Upgrade from down tube to STi shifters
I have bought my daughter a Decathlon Kids racing bike which she loves but it comes with gear changers on the down tube (Sunrace triple?)
Should it be posssible to change this set up to something like Shimano sora or campag Xenon? and how difficult would it be or what should I expect to pay for a LBS to do the job?
"You must return here with a shrubbery, or else, you will never pass through this wood... alive."
Should it be posssible to change this set up to something like Shimano sora or campag Xenon? and how difficult would it be or what should I expect to pay for a LBS to do the job?
"You must return here with a shrubbery, or else, you will never pass through this wood... alive."
"You must return here with a shrubbery, or else, you will never pass through this wood... alive."
0
Comments
-
1-2 hour's labour plus the parts. I expect that you'll need shifters, front and rear mech to make it all fully compatible. How many gears has the present bike? - if 8 gears or more, I expect the bike has a Shimano pattern freehub, so you'll be restricted to Shimano parts e.g. Sora. If 5/6/7 gears on the rear, then it's more likely to have a freewheel i.e. screw-on gear cluster - you may want to consider getting a near rear hub fitted to take an 8,9 or even 10 speed cassette - if you change the hub then you can have the choice of Shimano or Campag. Suggest you talk-it through with the LBS to give you a full estimate0
-
Why go to the effort? What will she gain from it? Nothing I say. No offence but if it had meant that much to you you should have bought a different bike in the first place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Porridge not Petrol
________
Free gift card~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Porridge not Petrol0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by domtyler</i>
Why go to the effort? What will she gain from it? Nothing I say. No offence but if it had meant that much to you you should have bought a different bike in the first place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Porridge not Petrol
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
She'll gain confidence, at œ70 the bike was a bargain <i><font color="red"> and there are not a lot of opitions in the kids racing bike department]</font id="red"></i> and bought just to see if she would take to road cycling. Now that she has I would prefer to see her not having to struggle to change gears so she gets more enjoyment out of the bike
"You must return here with a shrubbery, or else, you will never pass through this wood... alive.""You must return here with a shrubbery, or else, you will never pass through this wood... alive."0 -
I've done this. I used Xenon 10 speed QS ergos, an old 8-speed 105 rear mech/8-speed chain/resin downtube cable stops from my shed, an 8-speed screw-on block from Spa cycles. Used the existing front mech. Whole thing works flawlessly and cost just over œ40 for the ergos, inc cables, and about œ12 for the rear block. I think I had to mess about with spacers on the rear wheel, but no re-dishing.
If you can source an old pair of Campag 8-speed ergos on ebay etc you could do a direct swap and run the existing 5-speed block. A pre 2001 9-speed set of Ergos would allow you to run 5,6 or 7-speed on the back. See here for explanation.
http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3946
Easy to do and makes for an excellent little bike for not much money.0 -
I grew up with down tube shifters and cannot remember them ever being a problem. Certainly didn't stop me gaining confidence, quite the opposite I would have thought. I just think that you will end up having to spend two to three times the original cost of the bike to get the set up you want for minimal if any real benefit.
Have you got a link showing the bike by the way? I would be interested to see it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Porridge not Petrol
________
HELENE ROTHER~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Porridge not Petrol0 -
I disagree, kid's motor and balance skills aren't as well refined as adults and so trying to get them to learn DT shifters without crashing is going to be difficult - one painful crash and it'll be very difficult to get her back on the bike. However, giving her the opportunity to select the gears easily and feel in control will improve her enjoyment and reduce the risk of crashing - given what you spent on the bike and the fact that you can always transfer the kit to a bigger bike when she needs it - go for it.0
-
I'd agree with domtyler. As a child my first 'road' bike had friction down tube shifters, so I had to learn to use these. When I went to university I bought an old road bike with friction down tube shifters - having learnt to use them years before, I could jump on and ride the bike without any problems.
As a compromise, you could consider bar end shifters - much cheaper and easier to install than 'brifters,' and nicer/easier to operate than down tube shifters.0 -
If you are happy to pay for the STI's go for it. I grew up with DT friction shifters because there was nothing else (apart from bar-end) and was quite happy with them. But I was also happy with a black and white TV and a record player with the speaker in the lid, for the same reason.
Modern stuff is so much nicer and easier to use, if you want to encourage the girl to keep cycling don't burden her with antique kit.
Nobody ever got laid because they were using Shimano0 -
I still use friction DT gear levers, I did try the indexed version once but I didn't like the loud click sound, and I've never felt the need for STI/ergo. But for a new rider STI/ergo is of course easier to use.
<font color="black"><div align="right"><i><font size="1"><font face="Comic Sans MS"> My fixed bike </font id="Comic Sans MS"></font id="size1"></i></div id="right"></font id="black">0
