7 Speed Shifter Compatibility
 

Hello friends, brother want to swap brifters on his 1990s RSX Shimano set up what options does he have?
Thanks in advance

Are you looking for a 7 speed shifter for a drop-bar road bike, similar to RSX?

That might not be simple, as I think RSX were the only common 7-speed brifters.

You could use 7-speed bar-end shifters with "brake only" brake levers. Other options might include brake levers with external shifters or uncommon parts such as Suntour Command shifters.

In contrast, flat-bar bikes have oodles of 7-speed shifter options.

Does he want to keep 7 speed or is he interested in getting more gears? If he wants to keep 7, he could get an 8 speed campagnolo ergo shifter and 8 speed campagnolo rear derailleur. These shift a shimano 7 speed cassette perfectly.

Check out Microshift. Drop Bar Shifters | microSHIFT Looks like they have 2 levels of quality for Shimano 7 speed. 1x7, 2x7 and 3x7 chainring options available. Easy swap with the RXS's, no mods needed.

Is there something wrong with the old ones? They're often repairable, or there are lots of good used ones around. If there's a bike co-op nearby, they probably have a few in the salvage bin.

I used a pair of those for over twenty years, many tens of thousands of miles, across the USA twice, and I loved them. They still worked fine when I sold the bike a couple of years ago. They had to be cleaned every few years, and the cable checked often for fraying.

Actually the Shimano Tourney ST A070 2x7 brifters are still available new. So is the Microshift R7. Sensah probably has their own version too.
For used 7 speed brifters, the RSX ones are probably the most common and most durable. But Shimano also made the 7 speed Sora ST3300.

The old RSX units, like the rest of the line, was very solid stuff. Heavy, but solidly built. If the shifters are getting sticky and resisting on the downshifts, then the standard WD-40 flush is in order, followed by white lithium grease spray. This recovers about 80% of the old brifters that we see in our Co-op.

Of course, you'd be replacing all cables and all housing runs, as this is the cause of most of the shifting problems we see.

Finding old functioning STI shifters at a Co-op? Nope.. almost everything that gets donated to us is seriously broken somehow, usually due to crashes. People use and abuse STI shifters until they are totally finished.

New Microshift 7-speed brifters can be had for like $40 from AliExpress? And since they have separate paddles for upshifting and downshifting like Campagnolo, they feature superior ergonomics.

PS: I see the Microshift 7-speeders feature shift cables that come out of the sides of the shifter bodies, like your old RSX units. When Shimano decided to put the shift cables under the bar wrap, likely for purely aesthetic reasons, this introduced a lot more sharp bends, associated friction and shift problems that was only solved with super-premium lubricated cables, and higher derailleur spring tensions. Plus the new shifters eat cables regularly. About 1/4 of the shifter problems we see feature 'eaten' cable ends, now irrecoverably jammed somewhere in the shifter body. The older Shimano shifters, with the exposed shift cables rarely did this.

So this is another aspect where the Microshift shifters are superior: less cable friction and superior 2-paddle ergonomics.

Hello to all that responded, the problem is brother is uncomfortable with single lever brifters and nearly had an accident.
He had micro shift brifters on a previous bike so will follow that up as well as the Shimano Tourney ST A070 2x7.
He has the 5.5mm sprocket spacing so as long as the replacements suit... Cheers!

7-speed cog spacing is 5.0mm for every system by every manufacturer. 5.5mm cog spacing will not index correctly with 7-speed shifters (any).

Thankyou for clarifying sir makes find a set easier!

8 speed Shimano sets will also work

So will Campagnolo 10 speeds like Veloce