# A question about switchng out shifters



## Team Sarcasm (Oct 22, 2012)

Right now I have the sora components and when I am getting up to speed, I have to reposition my self back on top or the brakes because the shift lever is to far and my thumb does not reach.

The drive train I have is 3x9. I'm looking at a 105 shifters and see a lot of 2x10, 3x10, and 2X9 shifters, only once did I see a 3x9. 

Would it be hard to switch out my sora shifters for 105? Can shifters be adjusted to fit a certain speed (say the 3x10)? or do I have to find one to specifically to match my drive train. 

I know I will probably need new bar tape and I need to match the speed of my bike but not much else of what goes into changing them out.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

Team Sarcasm said:


> Right now I have the sora components and when I am getting up to speed, I have to reposition my self back on top or the brakes because the shift lever is to far and my thumb does not reach.
> 
> The drive train I have is 3x9. I'm looking at a 105 shifters and see a lot of 2x10, 3x10, and 2X9 shifters, only once did I see a 3x9.
> 
> ...


With a 3x9 drivetrain, you're options are to go with different 3x9 shifters or 3x10 shifters. I wouldn't recommend going with older 9 speed 105 (or above) shifters because of the increased possibility of reliability issues.

With 3x10, you'll need to use alternate cable routing (see below) which allows the use of a 10 speed shifter with a 9 speed drivetrain. The advantage of doing so sets you up for an easier upgrade to 10 speed, but the disadvantage is it's likely shifting won't be quite as crisp as a correct (9 speed) shifter would be.

Derailer Adjustment

EDIT: You may want to consider one of the options below. The shifters are made by Microshift for Performance and Nashbar and (as you'll see) generally get good reviews

Nashbar 9-Speed Dual Control Levers - Road Bike Shifters

Forté 9-speed Dual Control Levers - Road Bike Shifters


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## Team Sarcasm (Oct 22, 2012)

Wow thanks, I think either of those will work. 

On the Nashbar set, it says in the spec '9speed double road' and the forte it says "9speed/double/triple' Whats the difference in that wording mean? I'm guessing it referring to the crank up front? 

I think I might go with the nashbar ones just to be a little more cost effective. I appreciate the help

Edit: and if it is referring to a double crank with the nashbars and I never use the smallest gear, would I run into any problems if I just had them tuned to only use the big and medium gears? I'm not sure if that made any sense. Sorry if it does not


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## MikeWMass (Oct 15, 2011)

When using triple frontshifters with double cranks, you use the SMALL and medium gears. You set the small ring on the small setting, the middle setting gives you the large ring, and the high limit on the derailleur prevents you from shifting to the third setting. Early 105 5600's were all like that. As long as you are careful to set the cable tension and limit screw so you can't inadvertently get the third position, it works fine. I have been using it for 6 years.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

Team Sarcasm said:


> Wow thanks, I think either of those will work.
> 
> On the Nashbar set, it says in the spec '9speed double road' and the forte it says "9speed/double/triple' Whats the difference in that wording mean? I'm guessing it referring to the crank up front?
> 
> ...


My apologies for not catching that difference between Nashbar's 9 speed double and Performance 9 speed double/ triple compatibility. Seems odd that Nashbar would limit themselves to that spec, so it might be worth contacting customer service for clarification.

To answer your question, yes, as MikeWMass posted, you can tune the FD to limit travel to two chainrings - as long as they're inner/ middle *or* middle/ outer. I have exactly the same set up as Mike on one of my bikes and it works perfectly, but set up and tuning have to be right.

In the interest of simplicity, if Nashbar verifies that their shifter is only double compatible, I would advise you go with the Performance shifters and tune them to use the three chainrings. There's nothing saying you _have_ to shift to the inner ring, but it'll be set up for it if need be. If you decide to sell at some point, it may help to have it set up that way.


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

OP, I highly recommend sticking with Shimano shifters for a Shimano drivetrain. If you don't want to spend as much money, do Tiagra or even '13 Sora if you can find it at a good price.

