Upgrading levers

konaballs

This is quite shallow of me, but, my Specialized Allez sport has 9 speed Sora levers, which send the gear cable out at right angles to the lever, whereas "posher" :roll: :oops: levers/groupsets have them exit under the bar tape for a less cluttered effect.
My question is, are there any 9 speed shimano levers that I can upgrade to purely to get this look?, It seems difficult to find any without going 10 speed....

Thanks

lc1981

I'm pretty sure the answer is no. If I recall correctly, 105 and Ultegra went 10 speed one model before they moved to using cables running under the bar tape, and lower models still have the cables coming out of the side of the shifters.

Barteos

konaballs wrote:

... This is quite shallow of me, but, my Specialized Allez sport has 9 speed Sora levers, which send the gear cable out at right angles to the lever, whereas "posher" :roll: :oops: levers/groupsets have them exit under the bar tape for a less cluttered effect.
My question is, are there any 9 speed shimano levers that I can upgrade to purely to get this look?, It seems difficult to find any without going 10 speed....
Thanks

Under the tape routing is utterly pointless and creates extra cable drag that will compromise the quality and reliability of your shifting. If you spend more time riding a bike rather than taking pictures of it, stick to what you've got.

unixnerd

Agreed. I have 9 speed 105 and 10 speed Dura-Ace 7800 with cable routing like yours and newer Ultegra 6800 with under bar tape routing. Both the 105 and 7800 shift far crisper.

amaferanga

Barteos wrote:

Under the tape routing is utterly pointless and creates extra cable drag that will compromise the quality and reliability of your shifting. If you spend more time riding a bike rather than taking pictures of it, stick to what you've got.

Simply not true.

Barteos

amaferanga wrote:

Barteos wrote:

Under the tape routing is utterly pointless and creates extra cable drag that will compromise the quality and reliability of your shifting. If you spend more time riding a bike rather than taking pictures of it, stick to what you've got.

Simply not true.

More bends and longer outers equal more friction. It's really simple. Based on workshop experience btw.

konaballs

Thank you chaps I'll save money and enjoying possibly better shifting too!

southdownswolf

Barteos wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

Barteos wrote:

Under the tape routing is utterly pointless and creates extra cable drag that will compromise the quality and reliability of your shifting. If you spend more time riding a bike rather than taking pictures of it, stick to what you've got.

Simply not true.

More bends and longer outers equal more friction. It's really simple. Based on workshop experience btw.

If done correctly, it is impossible to tell the "extra" friction. Agreed though, that if done badly, then under tape cables can compromise the shifting. Based on actual usage experience btw.