Richard Bates said:Now that I am well and truly hit by the STI bug I want to fit them to my third and final bike.
Two of my bikes have been upgraded to Sora 7spd Triple. I'm not really keen to pay 90 quid upwards
again so I'm wondering are there any older (out of date) STI/Ergo levers that I could use that may
be cheaper?
I'm after something to to work with a 7spd double setup (52/42 with 14-32). Mechs are made by
Sachs but the rear freewheel is shimano. Chainset is ofmega but I assume (?) that the spacing
between the chainrings is standard?
The rear mech: The good news: Sachs and Shimano 7 speed freewheels both have the same spacing - 5mm.
The uncertain news (you didn't say what model or how old the Sachs derailleur is): if you are going
to use Shimano STI gear shifters with the Sachs rear derailleur, the actuation ratios must match, or
things will not work very well. There are a few bodgy tricks involving such antics as fitting the
cable the wrong side of the fixing screw on the rear derailleur, but if it doesn't start working
well fairly quickly, the recommendation would be to get a Shimano rear derailleur (from about a
tenner or so upwards). The optimistic side is that Sachs have made derailleurs which are compatible
with Shimano. They have made others that don't match.
If you were to go looking secondhand, it is also worth knowing that certain other combinations
of levers and derailleurs will result in something which would work. The two most likely to
work would be:
Campag 8 sp Ergo with Campag derailleur (5.0mm spaced freewheel i.e. bang on Shimano 7 speed
spacing, which would also allow you to move to an 8 speed system when the chain and freewheel next
wear out simultaneously).
Campag 9 sp Ergo with Shimano derailleur. This results in a small adjustment challenge as the
overall spacing ends up as 5.05 mm. Longer term, though, it means you get a cool upgrade path to
Ergo 9 speed should you ever simultaneously wear out the derailleur, chain and freewheel.
You didn't say if you did the other upgrades yourself. If you did, it might be worth having a go at
one of these combinations if suitable secondhand parts turn up cheap. If you ask a bike shop to do
this for you, only the very good ones will take it on and make a good job of it.
The front mech: If you only have two cogs at the front, its usually possible to get it going with
anything modern like STI/Ergo. Every now and then you can get a combination which doesn't work, but
its rare. All you need is enough cable travel and set the inner cog adjustment screw to position the
mech when in low gear, and the outer one is adjusted by the cable travel adjuster (or just where you
attach the cable if it doesn't have one of those).
Oops, I seem to have gone on longer than I expected there!
HTH
--
Jim Price
jimprice.dsl.pipex.comjimprice.dsl.pipex.comOpen ↗
Conscientious objection is hard work in an economic war.
