Can I swap from 3x8 to 3x10 like this?

Manc33

I have a 3x8 setup, can I just get some 3x10 brifters and whack a 10sp cassette and chain on and its all good?

Why do front mechs specify "8sp" and why do chainrings also say 8sp/9sp/10sp? Really? I mean come on!

Can't I just use my "8sp chainset" and "8sp front mech" with a 10sp chain, cassette and shifter?

Guys you might laugh at this but I might go back to drop bars. Don't laugh.

Main reason I went to flat bars is I hated the 2300 STi shifters with that little black button to downshift, all the good brifters have a down shift in the middle of the brake lever, which can be reached from both on the hoods and on the drops.

Guys, putting flat bars on my road bike was silly I admit that now. I am losing stupid amounts on my times and don't have many hand positions on the longer rides. :roll:

maddog 2

Not quite. 7 and 8 speed chains are basically the same width, 9 are a bit less, 10 a bit narrower still. Internally they are the same.

If you keep your 8spd chainset and FD, then the 10spd chain will run on the rings okay but the shifting will be dodgy. Dodgy because the 8spd FD cage is too wide for the narrower chain, and the rings on a 10spd chainset are slightly closer together. All this adds up to poor front shifting. You can sort of get round this on a double, but a triple is pushing it.

Monty Dog

We don't do 'brifters' this side of the Atlantic - you'll have to go across the pond to find a pair ;-)

The risk with using a 10sp chain on an 8 speed chainset is that the narrower chain will get jammed between the chainrings, particularly if you are shifting under load.

duckson

I have a 10sp chain running on a Shimano 2300 crankset with 2300 front derailleur, works and shifts sweet using 105 5700 shifters.
Cant seem to get the rear shifting perfectly with a 10sp cassette so might get the 105 5700 rear derailleur and see if that improves it (replaced cables and outers and took the wider exit from the shifters around the bars).

Manc33

It would have been a big expense and might not even work so I just got a pair of brand new 8-speed Claris STi shifters. All I really wanted was a button for downshift on the brake lever blade as opposed to a button near the hoods like on the 2300.

Shimano seems to have discontinued the 2300 stuff and replaced it with "Claris" aka 2400.

Shimano sure do know how to make you want upgrades.

The only reason I even went to flat bars was because of that annoying thumb shifter on the 2300 levers. I naively thought all STi levers were like that and just went to flat handlebars. I can't take the drag anymore lol. Need to put drops on it again.

One question about those STi levers... where the down shift is on the lever blade... if you push the lever inwards to upshift, which way does the downshift button get pressed? It appears (in pictures) as though it clicks inwards as well, but I have never really examined one in real life or used one. Surely you don't push the down shift the same way as the upshift, inwards? If so how doesn't it interfere with the upshift?

They are being delivered soon but I can't wait lol, I have to know.

andy_wrx

Answering just this question, the little inner lever which shifts up (i.e. higher gear) moves on its own, you push-over with a fingertip and leave the bigger outer lever alone.

The bigger outer lever which shifts down (i.e. lower gear) takes the inner one with it, you sweep them both over with a few fingers

I won't debate running 10sp together with 8sp without any problem, nor how it's possible to change gears with Sora thumblever from the drops...

Manc33

On the 2300 the brake blade moving inwards changes up and the thumb shifter releases to shift down.

You mean on standard STi shifters the brake lever blade being pushed inwards makes it change down and the smaller lever makes it change up?

What I can't grasp is how, if the small lever gets moved when the brake lever/blade is moved, how is it not changing "up and down" at the same time.

The people that invent this stuff are geniuses. 8)

andy_wrx

Change up, change down - well it depends on whether you're talking about the left or right shifter.

The big lever, on both 2300 (or 8sp Sora) and on the higher Shimano groups, pulls cable to move the chain onto the bigger ring - which is changing down at the cassette/right shifter and up at the chainrings/left shifter.
The thumblever or smaller inner lever releases cable and the spring in the mech moves it to drop the chain onto the smaller ring, which is up at the back/right and down at the front/left.

In the shifter mechanism must be some fancy levers and cogs to disable the inner lever or thumbshifter when you swing the big lever over.
Find an exploded view online if you want to see how complicated they are inside !

Manc33

STi levers are absurdly complex, I can see just from pulling the brake lever and looking inside it.

What gets me is it seems like you push both the downshift and upshift, when only upshifting. When downshifting you just click the smaller one, I get that part, but how can that smaller one get pushed with the bigger one on the upshift without it shifting up and down at the same time?

I have bought a pair of 2400 Claris levers to be going on with, but this is entry level stuff I only expect to shift decently for 6 months.

Eventually I want to just whack an all Dura-Ace or Ultegra drivetrain on it.

- STi Levers
- Chainrings
- Bottom Bracket
- Chain
- Cassette
- Front Mech
- Rear Mech

However that is an entire setup and as Dura-Ace would cost ludicrous amounts. :roll: Same if it was Ultegra.

I think the 105 groupset is only about £400 and that includes brake calipers, but I would always be riding around wondering how good Dura-Ace is.

I am sick of being on 8 speed lol. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, its just that I think now parts are going to start to get really hard to find because 8 speed already is a thing of the past.

I do want a triple again and I am not sure DA 7800/7900 or Ultegra 6800 even has a triple chainset version (I think Ultegra does), but then it is for professional racers after all.

I think it goes something like £400 for a 105 group, £700 for Ultegra and Dura-Ace, I daren't look, £1200?

I think the levers I was looking at were £400 just for the levers. Let me just look down the back of the sofa I am sure I lost £400 down there lol.

Maybe getting all the bits separately could be cheaper.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-Dura- ... 4acaf9cb26

£123.14 = hell cheap for DA. A new Shimano 105 triple is £100. Ultegra triple is £145.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/shim ... -prod11786

"Unavailable" :roll: Maybe DA has scrapped triples?!

If it was it would be well over £200 I am sure.