This Wouldn't Actually Work, Would It?
 

Mating a set of 6400 brifters with a Sante Derailleur set?

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/CVAAAO...yY/s-l1600.jpg

Would it work with an 8-speed?

A nuclear bomb just went off when I saw this. Surely it shifts poorly or not at all, right? This guy is just unloading a what-if project that went horribly wrong, right?

I'm guessing that it works just fine. Since the indexing is in the SIS shifter/brake levers, the Sante RD & FD don't care what is pulling their cables. This is especially the case on the RD since it is working with such a closely spaced cassette. Easy shifts between each sprocket. The same is true for the FD.

That's a sharp looking bike. How much is the seller asking?

The brifter needs to be compatible with the cassette. The other variable is the pull ratio of the Sante RD vs what was on there.

Rear should work just fine, as all non-740X DA Shimano rear derailleurs of that broad period have the same pull ratio. Front should work, but might be a little fiddly.


Please note the very close cosmetic resemblance of Sante derailleurs to both 6400 and 1055. With Shimano, such close resemblance generally means interchangeability.

For complete integration, I think you need to paint part of the brake lever white.

CliffordK here on the forums has put together several 'can't be done' combos that seem to shift just fine, and it's made me realize that if you're determined, you can probably make almost any age bike work with a modern drivetrain. So I too would expect that bike in the eBay ad to shift fine.

Bid currently at $350 with a $500 buy-it-now price. Located in Kansas.

Just found an additional set of NOS 6400 brifters in my garage that I'd forgotten about.
Thought I only had one set, but stuff piles up on its own sometimes when you're compiling builds over the long term.
Also have the full NOS Sante group of brakes & derailleurs...

Cyclart's gone tits-up, but I've heard Joe Bell right here in San Diego does great work without the headaches. The white Sante group should really pop on a Miami Vice Ironman.

:lol:

But yeah, I thought everything in that era of Shimano (except the previously mentioned DA stuff, and maybe the bottom-of-the line legacy stuff, if they were still making it) was SIS compatible.

I don't think Joe Bell is taking any new work at the moment. Might check on that.

+1! And now you have something to do if the levers have any scratches. :thumb:

Will do thanks. Cyclart sat on it without doing anything for over nine months. This thing's going to be even vintager by the time it gets completed.

Probably not going to paint anything, since they're NOS/NIB/Never mounted.

I lost track of this thread somewhere in there......