# 7-speed brifters: what are my choices?



## Bob Ross (Apr 18, 2006)

I've got a circa 1985 Bridgestone with 126mm rear dropout spacing, originally was a 6-speed but I had it upgraded to 7-speed w/ a Shimano 105 derailler when the original drivetrain died a few years back. Still has the original SunTour front derailleur and downtube friction shifters, and DiaCompte brake levers.

I'd like to replace the shifters & brake levers with STI-type brifters, both for ease of shifting and for better comfort when riding on the hoods.

Am I limited to the Shimano Sora 7-speed brifters with the little thumb lever, or is there a slightly more upscale brifter w/ dual paddles (like Tiagra or 105) that will work with a 7-speed freewheel?

Thanks.


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

8-spd


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## boneman (Nov 26, 2001)

*Rsx*

Try to find a pair of Shimano RSX shifters. They are for 7 speed, will work with your 105 rear and should be fine with the ST FD. They're basically an STI type shifter. I have a pair and they work fine with 7 speed freewheels in a 126mm triangle.



Bob Ross said:


> I've got a circa 1985 Bridgestone with 126mm rear dropout spacing, originally was a 6-speed but I had it upgraded to 7-speed w/ a Shimano 105 derailler when the original drivetrain died a few years back. Still has the original SunTour front derailleur and downtube friction shifters, and DiaCompte brake levers.
> 
> I'd like to replace the shifters & brake levers with STI-type brifters, both for ease of shifting and for better comfort when riding on the hoods.
> 
> ...


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## cyclust (Sep 8, 2004)

FatTireFred said:


> 8-spd


+1! Just find a set of 8 speed Ultegra or 105 STI levers. They'll work just fine with 7 speed, and once you set the limit screws for your derailluer, you simply won't be able to use the 8th position. 7 speed STI's are hard to find and apparently bring top dollar. I recently bought an older hybrid bike for my wife that had RSX 7 speed STI's. They were pretty beat up, and I wanted to upgrade the bike to 9 speed, so I put on an extra set of Ultegra 9 speed levers on. Long story short, I put the RSX levers on ebay, figuring I'd get maybe $40 for them, and they brought nearly $130! For that price you can get some 8 speed Ultegra units in good shape.


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## lalahsghost (Aug 27, 2007)

Are they so expensive/rare because seven speed drivetrains are so darned reliable? (in my opinion they are!)


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## Applesauce (Aug 4, 2007)

lalahsghost said:


> Are they so expensive/rare because seven speed drivetrains are so darned reliable? (in my opinion they are!)


Yes, it's probably a conspiracy.

Sweet bike.


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

I got a set of Sora 7spd a few months ago from ribblecycles.com. I just looked and they still advertise them at less than $150.


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## danl1 (Jul 23, 2005)

Too bad you don't have the Suntour RD. I could hook you up with either Suntour Command shifters, or drop-bar Grip Shifts (from before SRAM was known as SRAM.)

Here are the Command shifters, SunTour's last-gasp attempt to survive STI/Ergo:


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## Gargamel (Feb 3, 2004)

*danl1 - Suntour command*

Why would he have to have a Suntour rear derailleur?

I have a set of Command shifters I intend to put on an older bike with a Suntour Ultra (narrow-spaced) 7 speed freewheel and a Shimano or Sram RD. The rear shifter is friction so what kind of problem should I expect?

Oddly enough, the front shifter has a strange ratcheting index option


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## danl1 (Jul 23, 2005)

Gargamel said:


> Why would he have to have a Suntour rear derailleur?
> 
> I have a set of Command shifters I intend to put on an older bike with a Suntour Ultra (narrow-spaced) 7 speed freewheel and a Shimano or Sram RD. The rear shifter is friction so what kind of problem should I expect?
> 
> Oddly enough, the front shifter has a strange ratcheting index option


And that's it exactly. The Command shifters are indexed, and you'd need a SunTour shifter to get the cable pulls right for that to work out. But if you wanted to use friction mode, it could work well enough, except...

They don't really have a 'pure' friction mode, but this odd 'friction 7' thing, that's a sort of ratcheting friction with 7 heavier-than-the-rest detents. It seems like the intent was to provide an index-failure fallback (those were the days when we didn't trust cables to stay in tune) but keep them from being ported satisfactorily to other systems. 
IMO, it's that sort of behaviour that did them in.


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## lalahsghost (Aug 27, 2007)

These? https://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=5329&subcategory_ID=5144










7 - 8 - 9 speed shifters..... :shrug:


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## Thommy (Sep 23, 2003)

Change your free hub body over to a newer 8/9 speed free hub body.
Re-dish your wheel.
Buy 8 or 9 speed STI off of E-Bay.
Buy 9 speed barend shifters, www.universalcycles.com, www.jensonusa.com or www.bikeman.com (will work with 8 speed or 9 speed cassettes) longer lasting than STI.
Whatever cassette you wind up with be sure and buy many extra cassettes for spares.
Eight and nine speed cassettes and shifters are more available than the seven speed systems. 
Conspiracy? Yah, I think so too!.


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