Tiagra 4500 shifter broken - what can I replace it with?

RSV_Ecosse

My left hand Tiagra 4500 9 spd shifter has given up the ghost. It's knackered and I'm struggling to source a replacement. The bike is a Pinarello FP1 with a double compact chainset. Is it possible to replace the Tiagra 4500 shifters with an alternative? I understand I can't simply swap them for Tiagra 4600 as those are 10 speed rather than 9, is that correct?

I'm finding that getting hold of a good, working 4500 left hand shifter is like finding the proverbial needle in an enormous haystack!

plodder73

Left hand shifter Sora would work as long as it's the new kind without the thumb shifter. Aesthetically it would look the same. Not sure about 105 as they have gear cables under the bar tape rather than out the side of the shifter.

plodder73

Plenty on eBay, can't imagine these will be too much

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-sora- ... 2ee0a7053b

arlowood

I might be wrong but since it's the LH shifter which controls the front mech it should make no difference whether it comes from a 9 or 10-speed groupset. It's only there to shift the chain between the 2 front chain rings.

In which case you should be able to swap over a 4600 Tiagra, A 3500 Sora or maybe even a 5600 or 5700 105.

They may look different from your RH 9-speed but hopefully they'll still do the job.

Other wiser heads may be along to caution about cable pull differences but you should start to look anyway for those other options.

RSV_Ecosse

Cool, that would open up a lot more options for me if I could just bung a 4600 shifter on there.