Shimano 600

That could be kind of costly. Especially if you want a similar level of quality to the parts you have now. Off the top of my head, you would need:

-Front derailleur
-Rear derailleur
-Chainrings
-Cogs
-Chain
-Shifters
-Cables

You might even need a new rear wheel depending on the vintage of the freehub since there might not be enough space for ten cogs. It may even be cheaper to buy a new/used 10 speed bike. My sincere advice would be to get a professional bike fit, then ride the bike you have and ride it hard. It sounds like it may be older, but still a quality machine. After a few thousand kms, you'll have a very good idea of how you want your next bike to ride. I know that didn't exactly answer your question. I'm just not sure there's an easiest way to upgrade to ten speeds.

John Swanson

Martynb said:

I have just got an older road bike that has Shimano 600 rear hub, derailer, and shifters. This setup is 8 speed.
Can somebody tell me the easiest way to change to 10 speed. I am on a budget, but still like to have nice gear.

Martynb said:

I have just got an older road bike that has Shimano 600 rear hub, derailer, and shifters. This setup is 8 speed.
Can somebody tell me the easiest way to change to 10 speed. I am on a budget, but still like to have nice gear.

Yes, this is a potentially expensive venture ...

The "easiest" (?) way is to see if a Wheels Manufacturing 10-speed Shimano-to-Campagnolo conversion cassette will fit on your wheel's freehub ... as noted, not all pre-9-speed Shimano freehubs are suitable (but, many are). Someone else ("American Classic" is the name that comes to mind) makes a conversion cassette which is a little less expensive. COST == $100+US

If the conversion cassette fits, then buy a set of 10-speed Campagnolo ERGO shifters + a new rear derailleur. COST == $200+US to ~$600+ (the price is dependent on component level AND where you buy the "stuff" ... the least expensive is almost as good as the most expensive ... mostly a difference in weight and bragging rights).

Get a SRAM 89R chain ... ~$40US

Add some downtube cable stops + new cable housing & cables. ~$40US

You will be able to use your old front derailleur & crank with the Campagnolo shifters ... if you opt for Shimano components, then you will need to change the front derailleur AND POSSIBLY the chainrings ... PLUS, you will need to get a 10-speed chain.

Figure that the minimum cost will be $350US ... $2000+ on the high end if you change out everything (including the wheels) with high-zoot components.

Yeah, that's a neat way to do it. Though new chainrings will be necessary. 8-speed rings are just too wide to run 9 and 10 speed chains properly. I've actually experimented with this. I just couldn't get it to work. I would also have reservations that the conversion cassette would fit properly. The problem is the length of the freehub body. It's possible that the lock-ring won't fit. I would take it to a shop to verify eveything before taking out the credit card...

John Swanson

alfeng said:

Yes, this is a potentially expensive venture ...

The "easiest" (?) way is to see if a Wheels Manufacturing 10-speed Shimano-to-Campagnolo conversion cassette will fit on your wheel's freehub ... as noted, not all pre-9-speed Shimano freehubs are suitable (but, many are). Someone else ("American Classic" is the name that comes to mind) makes a conversion cassette which is a little less expensive. COST == $100+US

If the conversion cassette fits, then buy a set of 10-speed Campagnolo ERGO shifters + a new rear derailleur. COST == $200+US to ~$600+ (the price is dependent on component level AND where you buy the "stuff" ... the least expensive is almost as good as the most expensive ... mostly a difference in weight and bragging rights).

Get a SRAM 89R chain ... ~$40US

Add some downtube cable stops + new cable housing & cables. ~$40US

You will be able to use your old front derailleur & crank with the Campagnolo shifters ... if you opt for Shimano components, then you will need to change the front derailleur AND POSSIBLY the chainrings ... PLUS, you will need to get a 10-speed chain.

Figure that the minimum cost will be $350US ... $2000+ on the high end if you change out everything (including the wheels) with high-zoot components.

Martynb said:

I have just got an older road bike that has Shimano 600 rear hub, derailer, and shifters. This setup is 8 speed.
Can somebody tell me the easiest way to change to 10 speed. I am on a budget, but still like to have nice gear.

Do you know what you have????? 🙄

Shimano 600 is nice gear.

Shimano 600 is great equipment. Unless your components are really dinged up, you will be downgrading if you buy anything below Ultegra (which is what Shimano now calls the 600 series)

If you are doing something where you absolutely need the extra couple of gears (racing etc) then buy yourself a new bike with better components, but don't buy into the marketing and peer pressure hype to upgrade your top end equipment to some mid-level current stuff to get a few smaller gaps in your gear ratios.

