shifter upgrade

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by cityinnards
I'm a cycling newb, and I have an older Cannondale SR500 frame which I'd like to upgrade. After two weeks of riding, I've decided that I'm not too keen on the dropbar shifters and would like to upgrade to STI shifters. The components currently on the bike are Shimano 105 (2002), with a six speed drive train. I've heard this is possible with 7-9 speeds, but I haven't heard much about six. I also found bar-end shifters of interest, but don't know a thing about them. Is there a way to make the change, or am I stuck with what I have?

I have no clue what you mean by dropbar shifters. Do you perhaps mean downtube? If so, the cheap easy way is to do barend shifters.The next alternative is 7 Speed Sora STI shifters or finding used 7 Speed RSX STI shifters. You are going to have to find 7 speed units as shimano 6 speed index cog spacing is the same as 7 speed. If you have a 6 speed freewheel,there are shimano compatible 7 speed feewheels that will work. If you have a 6 speed casette, it's uniglide, and that presents additional issues. I'm, not going to write the book on issues and expense involved with trying to do 9 speed.Sometimes it's just smartrer and cheaper to stat with the right thing to begin with.