Hmm, yes, so as luck would have it, my rear dura ace 7700 brifter bit the dust 2 days before the Montauk century. I have a spare ultegra 9 speed that I'm swapping on temporarily for the ride, which I believe is of a recent generation. I forget if ultegra jumped to 10 speed with the dura ace 7800 set.

Anyway, I guess my question is if I should bother getting a new, old 7700 d/a brifter off ebay, or if the newer generation ultegra will suffice. I heard a rumor that ultegra is basically the previous generation dura ace. Maybe I'm full of it, I don't know.

yep the newer 6600 is 10sp

Your 7700 brifter is 9 speed. Ultegra 6500 series is 9 also. 6600/7800 series is 10. If you go with a 10, you'll have a lot of other things to deal with.

Yeah, your choices are basically new Sora/Tiagra, or older 105 (5500), Ultegra (6500) or Dura-ace (7700).

How many years did you get out of your DA shifters?