Bicycle Mechanics - MTB shifters with Road gruppo?

I have a Shimano 6500 gruppo laying around doing nothing. I also have a hybrid I could use as a bad-weather road bike. The group lacks shifters and I don't fancy using STIs on a flat bar anyway. Will Shimano 9-speed MTB parts work with the 6500 derailleurs?

Now, I know that some of you think that anything will work with anything else, but I'd prefer to hear from people that have actually done it and lived. :)

Rear derailler will work fine. But Shimano's front shifters/deraillers have differing amounts of cable-pull between road and mountain gruppos.
Shimano does make a flat-bar road gruppo, and you could get a set of the shifters/brake levers from that group. Or just get an MTB front derailler, which would likely be much cheaper.

Shimano's rear deraillers since the advent of indexed shifting (starting with 6-speed) all have the same cable pull ratio, except for pre-9-speed Dura-Ace. So you could use the 6500 rear derailler with 7-speed mtb shifters and cassette, for example, if you wanted to.

I don't think that you'll have any trouble at all. Many tandem manufacturers produced flat bar bikes with road front derailleurs for years before Shimano saw fit to produce a shifter specifit to that purpose. I've probably worked on dozens of bikes which had that particular combination.

The 105 derailer on this bike was a mismatch to the mountain shifters and to the 46-tooth big ring, but it worked just fine. Sometimes you just have to try it and see what happens.
http://thumb9.webshots.net/t/36/36/9/21/11/315592111YdAZEe_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1315592111068014369YdAZEe)
The rear was a Sachs-Huret and it worked fine.
http://thumb9.webshots.net/t/46/47/9/0/93/315590093ZgqTRT_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1315590093068014369ZgqTRT)
My MB-2 has an Ultegra RD and rapid fire shifters.
http://thumb9.webshots.net/t/56/56/9/79/69/2846979690068014369opcapm_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2846979690068014369opcapm)

Rear derailler will work fine. But Shimano's front shifters/deraillers have differing amounts of cable-pull between road and mountain gruppos.
Exactly what I was afraid of.


Shimano does make a flat-bar road gruppo, and you could get a set of the shifters/brake levers from that group.
You mean the SL-660 and SL-440, right? Compatibility charts show them paired with the FD-R440 (for a double). I wonder how that would be different from a FD-6500?

I don't think that you'll have any trouble at all. Many tandem manufacturers produced flat bar bikes with road front derailleurs for years before Shimano saw fit to produce a shifter specifit to that purpose. I've probably worked on dozens of bikes which had that particular combination.
So you'd recommend going with the flat-bar shifters and the FD-6500? Certainly seems worth the risk.

Btw, what about cables? I see cable "sets" for these groups. Do they contain necessary parts or should I try to adapt what's already on the bike?

So you'd recommend going with the flat-bar shifters and the FD-6500? Certainly seems worth the risk.

Btw, what about cables? I see cable "sets" for these groups. Do they contain necessary parts or should I try to adapt what's already on the bike?

Usually the issue becomes where the cable stops are located on the frame. If your hybred frame had bottom bracket cable routing it'll be a piece of cake.

Unless you buy one of the hyper expensive cable systems, there's nothing magic about a "cable set". It'll just contain the cable housings (which you'll probably still have to cut) and some ferrals.