Howdy,

I have read some old threads as I've searched, but my head is spinning with all the details. I called AARP and they were no help, so I'm asking the Bikeforums' hivemind.

I have a 7-speed steel framed road bike with downtube indexed shifters. I'm old, and I really don't care about indexed shifting, brifters, 10-speed vs 11-speed cable take up ratios, etc. I'm not an astronaut, and I don't fly rockets to the moon. I like to ride a bike, and I like to go fast.

I've built bikes from scratch, and laced I think 5 sets of wheels, including tubulars. But I'm confused.

Keeping things Shimano, can I take off my 7-speed rear cluster, put a 8 or 9 or 10-speed cluster in it's place, replace the chain with the corresponding width chain, use friction shift (non-indexed), and make this work correctly? The bike has 105 parts.

Thanks a bunch!

You would need a new hub.
Not that big of a deal if you can build wheels.

BTW- Saying 105 is kind of like saying Chevy Impala. Very different cars over the decades.

Thanks,

So my rear dropouts now are spaced at 126mm, and they need to be 130mm for 8-9-10 speed? I'll look into cold-setting the rear. The freehub is longer by 4mm as is the axle, and the wheel has to be dished 2mm to the right?

If I can widen the rear frame spacing to 130mm, and find an 8-9-10 speed rear wheel, then I may try this. The 105 parts are 1055 series from about '93.

If I had the proper spacing and rear wheel, will that wheel take a 8 9 or 10 speed rear cluster? Then match the chain and friction shift?

Thanks again!

A very inexpensive option is to use 8 of 9 OR 9 of 10 cogs on the 7 speed body.
All you'd need is an X speed cassette, remove one cog and use an X speed chain.

Since you can use friction shifting, you don't need those pesky, expensive new shifters that you don't use 1 speed on.

It appears your hub is Uni Glide/Hyper Glide compatible.

I'm thinking that hub won't take an 11T cog. 12T or more.

Yes, you are correct. New rear wheel with 130 hub, cassette of your choosing and then just adjust the RD and use friction. Done. Or, as mentioned above, pull a few cogs from an 8-9-10 speed cassette.

BTW, no need to cold set to go from 126 to 130, it's only 2mm per side. The dropouts will spread with minimal thumb pressure and should not even require alignment. Others may scoff, but hey, experience counts for somethin'.

I built a 132mm wheel to jam in my Rockhopper. 6MM spread. 133mm was getting a bit too tight.

Not sure how well a 10 speed would work with friction shifting. With all the work you are looking at, might as well upgrade the shifters as well. You can still get downtube shifters and they are not expensive.

I personally like friction shifting 7- and 8sp, and tried index first time ever on a 9sp for my daughter and then duplicated it on a bike I built for me. It's nice, and I know people who friction shift 10, but indexing makes a lot of sense at that point. And many good Shimano compatible index shifters are out there - Microshift.
Most people will agree you don't need to cold set 126mm to 130 - should spread the 2mm just fine.

Thanks for the all the help. I learn more here than googling. Taking a cog off a 9 or 10 speed may be a winner. I never would have thought of that.

Thanks again!

Read this: Shimano Cassettes & Freehubs

And you may need a thin spacer to properly clamp the cassette, these are widely available.

Are you unable to get 7 speed components of the quality level you want? Can't figure why you would want to make this change if you don't want indexing. FWIW I've used 8 of 9 on a 7 speed hub and it worked well. Didn't use friction, used 9 speed bar ends.

I'm old too (another 59'er) and I've seen the different standards and technologies come and go. Not judging, but just saying, there isn't any good reason to roll the rock uphill and force modern components to function like their obsolete predecessors. Six speeds is about the biggest number that fit naturally on a 126mm OLD hub. If the o.p. has 7 sp then they may have a bigger OLD than 126mm and 8sp or 9sp might just fit without cold setting anything. Almost no one properly cold sets frames anyway, they force the drop-outs wider each and everytime the rear wheel is removed. Gets old (see what I did there?). It bugs me when people my age insist that they don't want indexing but want 8, 9 or even 10 speeds. You think you want to try and shift a 9sp cluster friction style. You really don't. And... again, just saying... a trip to a bike co-op might put the o.p. on a proper 9sp from 10 or 12 years ago. 135mm OLD hub and frame already properly spaced, quick release, indexed rear, friction front (can't have everything) its all good. Trying to keep the good old days going is what leads to Alzheimers. Embrace the evolution of things and amaze yourself with what you can get your head around with much less effort than it takes to remain fit and go fast on a bike into the Senior years. FWIW.

If his 105 parts are 7 speed then it is from the modern era (ca. 1989 I think) with freehubs and indexing. The first year 105 had STI levers they were still 7 speed. And from the very beginning, 105 was a high-quality road group.

And 7-speed cassettes are still available in a wide range of configurations: https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...30&category=42 While they're not as shiny as an old HG70 or HG90, they shift just as well and last just as long.

Going from 126 to 130 is not a problem.

