Upgrading 8-spd 105 triple

Matthew Hills said:

A buddy of mine has a 105 8-spd triple, where the front shifter just gave up
the ghost. Is there a readily-available shifter that will work with his
current system, or a subset of his components that he can replace? (ie, he's
hoping not to need to replace cassette, chain, rear dr, front dr, BB, cranks,
and shifter)

Thanks,
Matt

Hi Matt,

Any modern 105 left (front) shifter should work with his set up and no
further upgrades necessary.

If he wants to do a minimal upgrade, he could buy a set of 105 shifers
and put a 10 speed casette on the back (the spacing is the same in back
for 8 or 10).

Or, he could buy a set of Sora shifters that are for triple rings with
8 speeds in the rear. This would be the cheapest, though some people
don't like the Sora, because the smaller shift lever is a
thumb-operated mechanism, which is different than the other Shimano
groups.

Sarah

Matthew Hills said:

A buddy of mine has a 105 8-spd triple, where the front shifter just gave up
the ghost. Is there a readily-available shifter that will work with his
current system, or a subset of his components that he can replace? (ie, he's
hoping not to need to replace cassette, chain, rear dr, front dr, BB, cranks,
and shifter)

Any Shimano road derailleur will work. If the original shifters are
friction, then any front derailleur will work.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | The motor car reflects our standard of living and gauges the
_`\(,_ | speed of our present life. It long ago ran down Simple Living,
(_)/ (_) | and never halted to inquire about the prostrate figure which
fell as its victim. -- Warren G. Harding

Matthew Hills <hills@s_t_a_n_f_o_r_d.edu> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

A buddy of mine has a 105 8-spd triple, where the front shifter just
gave up the ghost.

Do you mean the shift lever or the derailleur? What kind of shift lever is
he using (bar end, down tube, or integrated with the brake lever)?

Quoted message said:

Matthew Hills <hills@s_t_a_n_f_o_r_d.edu> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

A buddy of mine has a 105 8-spd triple, where the front shifter just
gave up the ghost.

Do you mean the shift lever or the derailleur? What kind of shift lever is
he using (bar end, down tube, or integrated with the brake lever)?

He has an 8-spd STI system, with a triple in the front.
With regards to someone else's post about switching to a 10-spd cassette in the
back -- wouldn't you need to switch chains then too (and, hence, chainrings).
And does a crankset for an 8-speed system have a different ring separation that
might give problems for a 10-speed chain?

Thanks,
Matt

Ask on rec.bicycles.marketplace, you might get lucky.

In article <[email hidden]>, hills@s_t_a_n_f_o_r_d.edu says...

Quoted message said:

A buddy of mine has a 105 8-spd triple, where the front shifter just gave up
the ghost. Is there a readily-available shifter that will work with his
current system, or a subset of his components that he can replace? (ie, he's
hoping not to need to replace cassette, chain, rear dr, front dr, BB, cranks,
and shifter)

Any current triple front brifter should work.
---------------
Alex

Matt,

The marketing materials tell you that to sell more cranks and chains,
but in the real world the difference is miniscule enough to be in the
standard deviation. Now, if he was a Cat 1 amateur racer trying to get
a spot on the US team, then the chance of a funny shift might be enough
to warrant purchasing the whole 10 speed getup, but for the rest of us,
it should be OK to mix 8,9,10 SHIMANO drivetrain parts assuming your
shifter and rear casette match (this is not always true with Campy).
Sheldon Brown has an article on this, I think. Ah, yes, here it is:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/speeds.html

Sarah

Matthew Hills said:

A buddy of mine has a 105 8-spd triple, where the front shifter just gave up
the ghost. Is there a readily-available shifter that will work with his
current system, or a subset of his components that he can replace? (ie, he's
hoping not to need to replace cassette, chain, rear dr, front dr, BB, cranks,
and shifter)

Thanks,
Matt

Tiagra left shifter and off ya go-see yer LBS that deqals with the
distributor 'Quality'.

Quoted message said:

Matt,

The marketing materials tell you that to sell more cranks and chains,
but in the real world the difference is miniscule enough to be in the
standard deviation. Now, if he was a Cat 1 amateur racer trying to get
a spot on the US team, then the chance of a funny shift might be enough
to warrant purchasing the whole 10 speed getup, but for the rest of us,
it should be OK to mix 8,9,10 SHIMANO drivetrain parts assuming your
shifter and rear casette match (this is not always true with Campy).

Not so with Campagnolo unless you mean no 9/10s cogsets onto 8s rear
hubs BUT that 8s hub can be converted to 9/10s. All ERGo/ front der,
rders, chains, chainrings, etc are cross compatible. Just gotta match
the cogset/chain to the right shifter, in # of speeds.

Quoted message said:

Sheldon Brown has an article on this, I think. Ah, yes, here it is:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/speeds.html

Sarah