fmt_biker

I have a 1992 Trek 970 mountain bike I bought new in 1992. I've used it ever since, and currently it serves as the 'grocery getter' and 'bad part of town' bike.

Today on the way back from the store, the right shifter (original ST-M095 Deore XT STI) fell apart ... the hex bolt holding the pod to the brake stripped out ... the shifter fell apart and parts went all over the road. I think it's done!

So what are my options? It's a seven speed with a freehub and I'm not adverse to spending some money on this bike ... I love the frame, and I've had it all these years. The problems I'm seeing is that to take it up to a modern 9 speed setup, I'd need new right shifter/cassette but it uses cantilever brakes, and the new brake/shifter combos seem to want v-brakes or disk. I'd really like to keep the XT cantilevers .. they work just fine. I thought about just buying a 9 speed right shifter al-la-carte, but the current setup is integrated brake and shifter pod, so the new shifter would have to mount to the left. Maybe it's OK to use a new shifter and leave the blank spot where the defunct old shifter was? Maybe I'm over thinking this.

Any ideas?

Jeff Wills

You could find replacement shifters at a bike co-op (I know I've seen a few here in Portland), and NOS brake/shift levers can be found at a price.

If you just want something functional, I would put Tektro brake levers and friction shifters on it. If you want to keep index shifters, they're still pretty cheap:
https://www.niagaracycle.com/categori...-thumbshifters

dsbrantjr

I have a Mongoose mountain bike of the same vintage and I replaced the shift/brake pods with separate Shimano units. It works and looks fine and NOS 7 speed parts are still available on EBay, I believe.

Retro Grouch 

That's what I'd probably do too.

I'd hold out for shifters that use a thumb lever to shift one way and a trigger to shift the other. I'd absolutely avoid the ones that have 2 thumb levers.

If the mounting holes aren't stripped out, and you tend to be lucky, you may be able to find just a replacement shifter pod and bolt it into place on the brake lever mount. Those used to be available but I wouldn't bet on it anymore.

fietsbob

You could use friction shift thumb levers. made new , selling for pretty Cheap..

cobba

https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-Acera-SL-M310-Shifter-7-Speed/dp/B003ZM9RX6/
https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-Acera-...dp/B003YSS8TK/
https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-BL-R55...dp/B000YBEJJS/

https://www.amazon.com/Brand-SHIMANO-ST-EF51-Speed-Shifters/dp/B00DQMNZP6/

https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-EF65-S...dp/B00652QTCA/

https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-EF-51-...dp/B004V2ACD8/

SkyDog75

There are versions of the Shimano EF-51 and EF-65 7-speed shifter/brake combo units that work with either cantilever or v-brakes. I picked up a pair a few months ago for about $35, but they seem a little harder to find now. As an alternative, you could pick up some cheap standalone brake levers and separate shifters.

dsbrantjr

The BL-R550 and SL-M310 mentioned by cobba are exactly what I fitted. I prefer the separate levers to the combos since I can set the mounting positions and angles independently. Mine came with cables and housings. Highly recommended.

cobba

I'd say they should do the "serves as the 'grocery getter' and 'bad part of town' bike" OK for not too much $ then.

Bill Kapaun

I have a bike with the same set up. Right shifter mount was broken and left shifter pod is messed up.
I just took a hacksaw and cut off the shifter "extension". Used a Dremel to smooth the sharp edges.
I'll probably just use cheap friction thumbies, since this is a CL flipper.

fmt_biker

I love these kinds of forums! Thanks for the spot-on info. I just ordered a new pair of brake/shifters (I was stunned to see they still made seven speed/canti), and while at it new grips as they too are OEM. The Trek lives to see another 20 years hopefully.

fmt_biker

Just to close out this thread ... for anybody else who needs to bring a seven speed back to life ... I installed the ef65 brake/shifter combo and it works fine. No .. it's not DEORE XT, but it shifts nice, and fits the utilitarian mission of this bike just fine. Installation took some doing ... but I was able to find all answers using the SEARCH function of this very forum

Kimmo 

Why do you say that?

fmt_biker

Heh and I got PM's asking for spare parts from the broken ones. No problem ...except it will not let me reply to PM's.

Homebrew01

I think now that you have hit 50 posts, you can PM.

I goota pick up a 7 speed Shimano shifter for a very similar bike.

fmt_biker

Yup .... I've PM'd. Now I'm in the big pool