TonyS

Ok, so I've got a 1994(?) Trek 1200 that I'm about to upgrade to Sora STI as soon as the brifters arrive...

My mechanical knowledge is limited, but there. I can adjust derailleurs, replace brake and shifter cables, change out pedals, and use the brakes as a guide to sort-of true the wheels... but this one's a new job for me.

And I need to know what else I need to buy. I know I need cable stops, but looking on eBay there's two kinds (barrel and curved back) and I don't know which one I'll need, and I can't find any tutorials to walk me through the upgrade process. Is there anything I need besides cable stops, cables and a new roll of bar tape?

Also, I'd like to upgrade the stem while I'm at it... does anybody know what size the quill stem on this particular bike is? I can't find any information online on that one to know what size replacement stem I should get.

Thanks.trek1200.jpg

tjspiel

Don't know what Sora 7 speed is like exactly but I'm guessing you'll want an in-line adjuster for the front derailleur/shifter at least. Do they make cable stops with adjusters built in ?

TonyS

I would assume that's what the grey plastic barrels are for when I look for cable stops on eBay...

But then, the ones that say they come with Sora units seem to be just little pieces of plastic with no adjuster:

Sora Cable Stops

Curved Cable Stops

Barrel Cable Stops

There are other types, but these are the three that seem to be for braze-ons, which I have.

joejack951

Get the first or third set that you linked to. That curved adjuster is a bit of a kludge. I have it on my 9 speed bike for my front derailler. I originally installed it to control the rear derailler but found that the adjustment steps were too large to get a perfect adjustment. The front derailler seems to tolerate it ok. On my 10 speed bike, it came with regular barrel adjusters for both sides so it seems that Shimano got the hint. FYI, those Sora stops are barrel adjusters. They are plastic hence the cheaper price but they work fine.

TonyS

Ok, that's taken care of then... anybody know of anywhere that has a tutorial for this upgrade?

I'm getting no love from Sheldon other than telling me what will work with what...

joejack951

www.parktool.com and www.shimano.com

TonyS

Tried parktool first... couldn't find anything there using either the flash search or the site searchbox... am I missing something?

tjspiel

Another note along the same lines. I'm assuming you're going from friction shifting on the front to indexed. I do know that you can't mix and match Shimano MTB and road front derailleurs with MTB and road shifters. Road shifters will not work with MTB front derailleurs.

What I don't know is that if you have a typical pre-index front road derailleur if that will work with STIs or not. You might be looking at having to get another derailleur. I also don't know how standard the spacing on chainrings is and that if cranks not designed for indexed shifting will work OK or not.

I did make a similar upgrade to an old 92 Bianchi MTB. The existing cranks and chainrings DO work OK. Not great, but OK. The less than crisp shifting I experience might have more to do with using a road derailleur on a MTB crankset than with any spacing issues.

joejack951

What are you hoping to find? Park Tool has great info on setting up deraillers to work with indexed shifters. If you want to know how to install the STIs and cable stops on your bike, look up the tech doc on Shimano's site. don't worry if you can't find your exact model of shifter. They all install basically the same.

joejack951

Chainring spacing won't be an issue. No changes were made there. The front derailler shouldn't be any issue either unless someone replaced it with a MTB derailler. You'll get better shifting out of a newer crankset but mainly due to the better chainrings (ramps and pins).

TonyS

@tjspiel: Nope, I'm already full index on this beast. Whether it'll work right or not when I'm done is anybody's guess... fingers crossed!

@joejack951: Thanks for your help... the part I was hoping to find is how the interface between the shift cables and cable stops works. That's the only part of this I don't yet understand... seems to me like that would have to be a kink in the cable, and that would be what we in the business refer to as "bad".

I'll keep looking at Shimano and see if I can find anything useful there.

joejack951

You do understand that you'll be running shift housing from the shifters to the cable stops, right? From there, everything will be the same as it is currently. Look at some detail pictures of bikes currently using Shimano STI's and the setup should make sense quickly.

TonyS

Just got the install sheet for newer Sora from Shimano... the barrels are parallel to the downtube... the picture of the cable stops on eBay made it look like the barrels were perpendicular, and I didn't understand why I was about to run a cable around a 90 degree turn!

wrk101

Always useful to look at a few bikes that have Shimano brifters on them to get a feel for orientation. Doesn't matter much what model.

bluenote157

Keep in mind that your quill stem doesn't have a "pop off" plate so you need to figure out your stem length before you go adding the stis, cables, handlebar tape.
What brand bar/stem is it? If i had to guess, you probably need a 22.2 insert and 25.4/26 clamp which is pretty standard unless it is a cinelli stem/bar?? There are other options out there like threadless stems paired with a quill adapter...

You are going to need some derailleur housing from the stops to the stis. Make sure that they are derailleur cable housing and not brake cable housing.