Elementary shifting question

onebravemonkey

Hey,
Wasn't sure whether to post this in Road Beginners or here, but just in case this is a technical issue I thought here was best.

I've just bought a Specialized Allez after not riding a road bike for 10+ years and am, believe it or not, having my first experience of STI shifters. (Which are Shimano Soras, in case it's important).

All well and good, apart from the following: The left brake shifter moves up through the gears (on the chainset), and the thumb-switch moves down (which is fine), but the right shifter moves down through the gears (on the cassette) and the thumb-switch moves up. Bit confused on that one... the only reason i can see is that they are both moving up in cog-size, despite the implications on the cassette (ie big cog = small gear).

I wondered if there was a way to change the right shifter so that the brake lever progesses up though the gears (and down through the cogs), with the thumb-switch changing down. There are two reasons I'd prefer this: 1) It'd lessen the confusion on an old brain and 2) when I'm down on the drops I wouldn't have to keep moving my hand position to change up a gear.

I'm fully prepared to accept "that's the way they work, suck it up" as an answer, but I thought I'd ask to see if it was an easy job to change them round (before I go and embarass myself at my LBS.

Cheers!

alfablue

For mtb's there are so called "rapid rise" rear mechs which reverse the lever actions. They don't seem too popular (they often appear at reduced prices in the online stores). I guess you could fit one to a road bike - no idea if it would work. The thumb levers on Sora offer you less leverage so it makes sense that the mech works with the spring (i.e. to the smaller rings or sprockets), the large levers give more leverage and as more force is required to move to larger rings this makes sense. It might seem weird to start with but you will soon get used to it.

The Sora shifters are different to the rest of the Shimano range, the hand movement on the drops to operate the thumb lever is an often cited criticism - some people manage without doing so apparently. I am not a fan of Sora shifters. I managed to get a set of secondhand Ultegra shifters for £30 to go on my g/f's bike that originally came with Sora - she much prefers shifting since the "upgrade". All the other shifters have the second lever behind the brake lever and it is easier to operate than the rather clunky thumb levers of Sora. That said, many people get on happily with Sora, and considering that shifters are about the costliest part of the bike after the frame, they do mean you get good road bike at a cheap price.

Gary D

The easy short answer is NO - you cannot change them.

However, you will get used to them with practice

PS. Even if you change the shifters to Tiagra, 105 or whatever (which is expensive) the principle of shifting is still the same - moving the brake lever pulls the cable and always goes from smaller to larger cog - pressing the thumb shifter (Sora) or moving the smaller lever behind the brake lever (Tiagra and above) releases cable tension and moves from large to small.

Hope this helps,
Gary.

onebravemonkey

Gary - That's just the response I was looking for, and the answer I was kind-of expecting, but thanks for telling me!

Alfa - Thanks for the upgrade advice; I think I'll see how I get on first.

Thanks to both of you!

:-D