Originally Posted by
dvs cycles
I myself prefer all my bikes to shift the same.
Agreed. Currently, I'm fine with my two drop bar bike shifting systems (bar-ends and DA brifters). The Ergo lever (shift system #3 for me) works great, but I find myself hitting the wrong lever sometimes still. Maybe I'm a slow learner.
Originally Posted by
mrfish
One thing to investigate could be changing the indexing piece in the lever to Campagnolo 10 speed. That way you can limit the number of parts you need to upgrade and keep the nice levers.
I upgraded my 8 speed Record levers to 9 speed a few years ago and only needed to change the right-hand ratchet, re-lube and the shifting was as good as new. The part cost £10. The changeover is complicated the first time as you have to disassemble the RH level, but with experience this can be done in 1/2h. I think an upgrade to 10 speeds is possible as Jan Ullrich always used to ride old shape levers on 10-speed, so clearly the changeover is possible. I think you could also keep the derailleur as Campag 10 speed shifts are almost exactly the same as DA. You just need to rewire your brain a bit to run Campag / STI but given time both feel natural and you will end up switching after 5 minutes riding each bike.
Whether you really need 10 speed is another question. We have 9 speed Ultegra on the tandem and run various 10 speed Dura Ace and Record setups on single bikes and don't really notice the difference between 9 and 10 speeds. You can also get slightly used 9 speed DA on ebay for a nice price. I find the 9 speed Ultegra shifters have a better 'clunk' than the 10 speeds, so more positive.
If I could confirm that the levers are upgradeable by swapping out the current Shimano 8 speed disc for a 10 speed disc I'd be a happy camper, aside from one personal issue - Both my DA7800 levers and the bar-ends give me a clue as to what cassette cog I'm on. The DA lever uses one of those "in-cable" indicators, and the bar-ends indicate gearing selection by their angle. Both help me quickly gauge when it's time to shift onto a different chain ring. If the Sachs/Campy Ergo system had an indicator, I'd be fine with the five minute long re-orientation.