Flat bar shifters, cable pull, careful of this! (R770/R783)

Manc33
Manc33 Posts: 2,157
edited March 2015 in Road beginners
On the flat bar SL-R770 shifter you have to use the FD-R773 front mech, which is a special front mech with a MTB cable pull. Then there's a shifter called the SL-R783 which says you can use a FD-6703 or FD-5703 front mech aka a standard triple road mech.

This makes the R770 and R783 totally different shifters although you'd think it was merely a small upgrade from one to the next. Be careful what you're buying!

Shifter: R770
Front derailleur: FD-R773 (and I assume FD-R443 too)
http://www.shimano.com/media/techdocs/c ... 683913.pdf

Shifter: R783
Front derailleur: FD-6703/FD-5703
http://www.shimano.com.au/media/techdoc ... 759396.pdf

Dodgy or what. :lol:

There are rumours of "hybrid" road bikes with flat bar shifters and road front mechs but AFAIK these always turn out to be on double chainsets.

Comments

  • MisterMuncher
    MisterMuncher Posts: 1,302
    Odd. I ran R770s with a completely standard 105 FD for years and never had any trouble with it, bar slightly heavy pull for upshifting in the first few weeks. I also tried it with an Alivio triple and it was much the same. Shifted fine, trimmed fine, no unusual setup requirements.
  • Manc33
    Manc33 Posts: 2,157
    MisterMuncher wrote:
    Odd. I ran R770s with a completely standard 105 FD for years and never had any trouble with it, bar slightly heavy pull for upshifting in the first few weeks. I also tried it with an Alivio triple and it was much the same. Shifted fine, trimmed fine, no unusual setup requirements.

    Maybe flat bar shifters have a cable pull in-between MTB and road but... that is closer to road pull. So close it can be setup on a road front mech to work when you take trim into account.

    I got a R443 front mech working with a MTB shifter but the cable has to be loose on the granny ring. One big shove from that all the way on the shifter and it shifts to the middle ring fine, but has to be that way. One thing about this is on the middle chainring and biggest sprocket, it doesn't rub, then changing all the way to the 11t (all without trim on a road bike remember!) it still doesn't rub. So then on my bike at least trim isn't needed - but I can't use MTB shifters because of the longer cable pull. :roll:
  • MisterMuncher
    MisterMuncher Posts: 1,302
    Wouldn't you be better off with a low end MTB front mech instead, even if only to try? 15 quid for a Deore seems like a very easy decision to make.
  • Manc33
    Manc33 Posts: 2,157
    Nah, 2 reasons:

    1. The swingarm of a MTB front mech gets in the way of my rear tyre.
    2. MTB front mech can't cope with a road chainset, I got a 52t outer.

    I got the R770 left shifter today and the quality externally is a lot nicer than the R440 although the internals look very similar. Neither shifter has the 2-way release "yet" (too old).

    One thing with the R440 is its stiff to shift, hopefully the R770 being three groupsets above, won't be so stiff.

    Its taken fricken ages but its there now with:

    Brake Calipers: Dura-Ace BR-7800
    Brake Levers: BL-R780 (those "flat bar" Ultegra ones)
    Left Shifter: SL-R770
    Right Shifter: SL-M951
    Front Mech: FD-R443
    Rear Mech: RD-M772
    Chainset: Spa (52-38-24)
    Cassette: 11-32t (8-speed)

    Upgrading the R440 left shifter to a R770 is hopefully the last thing it needs.

    Then it is ready for the summer, its only took about 18 months to get right. :lol:
  • MisterMuncher
    MisterMuncher Posts: 1,302
    They're a very nice shifter. I hope they work out for you.

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