What affects shifting performance more, mech or shifters?

Evil Laugh

I've got dura ace 7800 on my bike. Had 105 5700 on another. I'm rebuilding the 7800 bike with a new frame and therefore have the opportunity to make some other changes. I much prefer the ergonomics of the 5700 and the shifting was fine but nowhere near as slick as 7800. The 5700 also needed a lot of rear mech maintenance while the 7800 I've barely had to touch. That was the main downside of 5700 for me.

So what makes the shifting slicker, shifters or rear mech or a combo? Can I presume the rear mech quality dictates it's ability to stay indexed?

Im thinking to swap the 7800 shifters to 5700, and the front mech, but worried about how much reliability I'd lose in performance.

pastey_boy

cables make the biggest difference.

canbakay

cables & drivetrain cleanliness (most swear by the 7800 so give it a good service)

rc856

pastey_boy wrote:

cables make the biggest difference.

Is this a personal thing or have there been extensive tests mate?
I ask because I'm putting Record shifters on my bike and was set to 'upgrade' to Jagwire.
I was told that the Campag cables are just as good.

gasman_dave

+1 on cables.

Upgraded from 105 5700 to Ultegra SL and it was certainly a bit crisper (though it was new).

Moved Ultegra RM to new frame and fitted Yokozuna gear and brake cable set. Huge difference to shifting which hasn't changed all season. Had tried lots of cables before but these are impressive.

Dave

gilesjuk

Cables are where the most friction is. The mechs are running on nice pivots and will move pretty freely but the cables twist and turn.

If you don't have full length cable outers (most bikes don't) then the lower sections get full of crud and your cables start to stick. The return spring on the mech gets to a point where it won't be strong enough to pull back the cable from the shifter when change up.

No scientific test required, it's common sense.

I have some Goodridge cables and outer, nice and smooth.

passout

Yes cables and lack of crud, but then shifters I reckon - no proof though!

desweller

Cables!

That said, it's worth dripping some oil into the shifters every now and then...

pastey_boy

the best thing i have found for both brake and gear cables on road bikes is to use middleburn cable oilers on all 4 cables. road bike cables are hard to get to due to being routed under the bar tape but if you fit a middleburn cable oiler to each cable where it exits from under the bar tape then it is very easy to lubricate the cable without any disassembly. just use quality stainless steel inners along with good quality outer such as shimano sp41 or jagwire, fit some sealed ferrules from jagwire and your away. you will need 2x4mm middleburn cable oilers and 2x5mm for the brakes. in total it will cost between £20-£25 for this set up. if your cables get a bit sticky just blast them with some ptfe spray lube and they're as good as new.

Evil Laugh

FWIW my 7800 uses original 7800 cables, the 5700 used jagwire. The indexing on the 5700 would drift constantly. The 7800 stayed perfect for ages I only jut had to
tweak it after about a year. Are we saying this is down to the cables then? The 7800 has been far more abused/winter riding etc.

pastey_boy

the old 7800's gear cables are not routed under the bartape so there is a lot less friction and more direct cable routing so shifting is lighter and less dependant on cable quality. the 5700's concealed cables will need to be kept pristine as any contaminants entering the cable will have an adverse effect on shifting.

simonsays

i would say the shifters dictate shifting quality, the mechanics are all in the shifters and refinements in mechs are about weight, with the exception of shimanos reverse shift XTR which i love the feel of but always shift the wrong way. Clean cables are important, but i wouldn't bother with expensive or gimmicky aftermarket stuff, original equipment regularly replaced, say 12 months or 3000 miles depending on how much you ride in the rain? Or just when they stop working so well due to stickiness. If you unclip the rear mech cable by the dropout this is where it is hit hardest on a regularly used bike. If it does not move smoothly on the cable maintain with WD40 or replace.

simonsays

i would like to add that i used jagwire once and they had a yellow coating that was suppose to reduce friction but in fact wore and clogged the cables. Rubbish!

Evil Laugh

Looks like I'm just gonna stick with what i have. Cheers all.

desweller

Note that getting the length of the cable runs is important. Particularly around tight radii, e.g. loop to rear mech. Get it too short and you will have shifting problems until you decide to replace the cables.