What about Shimano Sora levers?

Hell and High Water <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I have down tube shifters and the LBS just talked to me about Shimano
Sora STI shifters....

*VERY* interesting to me. That would be seriously nice to shift without
having to take my hands off the bars.

Any thoughts or suggestions on these? Quality? fit with older 7 speed
double?

Sora is 8 speed and will not work with 7 speed cassettes (or freewheels).
Bar end shifters are a cheaper option and can be used in friction mode to
work with any cassette/freewheel.

Hell and High Water said:

I have down tube shifters and the LBS just talked to me about Shimano
Sora STI shifters....

*VERY* interesting to me. That would be seriously nice to shift without
having to take my hands off the bars.

Until recently I was riding a bike with stem-mounted friction
shifters. Not as much of a reach as down-tube shifters, and your
hands are always near the bars even if not on them. Worked great
for me.
--
"Sanity is not statistical."
--George Orwell

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Hell and High Water <[email hidden]> wrote in
news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I have down tube shifters and the LBS just talked to me about Shimano
Sora STI shifters....

*VERY* interesting to me. That would be seriously nice to shift without
having to take my hands off the bars.

Any thoughts or suggestions on these? Quality? fit with older 7 speed
double?

Sora is 8 speed and will not work with 7 speed cassettes (or freewheels).
Bar end shifters are a cheaper option and can be used in friction mode to
work with any cassette/freewheel.

I believe these are 7 speed:

http://bikemart.com/page.cfm?PageID=128&action=details&sku=LD3334

SORA ST-3300-7 7 speed STI levers for double (LD3334)

-Bob

sally said:

Hell and High Water <[email hidden]> wrote innews:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I have down tube shifters and the LBS just talked to me about Shimano
Sora STI shifters....

Quoted message said:

*VERY* interesting to me. That would be seriously nice to shift without
having to take my hands off the bars.

Quoted message said:

Any thoughts or suggestions on these? Quality? fit with older 7 speed
double?

Sora is 8 speed and will not work with 7 speed cassettes (or freewheels).
Bar end shifters are a cheaper option and can be used in friction mode to
work with any cassette/freewheel.

And STI is generally considered unrepairable. Those levers are far
more complicated than any other part on most bikes. If you drop the
bike and bend or break the lever, it's an expensive replacement. If
you don't drop the bike but simply ride it long enough, the levers may
still stop working and need replacement.

That said, most people really like STI. It shifts very well, the
levers are very handy while riding, and you can upshift while standing
in the middle of that final downhill spring, which will of course
allow you to blow right by Lance Armstrong.

Given the advantages and disadvantages, I greatly prefer bar ends.

- Frank Krygowski

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I have down tube shifters and the LBS just talked to me about Shimano
Sora STI shifters....

*VERY* interesting to me. That would be seriously nice to shift without
having to take my hands off the bars.

Any thoughts or suggestions on these? Quality? fit with older 7 speed
double?

Thanks for ANY input!

-Bob

Forget these naysayers and proponents of non-brifters. They will argue
this subject to the death like the old Mac-PC wars. Forget all the
breakage talk, you'll notice that 90% of the road bikes out there are
brifter equipped. I'd go 8 speed and use the beefier 105's or better, you
can find them used off of eBay if your LBS can't find them.

Bottom line: You will be very happy with a brifter set up and never look
back. Even if you have to upgrade to an 8 speed and the 105's, it's worth
it.

RBrickston said:

Forget these naysayers and proponents of non-brifters. They will argue
this subject to the death like the old Mac-PC wars. Forget all the
breakage talk

Go right ahead and nail your colors to the mast, why don't you?

Quoted message said:

you'll notice that 90% of the road bikes out there are
brifter equipped.

Actually, no. The figure is much lower than that, because there an awful
lot of road bikes still on the road from those antediluvian times when men
were men (and women were, too) and one had to move one's hand to the
downtube to make a shift.

Almost all new road bikes are sold with brifters, but that's a supply-side
thing, I think.

Quoted message said:

I'd go 8 speed and use the beefier 105's or better,
you can find them used off of eBay if your LBS can't find them.

