# Shifter upgrade for my Lemond...HELP!!!



## Phillip J. Fry (Apr 8, 2005)

Being a hardcore MTBer but slowly becoming more of a roadie, I'm looking to upgrade my shifters but I'm confused as to which ones will 'fit' my ride. I have a 2004 Lemond Nevada City (triple) and I've just upgraded my cranks to some Ultegra's with the help of some fellow riders here a few weeks ago. My question now is: which one of these shifters will actually fit my bike. I know I need the Ultegra 6500 series so I've been looking for that. But SuperHo has a great deal on some Dura Ace shifters but will they work? 

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=11616&subcategory_ID=5144

http://www.supergo.com/profile.cfm?LPROD_ID=18423&lsubcat_id=7643&lcat_id=7605&referpage=

Also, what clamp size front derailler do I need? 

Thanks for the help. It is very much appreciated!!!!!!!


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## OES (Jan 23, 2002)

Phillip J. Fry said:


> Being a hardcore MTBer but slowly becoming more of a roadie, I'm looking to upgrade my shifters but I'm confused as to which ones will 'fit' my ride. I have a 2004 Lemond Nevada City (triple) and I've just upgraded my cranks to some Ultegra's with the help of some fellow riders here a few weeks ago. My question now is: which one of these shifters will actually fit my bike. I know I need the Ultegra 6500 series so I've been looking for that. But SuperHo has a great deal on some Dura Ace shifters but will they work?
> 
> http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=11616&subcategory_ID=5144
> 
> ...


I won't offer unsolicited advice on the wisdom of the course of action you're pursing with these 'upgrades.' But as far as the shifters, those are 9-speed shifters and the Nevada City, IIRC, is an 8-speed Sora bike. To make the DA (or Ultegra, for that matter) shifters work, you're off into a bottomless pit of even further 'upgrades' to make the bike 9-speed, and will spend as much on the upgrades as you spent on the original bike. If this is worth it to you, go ahead ...


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## MikeBiker (Mar 9, 2003)

Phillip,

Think through what you are doing. You are talking about putting top of the line components on what is essentially an entry level frame.


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## regan (Jun 17, 2004)

MikeBiker said:


> Phillip,
> 
> Think through what you are doing. You are talking about putting top of the line components on what is essentially an entry level frame.


 Simply, you'll spend more upgrading to 9-Speed than you initially spent on the bicycle.

It seems like you'd do better just selling the Nevada City and upgrading to a Tourmalet or Alp d'Huez. Then you'll have 9-speed and a good 105 base set of components. Then if you want to upgrade the Sti's, you can very easily. I bought a pair of DA 9-Speed on ebay and sold my 105's there. The DA's ended up only costing me $40 after the bidding went crazy on the used 105's.

But if you still want to do it, you can either get an old pair of 8-Speed shifters, or you can buy a new chain, cassette, crankset, deraileurs, and shifters to go to 9-Speed (which won't make the huge difference you might think it will).


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## eyebob (Feb 3, 2004)

*Right, always spend your dough on the frame first*

and upgrade the components later.

My humble opinion, scrap the frankenbike upgrade effort and buy a new bike that you won't have to upgrade. You'll ride it, trust me. If nothing else you're buying your last road bike becuase you won't out ride it's usefulness.

BT


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## Phillip J. Fry (Apr 8, 2005)

Thanks for the replies fellas. I know all about the cost of upgrading vs. a new bike. I've spent way too much money over the last 5 years on mountain bikes...either upgrading them or selling one to buy another. I know it's cheaper to buy a whole new bike but I guess that's the difference b/w MTB's and roadie's. We like to upgrade parts on our bikes rather than scraping it and buying a whole new one. Sure, I could sell this one and buy a $4K bike like my MTB's but since I don't ride the road that much, I don't want to invest that kind of money. Maybe someday in the future but for now, I really dig my cheap-o Lemond. So I'll take my cash and upgrade stuff on my Turner. Since I ride that more, then it makes more sense. Plus, most roadie's I meet aren't very helpful or very friendly. Sorry fellas but that's been my experience. MTB riders actually stop to help people that have a mechanical on the side of the trail. Most roadie's just blow by other riders on the road if they are stopped. And most roadie's seem to be snobs. No hurt feelings here and I hope not there, but this has been my experience. And I think it's been proven here.

Thanks again and I think I'll just stick to asking my questions on MTBR.com. It's a more friendly, more helpful and most of the time more knowledgeable.

Have fun on the road and watch out for big trucks!


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## regan (Jun 17, 2004)

Phillip J. Fry said:


> Thanks for the replies fellas. I know all about the cost of upgrading vs. a new bike. I've spent way too much money over the last 5 years on mountain bikes...either upgrading them or selling one to buy another. I know it's cheaper to buy a whole new bike but I guess that's the difference b/w MTB's and roadie's. We like to upgrade parts on our bikes rather than scraping it and buying a whole new one. Sure, I could sell this one and buy a $4K bike like my MTB's but since I don't ride the road that much, I don't want to invest that kind of money. Maybe someday in the future but for now, I really dig my cheap-o Lemond. So I'll take my cash and upgrade stuff on my Turner. Since I ride that more, then it makes more sense. Plus, most roadie's I meet aren't very helpful or very friendly. Sorry fellas but that's been my experience. MTB riders actually stop to help people that have a mechanical on the side of the trail. Most roadie's just blow by other riders on the road if they are stopped. And most roadie's seem to be snobs. No hurt feelings here and I hope not there, but this has been my experience. And I think it's been proven here.
> 
> Thanks again and I think I'll just stick to asking my questions on MTBR.com. It's a more friendly, more helpful and most of the time more knowledgeable.
> 
> Have fun on the road and watch out for big trucks!