Another thing that you can do on some bikes is just de-evolve to downtube shifters. I did that on my commuter when my SRAM right-hand shifter quit. So far, my $30 SunRace SLR90 shifters are playing very nicely with my Tiagra derailleur, 9-speed cassette, and SRAM Rival front derailleur and crank. You'd need new brake levers in this case, but brake levers that aren't also shifters are about a $20 item.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

AndrwSwitch said:


> OP, I highly recommend sticking with Shimano shifters for a Shimano drivetrain.


Pray tell, why the (apparent) thumbs down on the Microshifts?


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

I haven't used them myself, but when I was shopping around for a way to keep my commuter shifting, I talked through the options with my shop. They were not fans of Microshift - they're a Felt dealer and Felt puts it on a few bikes. The reviews are also not particularly good, at least when it's the shifter sets that save money vs. less expensive Shimanos that still eliminate the thumb tab. My own conclusion was that it would be a false economy to do a Microshift set.

So, hearsay, granted. Either the thread will now blow up with people who hate Microshift and people who love their product or it won't.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

AndrwSwitch said:


> I haven't used them myself, but when I was shopping around for a way to keep my commuter shifting, I talked through the options with my shop. They were not fans of Microshift - they're a Felt dealer and Felt puts it on a few bikes. The reviews are also not particularly good, at least when it's the shifter sets that save money vs. less expensive Shimanos that still eliminate the thumb tab. My own conclusion was that it would be a false economy to do a Microshift set.
> 
> So, hearsay, granted. Either the thread will now blow up with people who hate Microshift and people who love their product or it won't.


Thanks for the candor. FWIW, I have no firsthand experience either, but have formed a somewhat opposite opinion, based primarily on reviews and a couple of posts here from members that I consider knowledgeable/ reliable. 

One thing the OP may want to consider is that Performance (and I think Nashbar) have 100% money back guarantees, so there's an option to back out if he so desires.


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## Team Sarcasm (Oct 22, 2012)

Thanks for the input guys, I appreciate it. I was kind of wondering the same thing as to why you said stick to shimano components, my thought would be easier tuning. 

The rating seem pretty good on both of them, I think PJ makes a good point as to having the 3 crank gears usable even if i don't "need" them now. So I'll probably be going with the Forte shifters as opposed to the nashbars.


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## Rusted Angel (Sep 19, 2010)

I have sora shifters and yes, I would like to have better ones but I will not replace them until I have to and I am racing with them next year. It was good enough for me when i took 2nd place at the local Citizen's race (my only race so far) and they will be good enough for next year's season. 

I was thinking in replacing the whole grupo to Shimano 105 eventually but now that I know a little more about cycling and racing, I'll wait until what I have wears down and I'll replace them with better than 105. If I was not racing, I would be just fine with the 105 but since I will race, I want something just a little better.


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## jfd986 (Jul 17, 2011)

I've had microshift for 700 miles now (I know I know, it's not a lot) , and after the initial, post-cable-stretch tune-up I haven't had any problems with the shifting.

My only comment is that the larger shift lever (into an easier gear in the rear, tougher gear in the front) requires more of a "push" with your finger to shift, whereas the smaller shift lever is more of a click. This "push" requires a small amount more finger strength than brake lever shifting with the sora group I test-rode on the 2011 Fuji Newest 3.0 from Performance (Although to be fair, that was a while ago and it may have required more effort than I remembered. I was, at the time, VERY blown away that there weren't two steel levers on the stem that I had to reach down to in order to shift gears).

After you push the lever, you have to hold it there for about, I wanna say, a quarter of a second, maybe less, so that the gear shifts. This may be a problem with my bike specifically (i.e. tune up issue), but since it was tuned just 300 miles ago I am less likely to think it's that, and more likely to think it's an intrinsic property of microshift. I assume this because other reviewers have mentioned "long draw" or "long throw" or something like that for the shifters, and I was assuming this is what they meant.

