I have a NOS set of Ultegra 6500 - 9speed brifters double/triple compatible. They're beautiful, probably 7 years old or so, and not a scratch on them, still in the plastic wrapping.I was planning to put them on the 92 Paramount that is almost finished. I'm building sort of a mountain roadster with Ultegra front D/R, R700 compact, and 11-32 cassette with an XT rear D/R.

But then the front R600 shifter on the tandem got stuck tonight, it wouldn't shift, and we somehow rotated the front D/R till it was rubbing. ("I'm telling you that this thing down here on the gears doesn't look right", said the stoker as I waddled the tandem from the road up onto the curb). We had to ride home about a mile in granny gear with the chain rubbing. I reworked everything and it now seems to be shifting okay. It serves as a reminder that when things get a little out of line on a tandem, two not-so-strong riders with a crank can make mince-meat out of chains, derailleurs, and gears real quick. And it's only four weeks till we head out to the Tennessee Tandem Rally. What should I do?

I can find another set of Ultegra 6500 shifters. But the NOS 9 speed road stuff is getting pricey. I could just put the NOS set on the tandem and then get by for now with the R600's on the Paramount. Or I could buy the Tiagra 4500 9speed shifters that are configured like the Ultegra 6600. But I wanted the Paramount to be all Ultegra/XT level. Or maybe I should just go ahead and bite the bullet and make the Paramount into a 10 speed. But I cheated 2mm out of the rear wheel spacing to get an 8-9-10 speed cassette into the 126 dropouts. And I'd need a $300 SRAM XX cassette if I want to keep a mountain geared rear end.

I just don't know what to do. For now the Paramount is hanging from the ceiling and the tandem is in the work stand. Decisions, decisions.

I can't help with all your decisions, but be aware that Shimano recently announced their upcoming 10 speed XT and SLX MTB groups. You will have much lower priced cassette options than XX.
SRAM will also have 10 speed on every group from X.7 up.

IMHO this is a situation that need immediate correction. I'd use the Ultegra 6500 to correct it.

Thanks BD, I was unaware.

Chain Reaction Cycles sells a set of brand new Ultegra nine speed (6510) brifters for $270 with free shipping to the US and no sales tax. They also have Tiagra in nine speed for amost $100 less.

Used Ultegra nine speed sets go on ebay for around $150 to $175, sometimes higher (one recent used set went for $280!) Given the inability to rebuild them, as much as I like a deal, I would go with the new stuff myself. (Note, I currently have an ebay nine speed Ultegra set up on one of my bikes, but I got it well below the usual auction price. The key to getting an ebay item below market: 1. Look for buy it now, and buy it immediately. 2. Look for ones poorly described, lousy listing, poor pictures, wrong category, misspelled, etc. The set up I bought had both mistakes.).

Myself, next time, I am going with the Chain Reaction deal.

What is the differrence in 6500 vs. 6510?

Check the shifting cables to make sure that it has not frayed in the body of the brifter or anywhere else.

What do you have for tradeing stock?

I have a new-in-the-box set of Ultegra 9-speed brifters that I'd be willing to trade for bike stuff of similar value.

My wish list includes a 9-speed mountain bike cassette, 9-speed DA barcons, Paul's thumbies and a 9-speed recumbent chain (looooong). I'd consider other stuff like maybe some 7 or 8-speed rapid fire shifters w/o the gear indicator.

Shimano just upgraded their nine speed Ultegra set over the years. First came the 6500, then the 6501, then finally the 6510 (2007). They all look slightly different cosmetically. I have 6501s on my two main riders.

If I was buying NOS nine speed Ultegra, I would definitely go for the 6510. In fact, that deal is so good on Chain Reaction, I might buy a set as backup (pretty much all Shimano brifters die eventually).

Good point. Thanks for the reminder.

I'll have to think this one out. I know I have a new SLX cassette in the box. I think I have a set of STX-7speed rapid fire shifters that were nearly new when I took them off the bike.

If any faults are going to show up on any of your bikes- It will be on the Tandem. This is one form of bike that needs good equipment and it has to be set up spot on. One single thing out of kilter can cost a lot of money. Hermes came up with the Obvious fault as inner and outer cables neeed regular checking- and replacing- to keep the deraillers and brifters working.

So start replacing bit by bit till it gets working perfectly. If this means putting the Ultegra Brifters on the Tandem- then do it. Tiagra parts are now 9 speed and not far behind Ultegra for workability and are relatively cheap. So buy a set of Tiagra for the paramount- or even go bar end shifters for it. Tandems do warrant the best you can put on them. That is if you want to keep riding "trouble" free.