Road gear with Thumb shifters?

basti

Hello Everyone

I am planning to build my own bike (god knows why, no idea how to do it) and would like to mount road gear system (105), but as i will be having a flat handle bar, need to use it with any kind of thumb shifters, is this technically possible? please excuse if silly question!!

It might be a silly plan altogether, but for some reason i am convinced that a road bike set-up would suit my needs better.

thanks
sebastian

star_rover

Yes.
Shimano R770 10 speed flat bar shifters work well with 105.

geoff_ss

My road bike has flat bars and I use normal ATB thumb shifters (not sure which ones) and they work perfectly with my 105 system. I have a 44/32/22 chain set and a 9 speed 13/25 cassette but I'm sure it would work with bigger chain rings.

Geoff

andrew_s

MTB and road front cable pulls are different so if there's any indexing your front shifter has to match the mech. You've got to use a specific road shifter or a friction mode if there is one.
At the rear you can mix and match freely.

star_rover

R770 are road specific shifters, obviously, as 10 speed hasn't reached MTBs yet. There is a r770 front mech to match, but the shifters will work perfectly well with a regular 105 mech.
More choice in shifters in 9 speed, if you wanted to use tiagra instead of 105.

geoff_ss

I should have said that my 105 system is a 9 speed one. More than sufficient - I never know what gear I'm in. When I had 5/6 speed blocks I knew every gear in inches Love the speed and certainty of the gear shifting now, though.

Geoff