So where a shimano group would be a click-shift, a microshift group would be a push-shift. The best thing I have noticed about microshift is that you do not have to move the shift lever to shift the bike. I love microshift, I have blown by people on better bikes with it, I will continue to use it until I have to retire my current bike for whatever reason people do that sort of thing, and rest assured that, one day, when I build a bike on my own and go through the sorrow that many people on here described when they go on a build, I will be outfitting the bike with microshift.

Unless I get mad at it and hate it forever.

Addendum: This is a reply to the OP, not to the last poster. I'm not used to replying to other peoples' threads because I don't usually have information of value to offer.


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

Rusted Angel said:


> I have sora shifters and yes, I would like to have better ones but I will not replace them until I have to and I am racing with them next year. It was good enough for me when i took 2nd place at the local Citizen's race (my only race so far) and they will be good enough for next year's season.
> 
> I was thinking in replacing the whole grupo to Shimano 105 eventually but now that I know a little more about cycling and racing, I'll wait until what I have wears down and I'll replace them with better than 105. If I was not racing, I would be just fine with the 105 but since I will race, I want something just a little better.


In some sense, you should know this better than me. I've never raced Sora. But you really don't need better than 105 to go racing and have it be your fitness that does the talking.

My 'cross bike just gets Tiagra and Deore. If I don't do well, it's because I've figured out how to hit a good (for me) performance for a race I take somewhat seriously in late August, but after that, I tend to let things slip a bit and I haven't been disciplined about preparing for 'cross since 2008. (When I did relatively well, for me. Same bike from then to now too, except that I've chipped away at some parts of the build. So the bike itself is really "faster" this year than it's ever been, but my 'cross was worse this year than it's ever been.)

I think people sometimes attach meaning to the different groups that doesn't have anything to do with their function. While I do think it would annoy me to race with a lower-spec group than Tiagra or the new Sora model, it's because I know I can shift from both hand positions with the usual STI configuration, while I have a little more of a battle with the thumb button on old Sora and 2300.

With any desired upgrade, I think one needs to be a little critical. What will this component do for me that the still-functioning component it will replace didn't do for me? A lot of the time, the only thing I can think of is that it shows my riding buddies that I'm not poor.


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## Rusted Angel (Sep 19, 2010)

I agree.

I guess that was my point, what matter in the race is fitness and tactics.

I am not an expert at all and I only raced once so far but I got into a team and I will be racing a lot more next year.

I am the poor in my team and most of the time in the club rides as well and I used to wish to have 105 to replace my sora/tiagra but after talking with new racing friends I realized that I "need", I just "want" and since I am broke lost of the time I then decided to stick to what I have until it breaks and I was told that a lot of times in races, you can find great deals on used stuff and a lot of racers have better than 105 and that's what I am planning to do.

Bottom line, need vs want.


AndrwSwitch said:


> In some sense, you should know this better than me. I've never raced Sora. But you really don't need better than 105 to go racing and have it be your fitness that does the talking.
> 
> My 'cross bike just gets Tiagra and Deore. If I don't do well, it's because I've figured out how to hit a good (for me) performance for a race I take somewhat seriously in late August, but after that, I tend to let things slip a bit and I haven't been disciplined about preparing for 'cross since 2008. (When I did relatively well, for me. Same bike from then to now too, except that I've chipped away at some parts of the build. So the bike itself is really "faster" this year than it's ever been, but my 'cross was worse this year than it's ever been.)
> 
> ...


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

AndrwSwitch said:


> With any desired upgrade, I think one needs to be a little critical. What will this component do for me that the still-functioning component it will replace didn't do for me? A lot of the time, the only thing I can think of is that it shows my riding buddies that I'm not poor.


Well said... :thumbsup:

EDIT: lol.. speaking of upgrades, prior to RBR's upgrade, 'smileys' worked!!


