Converting to STI

[fieldmouse]

I have an old school 531 touring bike which I would like to convert as easily and cheaply as possible to STI. It has down-tube shifters for front (very old Shimano ) and rear (Suntour XT-E) derailleurs. The wheels are excellent 700C Alesa Endeavour / Sora touring wheels , hand-built by Spa Cycles , the rear being 8-speed screw-on block , not cassette. The chainset is a triple Shimano Exage SG-X , with a " DUAL SIS COMPATIBLE " sticker on the outer chainring. I don't know which , if any , of this stuff I could retain , but I would definitely like to retain the wheels if possible. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Brucey]

if you wish to retain the wheels then you are presumably retaining an 8s screw-on block then?

If so this straightaway pushes you in the direction of used equipment rather than new.

Some possible choices are;

-campag ergos (probably 9s ones)

- some older shimano STIs with a triple left shifter and an 8s RH shifter.

In both cases life will be made a little more complicated if you wish to retain the suntour mechs; these have a different shift ratio to either campag or shimano at the rear and the front will probably work with an older LH ergo but probably not with a shimano one, not without modification.

A small change to the rear mech shift ratio is possible by remounting the cable at the rear mech. This might net you enough to make it work OK even if there is a mismatch.

Personally I'd ditch the screw-on freewheel ( I didn't think there was such a thing as an 8s Sora screw on....? are you sure...?) and get a cassette hub before I bothered with STIs.

cheers

[DesWeller]

I think the new Claris STIs will operate your mechs. Should be a fairly straightforward swap if so.

[Brucey]

for some reason I thought they just did a double version (ST-2400) but there is a triple version too; just be sure to get the right ones; the triple version are ST-2403.

I'm not 100% convinced they will have the right cable pull for your Sun Tour mechs but there is only one way to find out...

cheers

[Malaconotus]

Claris 3 x 8 cheap here... http://www.highonbikes.com/shimano-clar ... wkGtc765h4

I think you probably need to change the mechs, but the new Claris mechs are not expensive and are good, with the front mech being a big improvement on the older FD-2303... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shimano-Claris- ... B00HO31DS4 If your freewheel is wide range with a large top sprocket you may be better with an older model Alivio mech... http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... -prod30990

The whole job should only come to about £125, which I think is well worth it.

[markfh]

Fieldmouse,

if you are thinking of retaining the current rear wheel and freewheel it would be as well to check the socket pitch of the existing freewheel. Assuming that your current downtube shifters are friction (I could not see it stated in your original post) then this is currently not critical but if you go to an indexed system such as STI then this becomes important. There is a table of the the socket pitches of various cassettes and freewheels on the page on "Shimergo" on the CTC website (http://www.ctc.org.uk/cyclists-library/components/transmission-gears/derailleur-gears/shimergo. Once you have the actual socket pitch you can then check that the shifter + rear derailleur combination you are considering matches. Bearing in mind that freewheels/cassettes do wear and need replacing then at some point you will need to consider replacing the rear wheel with one that will take cassettes.

[Ross K]

I've got two road bikes with 10 speed STI and one restored 531c bike with friction shifters.

Like you I was tempted to upgrade the old steel to STIs but settled for spreading the rear from 126 to 130 and getting a new wheel built with a shimano 8/9/10 freehub. I now use a SRAM 8 speed cassette and original Suntour friction shifters (no index) and it works flawlessly. If I were you, I'd upgrade the transmission but retain the light weight and simplicity of the downtube shifters.

[JohnW]

I have an old school 531 touring bike which I would like to convert as easily and cheaply as possible to STI..............Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Don't!

[531colin]

I have an old school 531 touring bike which I would like to convert as easily and cheaply as possible to STI. It has down-tube shifters .............. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Theres always this.....http://kellybike.com/2nd_xtra_takeoff.html

[mercalia]

http://kellybike.com/2nd_xtra_takeoff.html


very nice idea . ouch at the price when u consider will have to import and pay all the taxes

[CJ]

Get Retroshift brake levers (from their German EU distributor) and fit your existing down-tube controls onto those, for STI-like convenience without buying any other new bits and the certainty that everything will work together just like it did before.

EDIT: to correct mistake and add URLs.

[SA_SA_SA]

A thread of homemade Kelly style or otherwise STI alternatives:

http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=57027&p=596974&hilit=brompton+lamp+bracket#p596767

[Malaconotus]

Get Retroshift brake levers (from their German EU distributor) and fit your existing down-tube controls onto those, for STI-like convenience without buying any other new bits and the certainty that everything will work together just like it did before.

EDIT: to correct mistake and add URLs.

But they are more expensive, and less ergonomic, than a proper conversion to Claris shifters and mechs? Have you tried them? It looks like the shift lever would interfere with braking from the hoods? Have you had chance to try Claris yet?

[CJ]

But they are more expensive, and less ergonomic, than a proper conversion to Claris shifters and mechs? Have you tried them? It looks like the shift lever would interfere with braking from the hoods? Have you had chance to try Claris yet?

I tested Retroshifts on my tandem, which is a hard test, since shifting and braking are both more demanding, and toured the length of France, Manche to Med. They worked fine, none of the problems you speculate.

I don't need to try Claris as it's no different from old Sora and recent 2300, both of which also work fine, within the limitations of their specification. The OP however, has a load of old stuff on his bike that probably won't work properly with anything new, so he'd need most of a Claris groupset, that surely has to cost more than a couple of brake levers with mounts on them for the shifters he already has.

The big problem feature of STI is front indexing. Anything off spec and it'll either not work at all or rub the chain annoyingly. Best avoid that if you can.

[Malaconotus]

Thanks, Chris. Good to hear the positive review.

I think Claris is a step up from 2300 and the old Sora. The front mech is better quality, unlike 2300's stamped and rivetted steel it has little play when new, and the dual paddle shifting, now similar to Tiagra, is ergomically superior and feels more positive in use. I agree front indexing can have issues, especially on triple chainsets.