 Sure, we could have just let you blow a big wad of cash on a cheap frame, but we were honest. Sorry you didn't like the results.

But the truth is, it's a bad idea to upgrade the base model with top of the line components. But since you know so much about upgrading, I bet that was a waste of time for you. 

Good luck sticking 9-Speed Ultegra on an 8-Speed Sora.


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## magnolialover (Jun 2, 2004)

*Ahem...*



Phillip J. Fry said:


> Thanks for the replies fellas. I know all about the cost of upgrading vs. a new bike. I've spent way too much money over the last 5 years on mountain bikes...either upgrading them or selling one to buy another. I know it's cheaper to buy a whole new bike but I guess that's the difference b/w MTB's and roadie's. We like to upgrade parts on our bikes rather than scraping it and buying a whole new one. Sure, I could sell this one and buy a $4K bike like my MTB's but since I don't ride the road that much, I don't want to invest that kind of money. Maybe someday in the future but for now, I really dig my cheap-o Lemond. So I'll take my cash and upgrade stuff on my Turner. Since I ride that more, then it makes more sense. Plus, most roadie's I meet aren't very helpful or very friendly. Sorry fellas but that's been my experience. MTB riders actually stop to help people that have a mechanical on the side of the trail. Most roadie's just blow by other riders on the road if they are stopped. And most roadie's seem to be snobs. No hurt feelings here and I hope not there, but this has been my experience. And I think it's been proven here.
> 
> Thanks again and I think I'll just stick to asking my questions on MTBR.com. It's a more friendly, more helpful and most of the time more knowledgeable.
> 
> Have fun on the road and watch out for big trucks!


So you don't get the answers you wanted and now we're all a bunch of elitist snobs?? Hmm.. I read through the thread and thought that the guys who did chime in actually gave you some good advice. Sorry you didn't like it. And it seems like you already had your mind made up on what you were going to do so why did you ask again?? Amazing. Simply amazing. And if you want to know about upgrading road stuff, it completely makes sense to ask people on a mountain bike site. Oh wait, no it doesn't. 

Just for your information, every single time I see someone stopped on the side of the road doing whatever it is they're doing, I ask them if they're OK, and if they need anything. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. And I wave to everyone. Being that you admitted you don't ride the road much, I'd say you just don't have the exposure to the roadie crowd and you've only seen or heard what other people have said. Most of the guys I know who ride road bikes just like to ride, and aren't any more elitist than the bunch of mountain bikers I used to hang out with when I used to ride and race mountain bikes. So yeah, there are some hurt feelings, because you're generalizing every single road rider out there, and I could do the same for mountain bikers, but I won't, because I know everyone is different. And at the end of the day, we all just like to ride bikes.


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## colker1 (Jan 2, 2003)

Phillip J. Fry said:


> Thanks for the replies fellas. I know all about the cost of upgrading vs. a new bike. I've spent way too much money over the last 5 years on mountain bikes...either upgrading them or selling one to buy another. I know it's cheaper to buy a whole new bike but I guess that's the difference b/w MTB's and roadie's. We like to upgrade parts on our bikes rather than scraping it and buying a whole new one. Sure, I could sell this one and buy a $4K bike like my MTB's but since I don't ride the road that much, I don't want to invest that kind of money. Maybe someday in the future but for now, I really dig my cheap-o Lemond. So I'll take my cash and upgrade stuff on my Turner. Since I ride that more, then it makes more sense. Plus, most roadie's I meet aren't very helpful or very friendly. Sorry fellas but that's been my experience. MTB riders actually stop to help people that have a mechanical on the side of the trail. Most roadie's just blow by other riders on the road if they are stopped. And most roadie's seem to be snobs. No hurt feelings here and I hope not there, but this has been my experience. And I think it's been proven here.
> 
> Thanks again and I think I'll just stick to asking my questions on MTBR.com. It's a more friendly, more helpful and most of the time more knowledgeable.
> 
> Have fun on the road and watch out for big trucks!



sniff... we will miss you. please stay.


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## Live Steam (Feb 4, 2004)

Yeah! What he said! I always stop and ask if someone needs assistance. I also think you received some sage advice here, regarding your ride. That said, you are obviously going to do what you think is best even if it is pissing in the wind.





magnolialover said:


> So you don't get the answers you wanted and now we're all a bunch of elitist snobs?? Hmm.. I read through the thread and thought that the guys who did chime in actually gave you some good advice. Sorry you didn't like it. And it seems like you already had your mind made up on what you were going to do so why did you ask again?? Amazing. Simply amazing. And if you want to know about upgrading road stuff, it completely makes sense to ask people on a mountain bike site. Oh wait, no it doesn't.
> 
> Just for your information, every single time I see someone stopped on the side of the road doing whatever it is they're doing, I ask them if they're OK, and if they need anything. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. And I wave to everyone. Being that you admitted you don't ride the road much, I'd say you just don't have the exposure to the roadie crowd and you've only seen or heard what other people have said. Most of the guys I know who ride road bikes just like to ride, and aren't any more elitist than the bunch of mountain bikers I used to hang out with when I used to ride and race mountain bikes. So yeah, there are some hurt feelings, because you're generalizing every single road rider out there, and I could do the same for mountain bikers, but I won't, because I know everyone is different. And at the end of the day, we all just like to ride bikes.


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## amflyer (Mar 4, 2004)

*Well!*

I don't know about _you people_ , but I am an arrogant roadie snob. Notice how I used "an" there, instead of "a" ?

Yeah-bob.


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## OES (Jan 23, 2002)

*You're welcome!*



Phillip J. Fry said:


> Thanks for the replies fellas.!


Always glad to help. See you on the Road!


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