Hello,
I want to convert from drop bar to flat bar and I am checking compatibility with my current brake calipers, Shimano 105 BR-R7000.
Shimano 105 BR-R7000 product page does not list any brake levers for flat bar, though their official compatibility doc says that BL-R780 levers are compatible; BL-R780 are from Ultegra line-up.
However my question is about another type of brake levers that I got hold of, BL-R550, which are listed as compatible to the earlier 105 brake calipers (BR-5800).
In short (apologies as a newbe i cannot post yet url links so cut the initial part of the Shimano links):
- 105 BR-R5800 => BL-R780 (compatibility table from Shimano => ...productinfo.shimano.com/#/com?cid=C-432&acid=C-450, p.24); BL-R550 (...bike.shimano.com/en-US/product/component/105-5800.html), but not listed in the compatibility table for these calipers
- 105 BR-R7000 => BL-R780 (from compatibility table, see above)
- 105 BR-R7000 => BL-R550???
I do not see much difference between BR-R7000 and BR-5800 calipers and i noticed an incongruence between the compatibility table and the BR-5800 product info, both from Shimano official sources. So I wonder if you have experience in matching BL-R550 with BR-R7000 or i should definitely go for BL-R780 levers.
Thanks in advance!
x70

Any lever with short pull compatibility will work. Some examples:

BL-R780
BL-R550
BL-R4700
BL-R3000

You'll have to move the spacer in these levers to short pull for your brakes.

Thanks!
by "spacer" do you mean that mechanism integrated in the lever that allow to adjust the reach and switch between different type of brakes, e.g. V vs calliper?

Yes, you want the one that would be closest to you when riding.

If it were me I would go Paul Cant Levers because the Paul stuff is so nice but if I didn't want to go all out, the BL-R870s if available would be my second choice. Though if you ever go with something long pull which is probably not your case and wouldn't be for this bike I think the Avid Speed Dial 7s are probably one of the nicest low cost mechanical brake levers out there. It is weird because AVID/SRAM had so many issues making brakes that were decent but their mechanical brake levers are fantastic.

I have the BLR780 and its pretty disappointing for an "ultegra" level lever as they are identical to the much cheaper BLR3000. Identical. They don't even say "Ultegra" on it. Its not a bad lever but the Sora R3000 is the exact same thing for cheaper.

BL-R550 is not recommended, instead use

BL-2400
BL-R2000
BL-R3000
BL-3500
BL-4700
BL-R780