steinrr

My wife has a 2002 "hybrid" bike with SL-R440 3x9 shifters. This is matched with a Sora 3303 front derailleur.

According to Shimano's specs and forums posts - this combination should not be possible. It says that R440-shifters could only be used with the special R-line of front derailleurs.

I've checked the catalogue from 2002 and this was actually the original equipment - no hacking done.

Any idea why this is working? I thought, from reading "all over Internet", that this should not work...

onespeedbiker

You are right, this combination should not work. What 2002 hybrid bike are we talking about?

steinrr

It is from a Norwegian brand called DBS. DBS Spinova RTC 900.

The specifications can be seen here:

https://www.cycleurope.no/downloadfiles/DBS2002.pdf

Search for RTC 900. The component list is in Norwegian - but the part number should be understandable.

SLR400RA - Right 9 speed shifter
SLR400LB - Left 3 speed shifter
FD3303BM - Front derailleur

Jeff Wills

Correct- this shouldn't work properly. However, what is the actual front derailleur on the bike? It wouldn't be the first time catalog copy differed from reality.

steinrr

It is definitely a Sora front derailleur. I did not check the model number of the FD, but it has a Sora-logo and is not one of the R-line FDs.

Jeff Wills

I would like to see a photo, preferably from a rear angle. The difference between the "FD-33" series and the "FD-R4" series is the length of the pivot arm. I can tell from a photo.

onespeedbiker

From what I am able to determine your components are designed to work together. If you look at the Sora FD-3300 Front Derailleur doc, you will see it is compatible with the SL-R400 shifters. I don't know how well these parts numbers match up with yours, but it does show that there is some compatibility between the R series flat bar components and front road derailleurs.

steinrr

The SL-R400 are different shifters - they are the "handle" type shifters - with no indexing. That is why they will work with all shifters.

Jeff: Here are some pictures. Forward, front and back.

bobotech

It might be the way its setup. I believe that the front 3 speed shifters have a trim click on them. If so, maybe the first click gets the chain to the 2nd ring and then if you click it again to the 2nd click aka the trim position, it lifts it to the large chainring? Just a speculation.

Also I have heard of people using road derailleurs before with mountain shifters if you leave extra slack in the cable. And the Sora/Tiagra derailleurs are generally more forgiving of just "stuff" than say Ultegra or higher.

It really shouldn't work officially but if it does, cool!

onespeedbiker

Do the shifters also say Sora; if so they are not SL-R440.

Jeff Wills

OK... photos of the shifters, please. I'm really curious.

bobotech

Me too.