zebano

I just purchased my first road bike. A lovely used trek 1000 from about 1990. I am having fun riding it and slapped some toe-clips on for better riding, but I would really like to upgrade my shifters to STI.

The biggest problem appears to be that STI's were never made for 7 gear hubs (if it matters, I think it's a freewheel, not a cassette). Can I simply upgrade the hub to a 9spd 105, then buy STI's? or are there other items that will need to be upgraded as well?

sestivers

You won't be able to switch to a 9-speed cassette because 7-speed rear wheel spacing is 126 mm, and 9-speed is 130 mm. If it's a steel frame you could have the stays spread, but otherwise I don't think it will work.

An option would be to find 8-speed bar-end shifters, which might be better than the downtube shifters. Some may say that the indexing won't work, but it did for me - I just had an extra click on the shifter for the 8th gear that didn't exist.

cyccommute 

This has been discussed endlessly. Do a search. Short answer: It can be done even on aluminum bikes.

Hillbasher

I have Shimano 105 8 speed STI shifters combined with a 7 speed cluster in the rear on my Cannondale road bike and it works just fine. Those shifters may be hard to fine now, but keep an eye on ebay and I will bet that you find some sooner than later.

zebano

Like these?

Thanks guys. I really just wanted to know if it is possible before I go into my lbs and look like a complete fool. =)

khuon

Don't guess or take people's guesses on your dropout spacing. Find out by measuring them. If they are 130mm then you don't need to make any frame modifications. It is quite possible that your frame does in fact have 130mm spacing even though it originally came with a 7-speed cluster. Many manufacturers use the same frame for different models of their bikes and at the time your frame was made, it is possible that Trek may have been selling an up-spec version with an 8-speed cluster thus the dropouts might have been spaced to 130mm. If this is the case, then you can upgrade to 8, 9 or 10 speed if you want. You will at the minimum need new shifter/brake levers and freehub, cassette and chain. Depending on how worn your chainrings are, you may consider replacing them too. You might also need to play with the chainline. It is unlikely that you have an adjustable BB. If you don't then you might need a new BB to make the chainline work out.

As far as 8-speed brifters go, the Sora ones are okay and work for many but they do have some limitations. You will probably find it difficult to shift from the drops. If this doesn't bother you then they should work out fine. If you like shifting from multiple hand positions then you might want to investigate installing the Shimano ST-R500 8-speed STI brifters that operate more like Tiagra and above.



These are essentially the old RX100 brifters that have been continued on in manufacture. They will likely be pricier than the Sora brifters though. Another option is to try and locate some actual NOS RX100 brifters.

John E

Some of us would argue that is not an upgrade. If it were my bike and I really objected to taking a hand of the bars when shifting, I would go with barcons in friction mode.

cyccommute 

Having never seen these beasties in person, I wonder if they have the same dimensions as the old RX100's. I have a set of the RX100's and I find them much more comfortable than any of the other STI shifters. They are a bit thinner in width and just feel more natural than new Tiaga or 105.

To the original poster: What Khoun says here is solid advice. If your dropouts are indeed 130mm, you may need only do a body transplant (check the Harris Cyclery website) so you won't have to have new wheels. If your dropouts are 126mm wide, you will probably need new wheels but putting a 130mm wheel in 126mm dropouts doesn't require cold setting the frame. It's only 4 mm. There is a lot of spring in the rear triangle of a bike.

sydney

There was even acompromise 128 spacing that was used for the same reason,and allowed the use of 126 or 130 hubs.There were even 130 7 speed hubs....There are also Sora 7 speed shifters , altho 8 speed cog spacing is close enough that shimano 8s will usually work. It's also possible to use a 9 speed loose cog cassette remove a cog and spacer making it 8 speed to fit on the ole 7 speed hub(assuming hyperglide) and shift it with a 9 speed shifter....

sydney

Even so it generally is not recommended with aluminum and CF.

vainamoinen

You need a wheel built with a 7 speed shimano cassette hub spaced 126 mm. And a shimano 9 speed cassette such as the 105 cassette. You can take the cassette apart by filing down the rivets that hold the cluster together and then remove one of the loose cogs. You will thereby make an 8 speed cassette that has the correct spacing to work with 9 speed shifters and it will fit on the seven speed hub. The extra gear in the shifter will be locked out by the derrailleur stops. I do this on an old raleigh that was to good to part with, (Reynolds 753, made in England, team issue)

See the following article, scroll down almost to the bottom of the page.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/k7.html

dbg

It's not smooth but you can squeeze a 130 hub into a 126 drop with a little effort.

I've seen the RSX-100 7 speed brake/shifters come up for bid on ebay numerous times and they always go for a ridiculously high price.

You could also try out those twist shifters for road bars. I think they were intended for aero bars or bottom of the drops, but I have a bike where I put them up on top and they work great. Nice touring option. I think Harris still has some. That's where mine came from. And I've seen them on ebay a few times for cheap ($15).

khuon

I've mounted old 7-speed (well, they were new at the time) MTB GripShifts on my old roadbike before because I didn't like downtube shifters, STI-anything was way too expensive for me at the time (only available for Ultegra and Dura-Ace) and preferred not to go with bar-cons. They worked beautifully. I had them placed at the ends of the drops at first and later on was able to actually move them into the curves to allow me to sort of shift from the hoods as well. I was never able to get them all the way to the tops however nor did I really want to. It was a very clean setup.

Gonzo Bob

Sora used to be 7-speed STI. It looks like they still have some over at Loose Screws...

https://www.thethirdhand.com/index.cg...d=138840221313

sydney

Yeah, ya can but shouldn't if it's Al or CF....RX-100 was never made in 7 speed only the old RSX and new sora.

Enthalpic

It's ok to flex the stays; just don't make it so they stay that way.
https://www.velonews.com/tech/report/...es/7893.0.html

koshari

yes it was, I have 7 speed RX-100 on my repco elite.

bikemig 

Shimano is making 7 speed brifters: Amazon.com : Shimano ST-A070 Road Shifters 2 x 7-Speed Black Pair : Bike Shifters And Parts : Sports & Outdoors

You can get it 2 x 7 or 3 x 7.

This would be the easiest solution. Also bar ends are pretty good and there are some great ones out there if you are not stuck on indexing: Dia-Compe ENE Bar-End Shifters

Those will work with pretty much anything you throw at it and will add a nice vintage touch to your bike.

zacster

Brought up from the dead. This thread is from 2005. Possible the OP has moved on...

bikemig 

quite possibly, . Looks like old BF threads are more like zombies than vampires . . . .