Hi,
Can I convert my braze on downtube shifters to modern ergo shifters?
I'm running a 5 speed freewheel with friction levers.
I want to retain the wheels as they are bomb proof using campag super record hubs made by the late ken Bird.
Has anyone done this ?
regards
Friction lever conversion
Re: Friction lever conversion
it should work with ergo bosses on your downtube fittings, campag 8 speed ergo levers, and a hubbub-cable mount onto a standard shimano rear mech. Or campag 'old' 9s ergos and a standard cable mount onto a shimano rear mech.
For the future, you can respace the rear wheel and the rear end of the frame to 126mm and thus accept a 6s freewheel and it will work the same as the five speed using the same shifters.
Further down the line from that you can fit a 7s freewheel to a 126mm hub, and a campag 9s shifter (plus hubbub mount) or replacement 10s index wheel inside a campag shifter (plus standard shimano rear mech) will then allow easy indexing with 7s and 8s etc.
This is all detailed in CJ's 'shimergo' page BTW
cheers
For the future, you can respace the rear wheel and the rear end of the frame to 126mm and thus accept a 6s freewheel and it will work the same as the five speed using the same shifters.
Further down the line from that you can fit a 7s freewheel to a 126mm hub, and a campag 9s shifter (plus hubbub mount) or replacement 10s index wheel inside a campag shifter (plus standard shimano rear mech) will then allow easy indexing with 7s and 8s etc.
This is all detailed in CJ's 'shimergo' page BTW
cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Friction lever conversion
chop66 wrote:Hi,
Can I convert my braze on downtube shifters to modern ergo shifters?
I'm running a 5 speed freewheel with friction levers.
I want to retain the wheels as they are bomb proof using campag super record hubs made by the late ken Bird.
Has anyone done this ?
regards
As others have said STI's won't work,but if you're wanting to get your gearlevers in a more ergo position ie;near the brakes,then I'd recommend Kelly Takeoff levers.
http://kellybike.com/2nd_xtra_takeoff.html
-----------------------------------------------------------
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
"All we are not stares back at what we are"
W H Auden
Re: Friction lever conversion
To add to Brucey's post and according to CJ's Shimergo page:-
http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/ ... s/shimergo
5 speed sprockets has the same spacing as 6 speed = 5.5mm. Need to check yours is the same.
If so then Campag' pre-2000 9 speed ergo's using a Shimano rear derailleur will match with 3.2mm cable pull.
With such a wide spacing you may also be able to use a Campag' 8 speed ergo. (this has 3.5 mm cable pull per click.)
A Shimano rear derailleur requires 3.2mm for 5/6 speed. So there is 0.3mm difference per click (3.5-3.2). Now 5 speed has 4 clicks so that is only 1.2mm error over the full spread of 5 sprockets. As the Shimano has a floating top jockey wheel, it should be able to cope easily with this.
The Campag' 9 "post 2000", pulls 3.0mm per click so may or may not work.
These are all just using a Shimano (6/7/8 speed) rear derailleur without any modification.
The Campag' ergo will allow for the cables to go under the bartape but you will need cable stops on the down tube.
These can probably be fixed in place of the current DT levers.
http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/ ... s/shimergo
5 speed sprockets has the same spacing as 6 speed = 5.5mm. Need to check yours is the same.
If so then Campag' pre-2000 9 speed ergo's using a Shimano rear derailleur will match with 3.2mm cable pull.
With such a wide spacing you may also be able to use a Campag' 8 speed ergo. (this has 3.5 mm cable pull per click.)
A Shimano rear derailleur requires 3.2mm for 5/6 speed. So there is 0.3mm difference per click (3.5-3.2). Now 5 speed has 4 clicks so that is only 1.2mm error over the full spread of 5 sprockets. As the Shimano has a floating top jockey wheel, it should be able to cope easily with this.
The Campag' 9 "post 2000", pulls 3.0mm per click so may or may not work.
These are all just using a Shimano (6/7/8 speed) rear derailleur without any modification.
The Campag' ergo will allow for the cables to go under the bartape but you will need cable stops on the down tube.
These can probably be fixed in place of the current DT levers.
A man can't have everything.
- Where would he put it all.?.
- Where would he put it all.?.
Re: Friction lever conversion
8 speed Campag Ergos work fine. Look at Sheldons spacings , 5mm spacings. 5 speed freewheels have 5.3mm spacings. Its near enough. The finer points of modern shifting will be lost on a freewheel any way. Move up to a 7 speed freewheel and the numbers match. You may find that your old shifter copes. If not hunt down an old Campag one. Nuovo Record stuff works well. Or bottom basement newer stuff.
Of course your frame maynot be spaced wide enough for the wider freewheel but as I guess its steel it will give. At the most it will be 120mm to 126mm.
The biggest headache to this is the silly price of 8 speed Campag stuff.
Can't comment of older Shimano but maybe something like 7 speed RSX would work as well. Seen several sets of those for sale in thelast week on the web.
Of course your frame maynot be spaced wide enough for the wider freewheel but as I guess its steel it will give. At the most it will be 120mm to 126mm.
The biggest headache to this is the silly price of 8 speed Campag stuff.
Can't comment of older Shimano but maybe something like 7 speed RSX would work as well. Seen several sets of those for sale in thelast week on the web.