I have a NOS set of Ultegra 6500 - 9speed brifters double/triple compatible. They're beautiful, probably 7 years old or so, and not a scratch on them, still in the plastic wrapping.I was planning to put them on the 92 Paramount that is almost finished. I'm building sort of a mountain roadster with Ultegra front D/R, R700 compact, and 11-32 cassette with an XT rear D/R.

But then the front R600 shifter on the tandem got stuck tonight, it wouldn't shift, and we somehow rotated the front D/R till it was rubbing. ("I'm telling you that this thing down here on the gears doesn't look right", said the stoker as I waddled the tandem from the road up onto the curb). We had to ride home about a mile in granny gear with the chain rubbing. I reworked everything and it now seems to be shifting okay. It serves as a reminder that when things get a little out of line on a tandem, two not-so-strong riders with a crank can make mince-meat out of chains, derailleurs, and gears real quick. And it's only four weeks till we head out to the Tennessee Tandem Rally. What should I do?

I can find another set of Ultegra 6500 shifters. But the NOS 9 speed road stuff is getting pricey. I could just put the NOS set on the tandem and then get by for now with the R600's on the Paramount. Or I could buy the Tiagra 4500 9speed shifters that are configured like the Ultegra 6600. But I wanted the Paramount to be all Ultegra/XT level. Or maybe I should just go ahead and bite the bullet and make the Paramount into a 10 speed. But I cheated 2mm out of the rear wheel spacing to get an 8-9-10 speed cassette into the 126 dropouts. And I'd need a $300 SRAM XX cassette if I want to keep a mountain geared rear end.

I just don't know what to do. For now the Paramount is hanging from the ceiling and the tandem is in the work stand. Decisions, decisions.