Go to 9-speed + STI: worth the trouble?

[swee'pea99]

Been looking on ebay for 7-speed STi shifters, but they seem pretty rare, tho' there are plenty of 9-speeds. So with a typically deranged bit of lateral thinking, I'm considering getting a 9-speed set, and going to a cassette wheel (rather than the (7-speed maximum) freewheel wheel I have now. I guess I'd need a narrow chain. Would I need to change my chainset as well? And would my trusty old Shimano 600 shifter work on a nine speed? (I'd be looking to fit quite a wide range...27 or 28 tooth maximum.) Am I just creating trouble for myself? Any other pitfalls that I'm likely to plunge into? Any thoughts/advice much appreciated.

 

[PatrickPending]

if the Shimano 600 shifter can be set to friction mode it may be ok, front chainset may well be ok for 9 speed - bearing in mind the narower chain - best to check if the rest of the drivectrain will be ok with a narrower chain. Of course you'll need a wheel with a casette hub.

went from a 7 speed set up on my carlton I use for commuting to a 9 speed 105 set up, has certainally proved worthwhile for me ....

All I needed was shifters, new hub and casette, down tube bar stop thing, cables and outers....

 

[peanut]

you don't tell us anything about your equipment but as you mention STi I'll assume that it is Shimano.

Your cheapest option would be to buy some 8 speed Sora STi levers there are plenty on ebay and cycle forums for £15.00-£20.00

The indexing is the same as 7 speed so you could use it with your existing 7 speed setup and adjust the rear mech to index only 7 sprockets with nothing further to buy
(You could buy some spare sprockets to change your freewheel )

Or buy an 8 speed freewheel which will fit on your existing wheel and index perfectly with your new Sora 8 speed STi levers .

9 speed is almost as expensive as 10 speed and will rerquire you changing the entire transmission and rear wheel. (expensive)

I have now sold my 8 speed Sora levers but I still have a 7 speed and an 8 speed Maillard Sachs freewheels plus a big box of new spare sprockets from 12t up to 28t

 

[Landslide]

+1 to what peanut said about 8spd Sora.

I've used an old 600 rear mech to run 7 spd with a 12-28 cassette.

 

[peanut]

+1 to what peanut said about 8spd Sora.

I've used an old 600 rear mech to run 7 spd with a 12-28 cassette.

yep I still have an old winter hack with 8 speed Sora STi ,8 speed 11t-25t freewheel and shimano 600 front and rear mechs and they work fine so 28t should be no problemo.

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks fellers - brilliant! I don't actually need more gears - 7 works fine for me. I just had this idea, from where I don't know, that 7-speed blocks weren't compatible with 8-speed shifters. If they are, I'm sorted.

 

[swee'pea99]

Is a 3-speed front shifter compatible with a 2-ring chainset?

 

[bobg]

[quote name='swee'pea99']Is a 3-speed front shifter compatible with a 2-ring chainset?[/quote]

My LHS Sora triple front changer works ok with a double chainwheel but I did have to fiddle with it for quite a while to get a clean change.

 

[Landslide]

I think the trick with a triple shifter/double chainset combo is to set it up so position 2 on the shifter holds the chain on the inner ring, and position 3 holds the chain on the outer ring. This leaves position 1 on the shifter redundant, but in theory you can still select it, the upshot being that your cable goes slack and you have to shift back up to position 2 to take up the slack before you can shift up to the outer ring (position 3).