upgrade my drivetrain
 

Good Morning:

I need to overhaul my drivetrain.

I am looking from switching to brifters from my downtube shifters.

I am specifically looking at the Nashbar 9 speed brifters, rear derailleur, 9 speed chain, and shimano 6500 cassette.

Current Hub: Shimano RSX
Current Cassette: Shimano Hyperglide 3 Seven Speed Hub.

Do I have enough clearance? How would I check.

Also, would it be possible to go with a 10 speed?

Bicycle is a commuter that is used every day in all weather.

Thank you very much and I appreciate your response.

Sincerely,
George

7 speed freehubs are usually narrower than 8-9-10 speed so probably won't work. The rear dropouts on your bike may be 126 mm, the usual for 7 speed instead of the 130 mm needed.
Check and then Google as there are ways around this. The fix may depend on what your frame is made of.

I would not recommend going to 10 speed for a commuter. Everything will just be a bit more finicky and definitely wear more quickly. I would recommend a 9 speed if you must upgrade, and definitely no smaller than a 12 tooth small cog, 13 if you can find it, as I suspect your large chainring is 50-52 teeth. You don't need a 35 mph gear on a commuter. Better to space your cogs more closely together. If budget is at all a constraint stay with 7 speed, which is more than sufficient for commuting and much less expensive, as you already have compatible components.

The 6500 cassette probably will not fit on your freehub. You can use 8 of the 9 sprockets but then you have spent a lot of money for one extra gear ratio which may not be one you want.

I just upgraded my bike from 8 to 10 speed. It had Claris 2400 8 speed (sti Shifters). I rode on it this summer and put about 1000 miles on it. Extremely dependable and worked awesome. I will sell it to you if you would like. Everything is in excellent condition. Let me know.

7 speed setups are fantastic for commuting. Parts are cheap(cassettes and chains) and 7 speed is very forgiving when it comes to adjustment. I also think that downtube shifters are very underrated when it comes to commuting. They are simple, and again cheap to replace if they wear out. I commuted for over 25 years on bikes with downtube shifters, never felt the need to "upgrade" to something "better"
Commuter bikes have to be reliable with as few things to go wrong as possible and if something does go wrong, it should be inexpensive to repair. I own road bikes with brifters, but probably wouldn't consider them for a commuter bike

George; changing from 7 speed is very expensive, you have listed barely ½ the cost items, as noted above, it is likely that your frame has 126mm spacing; 8 thru 11 speed require 130mm. So frame, new rear hub (= wheel or wheel build).

If you want brifters, get 7 speed Shimano A070 or Microshift SB-R472 for 2 x 7, or Shimano A073 or Microshift SB-R473 for 3 x 7, new cables, new housing, and keep everything else the same.

+1 on staying with 7 speeds for commuting. 3x7 with 7 speed brifters will give a great gearing range, that is also cheap, reliable and more forgiving to dirt, friction, and misalignment than 9+ speed setups.

Brifters are a good idea, though they too are less robust than DT shifters, they are great for city riding, with more gear changes.

I have about 20K miles on my 10 speed ultegra commuter without issue. I've replaced the cassette once and the chain & cables every year.

This drive train has been on an '87 trek and currently '91 Trek. One was 6 speed the other 7 and neither needed any modification to fit the required 130mm rear wheel in. Depending on the bike (year, quality, and brand) it could easily be spaced at 128mm so it could fit either size.

I bought a complete ultegra 6600 triple group for $400 right when 6700 had come out. I also bought new open pros on ultegra hubs for another $200. Including the $100 for the original '87 Trek I got a full ultegra bike with the geometry and braze ons I wanted for a commuter for $700. I couldn't touch a ultegra equipped bike for that and still can't. From my experience if you want to go 9 (or 10) and know what you're doing it isn't cost prohibitive or impractical for commuting.

Dear NFMisso:

Want to thank you very much for those references, I had no idea a 7 speed brifter existed. After a short search on ebay, have a set of microshifters on the way.

appreciate it and you have a great turkey day, stuff yourself till your comatose and enjoy football on the television.

Sincerely,
George

If you're current set up is a 7-sp, it's like a 126mm rear. You can probably find a set of used wheels at 130mm to fit a 9-sp. cassette. This is what I did. I thought I'd have to redish the wheel, but it seems to work flawlessly. I went from 7-sp to 8-sp, but could easily have gone to 9-sp; I just didn't want to swap for a new chain.

The expense can add up, though, with a set of 9-sp brifters, maybe $80, wheels $100, dt adapters for the cabling $20, new cables/housing, etc. You see what I'm getting at.

MicroShift Shifters 7 Speed Trip Road Derailleur Dual Control Levers for shimano | eBay

How about just changing to Microshift 7sp brifters? Microshift makes good stuff.