Howdy

Getting some conflicting info on 5600 shifters - are they 2/3 ring or just 2 ring, for the left shifter?

I have a set of 5600s I'm hoping to use with a 3-ring crankset. Cabled up, it seems like maybe the range is there, but it will only push the chain between two of the rings. It's got a Nexave front der.

So is it the generation, or do I just need to get a 105 front derailleur?

Thanks

-Ben

You should check the spec on the Nexave derailer. I used a Nexave crank recently on an otherwise non-Nexave driveline, and I ended up having to do some fairly serious modifications to get it into a normal chainline. Stock Nexave chainline for that unit was something like 50+ mm. Certainly long enough to possibly put an inner position out of reach.

I'd say you're SOL since Shimano list the ST-5600 and the ST-5603 (for triple gear)

Oh no, not again.

Word.. they do make a 5603, but then things like this (and others, including several accounts of word-of-mouth) make me think perhaps the 5603 is specific, but that the 5600 shifters might still handle 3 rings: https://techdocs.shimano.com/media/te...9830599845.pdf

The 5600 will not have enough range to shift 3 rings. It is designed to shift 2 rings, with a trim position between. If you want to shift a triple, you need the 5603 shifter.

The 5510 left shifter was a 2/3, wasn't it?

There's a hell of a lot of confusion on the topic. Searching the net, I'm getting about an even split 50/50 comments that they will or will not work with 3 rings.

"That shifter definitely works with three rings," and "that shifter definitely does not work with three rings."

I had this same question a few years back. As I recall, the bottom line was that the very first 5600 shifters would do 2 or 3. Then after awhile they introduced the 5603 and modified the 5600 so that it would only handle 2. This may all be BS.

I have a 5600 triple shifter. The left shifter has a total of 5 clicks. If you left shifter has 5 clicks it should be triple compatible. Shimano went to a triple and
double specific shifter when people where breaking the triple shifter when used as a double.

This seems the most likely answer I've read yet. How else can you explain how one person says "I'm absolutely positive" while another person says "absolutely not!"

Well if anyone has a triple they want to trade for a double, I'm ya nigguh.

The 5500-series STI's (9-speed) were indeed double/triple compatible in the same left shifter. When they went to 10-speed, Shimano deleted that feature and offered double OR triple specific brifters.

Perfect example of the problem I suffer: Shimano 105 St 5600 Double Triple 10 Speed Shifters Set Flight Deck VG Light Use | eBay

This guy says (I PM'd him for specifics) these 5600s came off his '07 Trek Portland, and are most definitely 5600s and most definitely accommodate 3 rings.

So I'm going with the theory that Shimano changed their design in the middle of a generation.

I guess it's also possible they just had a bunch of "5600" stamped housings that happened to work fine with the new 5603s they were making, so they used them... or some other weirdness.

AFAIK they had a bunch of strife from folks breaking the 5500s by pulling too much cable on doubles.

Actually the early 10-speed 105's were also double/triple compatible but, as others have said, sometime after the first year Shimano came out with a double only version as a cure for people having problems with overshifting and jamming the shifter when used with a double. Since then 105 has been double or triple specific.

It's true.