If you do "upgrade" to 10 speed, you could probably get a good price on the 600's on eBay... but I wouldn't go through that effort if I were you... My best bike is a Shimano 600 7 speed...

Newer is not necessarily better... If you want to upgrade to 10 speed Ultegra, then I am behind your decision 100%... But since you are on a budget, I say stay with what you have.

ScienceIsCool said:

... 8-speed rings are just too wide to run 9 and 10 speed chains properly.

Minor correction ... the 8-speed rings are too narrow (and, lacking ramps & pins) and the gap is too wide for the narrower chain (9-speed or 10-speed) for a Shimano STI shifter to bridge effectively.

FWIW. I'm currently using a 52t 8-speed chainring on one of my DA cranks with a 9-speed Campagnolo shifters + an Ultegra 6503 front derailleur & 9-speed Shimano chain. I think it shifts as well as (or, possibly better than!) the 6500 Ultegra shifters with a ramped 53t 9-speed chainring that I had ... but, my memory could be "off" ... OR, it is possible that the 1t difference is significant.

Martynb said:

I have just got an older road bike that has Shimano 600 rear hub, derailer, and shifters. This setup is 8 speed.
Can somebody tell me the easiest way to change to 10 speed. I am on a budget, but still like to have nice gear.

Just buy a 105 10 speed cassette, a 105 10 speed chain, set the rear shifter to friction and give it a try. 😄

I have a Ultegra 8 speed hub (FH-6402) on my training wheel, 8/9/10 speed cassettes all fit OK.

Thanks for your replies.

Ok so if I stick with the 8 speed, does anybody know which cassettes if any would fit the freehub. The gearing that I currently have is more set up for time trialing (11-21). I would like a slightly wider spead of gears, but searches for Shimano 600 come up with nothing.

Martynb said:

Thanks for your replies.

Ok so if I stick with the 8 speed, does anybody know which cassettes if any would fit the freehub. The gearing that I currently have is more set up for time trialing (11-21). I would like a slightly wider spead of gears, but searches for Shimano 600 come up with nothing.

Almost any 8-speed Shimano compatible cassette should work ...

I was using an 11-30 8-speed XT cassette on one ROAD bike for a while.

Martynb said:

Thanks for your replies.

Ok so if I stick with the 8 speed, does anybody know which cassettes if any would fit the freehub. The gearing that I currently have is more set up for time trialing (11-21). I would like a slightly wider spead of gears, but searches for Shimano 600 come up with nothing.

If you're happy with everything but the cassette gearing, just get a new cassette. I'm not going to do a search right now to find out, but I just know there are plenty of places online where you can get a new 8 speed cassette. Your local bike shop is also likely to have what you need, or at the very least, if it's a good bike shop, can help you select and order a cassette. Keep in mind it's not necessary to buy a Shimano 600 8 speed cassette. Any compatible 8 speed cassette should do.

As for upgrading, 10 speeds is better than 8 but you have to ask yourself if you're willing to pay for the priviledge. I get the impression you have downtube shifting and whether it's 8, 9, or 10 speed STI, having STI is definitely superior to downtube shifting.

That said, if you want to upgrade, definitely upgrade to 10 (as opposed to STI 8 or 9). Someone else said the 600 group is good, and yes, it was, but if your stuff is that old it's also probably pretty worn out so its likely to need replacing anyway. It's a widely held opinion that the Ultegra stuff of today is BETTER than the last version of Dura-Ace 9. In fact, most of the Shimano product lines today are superior to their upper-tier previous versions. What I'm getting at is if you're on a budget and want to upgrade to 10, you should seriously consider 105 stuff.

My race bike is Dura-Ace 10, but I train on an Ultegra 9 set-up. This off-season I plan to ditch the Ultegra 9 and go 10, probably 105 since it's compatible with Ultegra and Dura-Ace 10 but is much cheaper. And since it's a training bike, the weight is irrelevant!

-adm
imadm.comimadm.comOpen ↗

Martynb said:

Ok so if I stick with the 8 speed, does anybody know which cassettes if any would fit the freehub. The gearing that I currently have is more set up for time trialing (11-21). I would like a slightly wider spead of gears, but searches for Shimano 600 come up with nothing.

Shimano HG-30 12-25 8 speed or HG-50 12-25 8 speed will do the job nicely with the present system.

For example: http://www.icyclesusa.com/catalog/shimano/shimano-hg-50-hyperglide-cassette.htm