) range of gears, Tiagra being better.
So now you're looking at a pair of tiagra shifters, new front and rear mechs, new casette, new chain, down tube cable stops - for a 10+ year old bike. Only you can decide if you want to put this investment into it. Workwise though it's easy, no more than about an hour or so of work to switch over.

the hubs are not the problem, its the frame as to what speed cassette it will take.
ty
j

kenmc

If the hub will take an 8/9 speed casette, and that same hub fits in the frame, then it'll take an 8/9. The frame dictates the hub width (although you *can* force them slightly) and the hub (not the hub width) dictates the number of gears you can have.
i.e.
here's a 8/9 speed hub
here's a 10 speed hub
Both have a length of 130 between the faces, so if a bike took one, it would take the other too, (but of course need changes to the rest of the drivetrain to use all the gears).

blorg

8/9 speed hubs also support 10, a 10 speed cassette is the same width as 8 or 9 just with narrower spacing.

If the wheelset went on, e.g the hub fitted between the dropouts, I imagine you have 130mm spacing and can go to 10 speed. Someone may correct me there though.

See here regarding the spacing. Note 7 speed is down as 126mm spacing, you would have to measure your own bike.

Of course what you probably should do, if you have horizontal dropouts, is convert the bike into a fixie