Originally Posted by
river251
I love my Pinarello. I have been looking at a Masi Gran Criterium aluminum/carbon, but my Pinarello feels better.
Can I switch it to index shifting? If the rear width is too narrow, can I find a frame that will take all my components but allow index shifting?
YES -- you can switch your Pinarello to indexed shifting ...
As
daveryanwyoming noted, you can either go with downtube shifters + a ([COLOR= #808080]SunRace[/COLOR]) 7-speed Freewheel OR you can choose more contemporary shifters. The cogs on a 7-speed [COLOR= #ff0000]SunRace[/COLOR] Freewheel are ramped AND spaced for Shimano indexing.
- Of course, I recommend that you choose 10-speed (non-QS) Campagnolo shifters with Shimano derailleurs & cassettes.
The BEAUTY of the Campagnolo 10-speed shifter is that it will index with 7-/8-/9-/10-speed Shimano cassettes with negligible or minimal effort.
The BEAUTY of Shimano rear hubs is that they can be made to fit 120mm-to-135mm rear dropouts (plus, tandems, of course).
If you don't want to respace the rear triangle on your Pinarello, then the indexing may-or-may-not be be a bit dodgy because the dropouts won't be parallel if you only spread the dropouts on an
ad hoc basis UNLESS the dropouts are currently slightly boat-tailed.
Here's my mid-80s OLMO whose rear droputs I respaced to 130mm:
The bike has 10-speed Campagnolo shifters ...
Originally, I used a
hubbub'd XTR (950) rear derailleur to achieve 9-speed Shimano indexing before switching to the 10-speed 105 rear derailleur that is in the picture.
FYI. While you can simply remove the spacer on the non-driveside to turn a 130mm Shimano rear hub into a 126mm rear hub, you'll end up with Campagnolo-like flange offset where the driveside spokes are subsequently pretty close to the bike's center plane.
- Shimano's original 7-speed Freehubs had a shorter Freehub body -- that "compact" Freehub body can still be found on the least expensive of the Shimano Freehubs (e.g., ACERA).
- The original "Compact" Freehubs used a threaded last cog ... the ACERA Freehub body uses a lockring -- a good thing.
- As Sheldon Brown noted, you can stack eight 9-speed cogs on the Compact Freehub body ...
- The 10-speed Campagnolo shifter + 8-/9-speed Shimano rear derailleur yields 8-speed Shimano indexing ... 7-speed indexing is close-enough that this will work, too, if you choose a ramped SunRace Freewheel.
- The 10-speed Campagnolo shifter (non-QS is better!) + a [COLOR= #ff0000]hubbub'd[/COLOR] 9-speed Shimano rear derailleur creates 9-speed Shimano index spacing ...
- As pictured on my Olmo, a 10-speed Shimano rear derailleur with the rear derailleur cable attached "normally" yields 9-speed Shimano indexing, too.
BTW. I created a 120mm Shimano rear hub by BOTH removing the non-driveside spacer AND installing a "compact" Freehub body on what was originally a 130mm Shimano rear hub.