Originally Posted by
The Golden Boy
Front indexing is a generally new thing- if your chainrings aren't ramped and pinned, you generally don't have indexed front shifting. This bike looks to be around 86/87- long before ramped and pinned chainrings became common.
Did your Univega have thumb shifters or trigger shifters? Thumb shifters will last as long as DT shifters- trigger shifters will foul up- especially the earlier ones. I don't know of too many brands that were speccing thumb shifters by 1992- was there even an upper level Shimano group that had thumb shifters by 1992?
Mine is a '92 Univega Via Carisma, the splatter paint era model with Bi-Axial Power Oval frame. Shimano 500 CX group, SG 30/40/50 triple chainring, indexed thumb shifters for both front and rear.
This is my bike, from 2016 -- first thing I changed back then was to replace the original flat bar with a riser bar. I've modified several things since: different saddle; Nitto albatross bar with Shimano bar end shifters; 130mm horizontal/0 angle road bike stem; different wheelset with 8-speed hub and MicroShift cassette.
The left/front shifter went bad first in 2016, skipping across the middle chainring. I replaced it with a cheap SunRace SLM10 friction thumb shifter. The right/rear shifter went bad after I was hit by a car last May. It worked for awhile then quit. I was switching to albatross bars anyway and bar end shifters work better with that setup. The old Shimano thumb shifters are in the junk box in case I ever get the urge to try to fix them. Degreasing/degunking didn't help.
1992 Univega Via Carisma with original indexed shifters.
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This is another BF member's identical mixte version, same year, paint and components including the indexed shifters.
Mixte version of the same model Univega Via Carisma
https://www.bikeforums.net/attachmen...1&d=1474171225