Probably not a bad idea, if you're upgrading to brifters anyway. However,
there are Sora 7 brifters out there.

Quoted message said:

Bottom line: You will be very happy with a brifter set up and never look
back. Even if you have to upgrade to an 8 speed and the 105's, it's
worth it.

I'm looking back. Brifters are nice--the shifters are right there at
hand, which is good. Shifting is easy when everything works nicely. But
my main complaint with my Sora brifters is that the front indexing seems
to be a bit touchy. I'm constantly having to fiddle with cable/housing
tension to get the front shifts right. It's particularly annoying when it
goes out of adjustment and I miss shifts on the front rings while in heavy
traffic. It's downright scary when I manage to *throw the chain* in heavy
traffic.

I didn't have this sort of problem when I was running friction shifters.
In fact, one thing I miss about friction shifting is the ability to trim
my front derailleur. The Sora brifters do not permit me to do this.

Also, Shimano brifters assume that you will use certain "standard"
chainrings. In my case, I've got a Sora triple setup, which is 52/42/32.
If I decide to change my crank to a more sensible (for me) 48/38/28, the
whole system would need to be replaced. There went my bike budget for the
year.

Best of both worlds, I suppose, would be Campagnolo Ergopower, which
doesn't index the front shifter. But that's pricey, and would mean
changing my rear derailleur as well.

So in the medium term, I'm thinking of ditching brifters and going to
barcons. Indexing is great in the back, but I'm not so impressed with it
in the front.

-Luigi
a rather young retrogrouch?

--
Luigi de Guzman
http://ouij.livejournal.com

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

RBrickston said:

Forget these naysayers and proponents of non-brifters. They will argue
this subject to the death like the old Mac-PC wars. Forget all the
breakage talk

Go right ahead and nail your colors to the mast, why don't you?

Quoted message said:

you'll notice that 90% of the road bikes out there are
brifter equipped.

Actually, no. The figure is much lower than that, because there an awful
lot of road bikes still on the road from those antediluvian times when men
were men (and women were, too) and one had to move one's hand to the
downtube to make a shift.

Almost all new road bikes are sold with brifters, but that's a supply-side
thing, I think.

Quoted message said:

I'd go 8 speed and use the beefier 105's or better,
you can find them used off of eBay if your LBS can't find them.

Probably not a bad idea, if you're upgrading to brifters anyway. However,
there are Sora 7 brifters out there.

Quoted message said:

Bottom line: You will be very happy with a brifter set up and never look
back. Even if you have to upgrade to an 8 speed and the 105's, it's
worth it.

I'm looking back. Brifters are nice--the shifters are right there at
hand, which is good. Shifting is easy when everything works nicely. But
my main complaint with my Sora brifters is that the front indexing seems
to be a bit touchy. I'm constantly having to fiddle with cable/housing
tension to get the front shifts right. It's particularly annoying when it
goes out of adjustment and I miss shifts on the front rings while in heavy
traffic. It's downright scary when I manage to *throw the chain* in heavy
traffic.

I didn't have this sort of problem when I was running friction shifters.
In fact, one thing I miss about friction shifting is the ability to trim
my front derailleur. The Sora brifters do not permit me to do this.

Also, Shimano brifters assume that you will use certain "standard"
chainrings. In my case, I've got a Sora triple setup, which is 52/42/32.
If I decide to change my crank to a more sensible (for me) 48/38/28, the
whole system would need to be replaced. There went my bike budget for the
year.

I went to a low gearing setup, 46-36-36, I've got the 105's and the
adjustment is a bit finicky. For one thing, there is a specific FD
recommended that is compatible with the 105 listed by Shimano. This seemed
to help when I upgraded an older bar-con Trek 520.

Quoted message said:

Best of both worlds, I suppose, would be Campagnolo Ergopower, which
doesn't index the front shifter. But that's pricey, and would mean
changing my rear derailleur as well.

That's my next setup, budget allowing someday. I'll use the Campy-Shimano
adapter for the RD.