Wheel needs to be dished to keep the rim in the centre. The cassette is about 4 mm wider, but so is the whole freehub body (130 vs 126 mm).

Friction shifting anything above 8 speed is a hassle to get it right with each shift. Can be annoying.

8 speed gains you little. Instead of having a cheap 13-25 7 speed, with 8 speeds you'll get an 11 tooth (or 12) extra cog that you'll never use unless racing downhill (my guess is your big front chainring is at least 50 tooth one and you don't spin 50-13 over 100 rpm on flats).

8 speed cassettes can be found with good road spacing, having one tooth jumps from 13 to 15, then 2 tooth jumps, i.e. 13-14-15-17... The biggest sprocket won't go high enough for steep climbs, but that can be overcome with a triple crankset.

9 and 10 speed - would require shifter change for a 9-10 speed indexed one, friction shifting those is tricky. Cassettes and chains are twice more expensive. The gain is tighter gearing. 10 speed ones can be found with one tooth jumps all the way to 17 teeth, if that is important to you (some people can't live without a 16 tooth cog) - i.e. 12-13-14-15-16-17-19... with 10 speed having a better climbing gear as well (28 teeth).

However, 9 and 10 speed will require STI brifters, indexed shifting. STIs are expensive, don't last that long, but very practical and comfortable. They will work with your current brakes (old road standard I guess), but the braking force will be a bit lower.

I do 9 speed friction shifting on one bike. It seems to work easier than the old 2x5 speed friction shifting. Currently it is setup with classic Campy shifters and an Ultegra (6500?) RD, which gives me 180° tube to tube shifter range on the rear. Just about anywhere I drop it is in gear with minimal derailleur trimming (or that is natural for me???)

I am using a 9 speed hub/cassette with a shortened axle to 126mm, and have built it to an off-center (asymmetric) rim. No frame bending required.

I am old and I use a 10 speed cassette on a 7 speed hub. 9 sprockets 13/ 28 friction and it is easy. I respaced the hub and dished the wheel to 130mm.
If your wheel and frame are 126mm get a loose sprocket cassette and a matching chain put it on and see how it works. You can always use the spacers from your old cassette instead of the 10 speed spacers if you don't like the new setup and you have lost nothing.

Over 8 speeds is tougher for friction shifting. It can be done. I'd recommend trying it first, before committing to it.

Also, new 11 speed compatible road RDs have longer cable pull, so they should be more friction shifter friendls - if the shifter has enough pull to make the RD move over the whole cassette. Any 11 speed road, or 10 speed Tiagra 4700, or 10

past 8 the spacing thins and so it's harder to "find" the next gear , with friction shifting

+1
But new 11 speed Shimano road standard takes longer cable pull per gear change, so using such a RD with a 9, 10, or 11 speed cassette and a friction shifter might work OK - haven't tried it though. But the amount of lever movement per gear change with such a RD and a 10 speed cassette for example, should be close to up to 8 speed spaced cogs.

A 93 bike with 7-speed rear cluster will have a cassette and freehub on the rear wheel. That means you can convert the rear wheel to 8,9,10 speed cassette by replacing the 7-speed freehub body on the rear wheel with the 8,9,10-speed freehub body (8,9,10 speed cassettes all use the same size freehub body) to use a 8,9,10 speed cassette.

Converting to 8-speeds is pretty simple, the same width chain is still used, and you can still get new 8-speed downtube shifters from Shimano (or move to 8-speed brifters), AND you can build a 8-speed cassette that has 8 usable gears from two cassettes. The gears of a cassette are either loose, or held together with between 1 to 3 screws, bolts or rivets. Pretty easy to take apart and mix and match to get the gears ratios that you want. My favorite for most riding right now is a 13-28. Made by combining a 11-28 with the 13 & 14 or 13 & 15 gears from a Shimano 13-25 or 13-26 8-speed cassette. If you live where it's flat, and you have guns to be able to use a 12 top gear regularly, but also have some inclines to climb, you might want to try a 12-28, made by combining a 8-speed 11-28 cassette with a 12-23 or 12-25 cassette.

9 and 10 speed gear sets use narrower chains (that are more expensive, and will not last as long). You will also probably need to replace the crankset (different distance between the rings), and the bottom bracket. The shifters also have different throws, so converting those ways will take more parts (and more expense).

8-speed conversion is inexpensive and much simpler.

No need to change crankset for 9, or 10 speed.

I have a 7 speed old Trek 1400 bonded Aluminum road bike. I currently have the 8 of 9 cogs specifically a 12-25 9 speed casette with the 14 left off (I can't leave off the 12 because it has teeth on the outside that mesh with the cassette lockring) so it is 12-13-15-17-19-21-23-25. I squeezed in a 130 wheel before but since it is a beater bike at this point I just keep the 126 wheel. Since you have a steel bike if you ever decide you want to get a modern 130 wheel take it to a bike shop and they will spread and allign the dropouts for you from 126mm.

I have used the 14t sprocket without dimples against the lockring with no issues.