Bicycle Mechanics - My Sora shifters are on the way

bikeman.com $112.55 shipped, not too shabby. Any tips from previous converters? My current setup is a Trek 1400 with 105 downtube shifters/FD/RD. It's a double/7 spd cassette. I'm kind of clueless when it comes to adjusting derailleurs, so I'm hoping all I need to do is pull and replace cables. Attached is a before shot, I should have it done later this week.

It should be a fairly easy job. Check out the repair section at Park Tool.

Read the Park web site on derailleur and shifter adjustments before you change anything. Also, the instruction sheet that comes with the shifters is a valuable and necessary resource. Read it carefully.

There will be a lot more to this than just removing and replacing the cables.

Got everything installed. I was all set to do it myself, but I found a stripped bolt in my RD, and I lost the cable clamping washer on the front brake caliper. The local LBS took care of me.

It works great, the only thing is my hands have to get used to the thumb shifters being there, previously I could wrap my fingers around them without interference.

Yay for acquiring moderm bike technology!

I've just built up my first bike with Campy Ergo shifters and they have thumb levers similar to what you have but further back toward the bars. They don't interfer with wrapping your hands around the lever body.

So was it worth the price?

I converted my hybrid to drop bars with Sora over the winter. I added pieces to the thumb buttons so I could shift from the drops. The pivots were made from safety pins, which I glued on to the shifter buttons with epoxy, then bound them on with epoxy coated thread, The bend in the safety pin fits over the shoulder of the button. The other part in bend up from a spoke, with a rubber tube over the end.

I'd say it was worth it. I could have gone on ebay for cheaper sets (used), but I like to have new parts and not have to worry about it. The bike was used from ebay ($200) but it's in great condition minus a few scratches. I've paid more than that just getting accessories like shoes $80, glasses/tubes/tires/chain/misc $150, and now the sora shifters $150 after installation. It was the cheapest solution I saw to upgrade to STI. If I went 8/9/10 spd I'd be looking at paying $300-$900 depending on the group. I just found out I can still use my cassette on new wheels using a spacer so the next logical step is a wheelset, then a new fork and that's it for the bike. I can put it back on ebay and get $400 for it easily :)

Oh ok. Well i'm still using downtube shifters on my bike, no problems with it really. Always kind of wondered if I should upgrade to STI (increases my bikes steal factor by about 10000).

Well I'm on a racing team, so this bike never gets locked up anywhere. That was the original reason for STI, I dont want to be the only person on the team using downtube shifting :)

Oh pshaw. Damn racers :D

Wow,
$112...and to think I tossed mine in a bucket when I upgraded to Tiagra.....
Now I have to build another bike so I can use them.

Enjoy

I converted my flat bar bike to drops recently myself...but I wanted to avoid paying the money for brifters. So I had some very talented aluminum techs re-machine the clamps on my R-440 shifters for me, and got a set of Dia-Compe 287-v levers for fairly cheap.

Still...hope you enjoy your conversion!