Quoted message said:

So in the medium term, I'm thinking of ditching brifters and going to
barcons. Indexing is great in the back, but I'm not so impressed with it
in the front.

-Luigi
a rather young retrogrouch?

I think you will absolutely hate the bar cons after using the brifters for
any length of time.

sally said:

Hell and High Water <[email hidden]> wrote innews:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I have down tube shifters and the LBS just talked to me about Shimano
Sora STI shifters....

Quoted message said:

*VERY* interesting to me. That would be seriously nice to shift without
having to take my hands off the bars.

Quoted message said:

Any thoughts or suggestions on these? Quality? fit with older 7 speed
double?

Sora is 8 speed and will not work with 7 speed cassettes (or freewheels).

8sp Shimano shifters *will* shift a Shimano RD on a 7sp rear
(freewheel or cassette).

Quoted message said:

Bar end shifters are a cheaper option and can be used in friction mode to
work with any cassette/freewheel.

There is a good case to be made for barends, IMO. And, once again,
Shimano 8sp barends (non- Dura-ace) will shift a 7sp rear.

RBrickston said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

So in the medium term, I'm thinking of ditching brifters and going to
barcons. Indexing is great in the back, but I'm not so impressed with it
in the front.

I think you will absolutely hate the bar cons after using the brifters for
any length of time.

I road 11,000 miles with brifters before I ever touched barcons. I like
them just fine, especially the friction front shifting. I have a couple
pairs of brifters rattling around in boxes, waiting to be reborn as
Sunny Day bikes.

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
Without coffee he could not work, or at least he could not have worked in the
way he did. In addition to paper and pens, he took with him everywhere as an
indispensable article of equipment the coffee machine, which was no less
important to him than his table or his white robe.
-- Stefan Zweigs, Biography of Balzac

Ozark Bicycle said:

sally said:

Hell and High Water <[email hidden]> wrote innews:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I have down tube shifters and the LBS just talked to me about Shimano
Sora STI shifters....

Quoted message said:

*VERY* interesting to me. That would be seriously nice to shift without
having to take my hands off the bars.

Quoted message said:

Any thoughts or suggestions on these? Quality? fit with older 7 speed
double?

Sora is 8 speed and will not work with 7 speed cassettes (or freewheels).

8sp Shimano shifters *will* shift a Shimano RD on a 7sp rear
(freewheel or cassette).

It can be a little finicky, as the ratio is not exactly the same IIRC.
But it's usually pretty good from what I understand.

Of course an old Campagnolo 9 speed with the Hubbub routing is almost
perfect.

http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3946

--
Dane Buson - [email hidden]
Death before dishonor. But neither before breakfast.

In article <[email hidden]>,

RBrickston said:

Quoted message said:

So in the medium term, I'm thinking of ditching brifters and going to
barcons. Indexing is great in the back, but I'm not so impressed with it
in the front.

-Luigi
a rather young retrogrouch?

I think you will absolutely hate the bar cons after using the brifters for
any length of time.

Eh... Maybe if you do a lot of group riding, or your bike is
improperly setup such that you can't ride in the drops
comfortably. I have bikes with all 3 styles and switch fairly
frequently. Brifters are nice if you like Shimano's gear choices,
but I've found some situations where downtubes are actually more
convient. You can shift either front or back or both with one
hand, while holding something in the other( usually a water
bottle). Admittedly this is contrived, but it's something I
notice when switching from one bike to the other.

_ Booker C. Bense

Dane Buson said:

Ozark Bicycle said:

sally said:

Hell and High Water <[email hidden]> wrote innews:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> I have down tube shifters and the LBS just talked to me about Shimano
> Sora STI shifters....

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> *VERY* interesting to me. That would be seriously nice to shift without
> having to take my hands off the bars.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> Any thoughts or suggestions on these? Quality? fit with older 7 speed
> double?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Sora is 8 speed and will not work with 7 speed cassettes (or freewheels).

Quoted message said:

8sp Shimano shifters *will* shift a Shimano RD on a 7sp rear
(freewheel or cassette).

