tjspiel

I have an old Bianchi cross-terrian bike that I put drop bars on. I used a spare set of Sora shifters. Dealing with the front derailleur was a challenge. Shimano road shifters don't have enough pull for mountain derailleurs. Road derailleurs don't work that great with mountain cranksets plus they're all bottom pull and my bike routes the cables along the top tube.

I did get it to work (more or less) by using a pulley which allowed me to use a bottom pull road derailleur. Like I said, it works but the shifting isn't exactly crisp plus I get chain rub in some gear combinations.

In my mind indexed shifting on the front derailleur isn't the best idea anyway and I'm wondering if I should just use a Campy front shifter. This is kind of a Frankenbike so I don't particularly care if the shifters don't match.

I can always leave the pulley but I'd rather ditch it and put a mountain derailleur back on.

Will it work?

PlatyPius

Yes.

tjspiel

Thanks !

HillRider

I also think the Campy Ergo will work. Just be sure you don't get an 07 -08 Centaur or below with the "escapement" mechanism or you will be in the same boat as with the Sora. Get a pre-07, post-08 or any year Chorus or Record Ergo as they all have the "microshifting" function you want.

A less expensive alternative would be a barend control for the front derailleur as these are all friction. When I "roadified" an old Trek MTB, I used an 8-speed STI for the rear shifting but a barend for the front to solve the same problem you have.

Chris_W

+1 to the idea of using a bar-end shift for the FD. I also don't like indexed shifting for the FD, and so only use bar-end or down-tube shifters for the front, while using an STI for the rear.

DaveSSS 

The newest ultrashift levers that came out in '09 work differently than any from the past. The left shifter now only has just enough cable travel (about .6 inch) to match the requirements of a Campy triple FD, with 6 clicks. Older, nonescape models had 12 clicks, but only 7 were required to pull that same .6 inch of cable for a Campy triple FD. That means there were 5 clicks of excess cable pull available. Whether a new ultrashift lever would operate some other brand of triple FD would need to be checked closely. If the cable pull requirement is not over .6 inch, it will do the job.

Panthers007

They should. The actual amount of travel of the cable remains the same regardless of the mechanism used to move it. For problems with trim on a FD, I suggest an inline barrel-adjuster.

tjspiel

Thanks for the tip. I'll check the travel required for the old Deore triple. It's unlikely I'd end up with a very recent shifter anyway. I'll dig through the used parts at a nearby LBS, put up a WTB add on craigslist, and check out Ebay for something inexpensive.

PlatyPius

For your application, I'm guessing you're not planning on using Record 11 UltraShift levers....

Here's a nice '09 Veloce left ERGO shifter.

https://aebike.com/page.cfm?action=de...=30&SKU=LD9994

DaveSSS 

You can buy a pair of Veloce ultrashift levers from Ribble, with cables for $120.

tjspiel

Thanks, but that would be about what I paid for the whole bike

I'll see what I can find used. The chain rub and sometimes slow shifting is annoying but nothing I need to fix right away.

HillRider

If you are really trying to keep the cost down, then even used Campy is going to be higher than you want to spend.

Look for a used barend. The make and model are not an issue. Any left barend will do since they are all friction. Even an indexed right side barend will work as they also have a friction setting.

Try a few LBS's and see what they have in the left-over, NOS or junk drawers.

PlatyPius

If you DO decide to go this route, let me know. I have an orphaned new left Dura Ace bar end shifter I'd let go of cheap.

DRietz

Just curious... how does one know if they have "Escape" Centaur shifters?

operator

while the new 'Escape' mechanism on the lower-end groups is a simpler set-up, thereby helping with maintenance. The Escape mechanism does not allow the multiple downshifts that are available with Chorus and Record. Centaur, Veloce, Mirage and Xenon users will be limited to two cog downshifts at a time.

DRietz

So if my shifters can shift down more than twice at one time, they're not Escape?

DaveSSS 

The escape thumb button can only shift one cog smaller at a time. One click of the left thumb button drops the chain to the little ring, compared to one push that goes through 3-4 clicks with all others.

cs1

While most people complain about the Escape mech, they really aren't that bad. Being able to drop the entire cassette with one motion sounds cool. The fact is that most of us just don't need it.

DaveSSS 

Being able to drop the entire cassette is worthless, but dropping 3-4 cogs with one push of the thumb button is a whole lot better than 1. It's a must after every shift to the little ring, particularly with a 50/34 crank.

The latest ultrashift levers can still drop 5 cogs with one push of the thumb button, not all of them. The finger lever can still sweep through 3-cogs, just as before.

tjspiel

No doubt a barend would be cheaper but I don't want a barend .

Though some of it's really pricey, I'm pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive many used Campy Ergo shifters are relative to used Shimano STI (105 or better).

I'm pretty sure I can find a suitable shifter for $50 or less with a little patience. I could buy a set and sell the right shifter to help reduce the costs. Used Sora shifter sets are selling for $60 or more on Ebay and I could probably sell my left shifter alone for $25 to $30. Who knows, I may even decide to keep the right campy lever too, but then I'd need a jtek shiftmate or something...

tjspiel

Just to follow up. After waiting for quite awhile and learning some more in the meantime, I finally picked up a used set of Mirages from about 2000 off of Ebay.

From reading it seemed I'd like the shape of the 2nd generation shifters more than the first so I waited until I could get a good price on something newer than 98.

Anyway, I mounted the left shifter last night and it does indeed work well with my old mountain triple including the derailleur.