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## Team Sarcasm (Oct 22, 2012)

AndrwSwitch said:


> In some sense, you should know this better than me. I've never raced Sora. But you really don't need better than 105 to go racing and have it be your fitness that does the talking.
> 
> My 'cross bike just gets Tiagra and Deore. If I don't do well, it's because I've figured out how to hit a good (for me) performance for a race I take somewhat seriously in late August, but after that, I tend to let things slip a bit and I haven't been disciplined about preparing for 'cross since 2008. (When I did relatively well, for me. Same bike from then to now too, except that I've chipped away at some parts of the build. So the bike itself is really "faster" this year than it's ever been, but my 'cross was worse this year than it's ever been.)
> 
> ...


This post basically summarizes what I have been been going through my mind while pondering the thought of swapping out shifters. 

As of right now my shifters work fine and there is nothing wrong with them. new shifters will only better my convenience when shifters, and I also noticed I usually only shift when I am coming to a red light or something, which I reposition to the hoods anyways, so changing to the 105 style would do me really no good. 

As far as shifters...there are not many 3x9 styles out there, I kind of feel as if the 27 speeds are going out of "style" for lack of better words. PJ gave me some great suggestions and the only ones I have found on ebay are almost half the cost it would be to do a complete drive train swap. So looking at costs vs what I am getting I cant really justify fixing something that is not broken, especially by how much time I have to ride due to school, work, and studying (easily 16hours a day), as well as being payed a student worker wage, which is a woping 8.25/hr lol. 

I am just going to tough it out, it is not that big of a hassel. I make some decent money over summer (I didnt work last summer due to medical conditions, which is why I am so broke this year :lol: ) and I have been thinking that I will just buy a bike that goes on sale next october/november with the 105 components and have my LBS swap the drive train completely over and sell the new frame/old drive train bike privately. Bikes go pretty quick in my home town so I am not to worried if I pick up another one at school and do this. 

I'll be able to save up for that, and even though it might be a little more expensive up front I think overall I will save some money, given the right bike is bought. Either way I know I will loose money in the process, but that's ok and it will give me time to find out exactly what I want. I know I will never out ride the 105 set and if I do it will probably be when I am fully out of school and have the job to afford a better bike.


Long story short, I won't be swapping shifters. :thumbsup:


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

Racing is already a want vs a need. A fabulously expensive want too. I decided that I wasn't going to give up cycling again when I went back to school this time 'round, but race fees, team dues, buying the kit, buying licenses, joining my velodrome association, travel, use cases for more classes of bike - they all add up pretty quickly, and I find myself fairly conscious of it. My other favorite sport is skiing and in general, I decided that was just too expensive to keep up with for now. 

Since I'm an amateur with no desire do more than that with cycling, almost everything I buy for cycling is about want. I don't get a choice about buying my bus pass so I can't even make a "need" argument about my commute bike.

That's kind of a long preamble. The point is this: It doesn't have to be all or nothing. There are two component groups between Sora and Ultegra, and I like them both. You could also count new Sora if you wanted to. Although I don't have saddle time with it, the design change in the shifter is the only important difference I saw between Sora and the higher-spec groups anyway. The derailleurs and crank are already perfectly good. Just not fetishized.

That's really what I mean about being critical. I can want and fetishize Dura-Ace if I want to, but mechanical Dura-Ace doesn't do anything that my current build doesn't also do.

On the other hand, since putting downtube shifters on my commuter, I wouldn't seriously consider it as a competition bike anymore. Being able to shift during an effort out of the saddle is something I can do on my other bikes but not on that bike.

So I'd say to anyone with the old thumb-button Sora - go ahead and price new shifters, and whatever supporting other parts swaps you'll have to make. Whether or not it's "worth it" is really a gut check in the end anyway. So figure out what it'll cost you and decide how you feel about it. My own gut check was that I won't pay to have fancier shifters on bikes I don't race. It hasn't come up recently - Shimano's stuff generally lasts a long time - but I think if it came up on one of the racers, I'd pay for an equivalent replacement for the integrated shifters.


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