It can be a little finicky, as the ratio is not exactly the same IIRC.
But it's usually pretty good from what I understand.

The cog spacing, 8sp v 7sp, is very close. Properly adjusted, it will
shift seamlessly. One of my own bikes is setup this way (7sp DA
freewheel and 8sp barends). It never misses a shift.

Quoted message said:

Of course an old Campagnolo 9 speed with the Hubbub routing is almost
perfect.

http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3946

Perhaps, but this is well outside the OPs question/situation.

"Hell and High Water" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have down tube shifters and the LBS just talked to me about Shimano
Sora STI shifters....

Any thoughts or suggestions on these? Quality? fit with older 7 speed
double?

Bob: SORA shifters are my favorite Shimano shifters, because they are most
like the shifting action of Campagnolo Ergopower shifters. They are also
have adjustable lever reach, and they are lighter than other Shimano
shifters due to their simplicity. And they are the cheapest by far. They
are nice units.

I set up this setup for a pal: a Shimano Hyperglide 7-speed freewheel
(HG-37) with SORA 8-speed shifters and a new Shimano chain. It worked
great. The spacing difference between Shimano 7 and 8-speed is only 0.2mm
per cog, so it was within the allowable tolerances for indexing.

If you have a relatively modern Shimano rear derailleur (road or mountain),
no need to change it out. It will be compatible. Front shifting may be
more finicky. You may have to spec a relatively recent Shimano road (not
mountain) front derailleur if you are going with a triple crank setup.
Double will be more forgiving. Experiment.

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I've found some situations where downtubes are actually more
convient. You can shift either front or back or both with one
hand, while holding something in the other( usually a water
bottle).

No way! If I tried that I'd summersault over the bars.

My downtube shifters seem to be VERY low. I really have to reach down
to shift. Of course, I'm 6' 5", so I have a way to go....

-Bob

i feel that some of the most insightful comments in this thread were made by frank krygowski. i have been riding handlebar end derailleur controls since the early 1970s, back in the dark ages they were not indexed. if there is a shifting system made i have ridden it & because i work on friends bicycles these road tests are a mininum of 35 miles or so not just around the block. i have ridden but can not recommend things of questionable utility like stem shifters or the shift levers that were found on wheelie bikes. because i march to my own different drummer i never owned a wheelie bike, i went directly from a english made (hercules) 3 speed to a derailleur bike. one of my buddies had the suntour command shifters,(a bike i worked on) i liked them but when i asked ralph what else he had used he was a member it it ain't broken don't fix it camp,not an exhaustive test. my current set up consists of a mixture of what i feel is the best value & works the best, not was the newest, it took me along time to accept indexed shifting since i learned with friction derailleurs. i use campagnlolo, simplex, shimano & su
ntour front derailleurs, shimano & suntour rear derailleurs & one mountain drive on a 54 gear tricycle. i feel there may be an advantage using ergopower compared to shimano brifters, with campy you can upshift over nine cogs with on only one brake in the motion, while shimano only allows to up shift one cog at a time.

"an old Campagnolo 9 speed with the Hubbub routing is almost perfect."
+1
No need to replace anything but the 7-spd downtube shifters with 9-spd Campy brifters, and add a couple of downtube cable stops ($10 maybe) and new cables. Leave the rest of the Shimano drivetrain in place and use the Hubbub rear der wiring method.

I did something similar recently when my 9-spd D/A right brifter broke (3rd or 4th time!). Rather than drop more $ on Shimano equipment, I installed Campy Chorus 11 brifters & new cables. Left the rest of the D/A 9-spd group alone. Couldn't be happier, and have much greater ability to trim the front der as necessary.

I have downtube friction shifters on my Trek, and the only problem I have with it is the few times when I have derailled the chain right off the freewheel when shifting into the smallest cog. Very annoying and dangerous when "trying" to do a sprint. But other than that I love it. I guess this could be accredited to the fact that I am all about the old school steel frames.
However, I have the Sora levers on my Specialized, and I have to admit that being able to shift without taking my hands off the handlebars is quite a blessing.