shimano 600 or sora flightdeck?

i have the option to switch out my brifters for sora insted of the 600 i have, is that a downgrade ? weight/quality wise?

 

Do the 600 also switch gears?
If not then its probably an upgrade as you can switch gears more easily.
Quality wise I suspect its ok. Its a more complicated mechanism then tube shifters since its making two actions. Braking and switching gears.

 

the bike is a 16speed, 2x8 well, my right brifter works well. its a sora flightdeck. the rest of my gruppo is shimano 600, i asume the shifter had broke and sora was the replacement, my left brifter is the original 600 however it is very worn and not exactly reliable (it was broke when i got the bike but i believe i fixed it), so it seems to be fixed but now they dont match, im trying to figure out if my best choice of action would be to get a new 600 pair? or just the left sora to match them up? im also hoping to shave 1.5 lbs between my future investments (seat, seatpost, brifters, possibly wheels)

 

How do you shift the front deraileur?

 

just behind the brake is the lever you push with your pointer finger, i like that less but i dont really shift the front THAT much

 

So do you have any tube shifters on that bike? After checking the 600 series on the net the pictures show tube shifters. If you got 2x8 you can also get the Shimano 2300 Shifters.

 

no tube shifters, just the brake/shifter combo on the bars

 

The "hierarchy" for Shimanos road groups is something like this:


Dura-Ace 7900 (10 speed) Dura-Ace Track Ultegra 6700 (10 speed) 105 (10 speed) Tiagra (9 speed) Sora (8 and 9 speed) 2300 (8 speed) Ok I think I got a bit confused. The 600 series is an old series from Shimano which was substituted with Ultegra. So the Sora Shifters is technicaly a downgrade, But on the other hand the Sora series is newer and it might be "better" in some things, as its new. I suppose that the 600 series shifters you have have metallic levers? The 2300 Series and I also suspect the Sora series have some plasticky levers. (They say its aluminium but it doesnt look like aluminium at all, maybe its plastic coated aluminium). Its really hard to make a comparison, its something like comparing a 60's bmw with a 2010 fiat. The bmw was more expensive in the days and it is technically a level up car but on the other hand if it brakes down all the time and does not behave as good as the newer fiat then its not really "better". Btw have you checked the new 10-speed Tiagra? /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif Its 10 speed, the levers are aluminium, no thumb shifters, just like the 105 series. They dont cost too much either, compared to the other series like 105 and Ultegra.

 

Sora isn't a downgrade from Shimano 600 as they are not comparable in the slightest. They are two entirely different groups by design and by time.

 

yes, the 600 seems like chrome, or cheep metal-like plastic, the sora is black plastic, i dont really wnt to change out TOO much, im on a young father new baby kinda budget

 

FYI. If you feel as though you are on a budget (aren't most of us?) AND if you want to change the shifters for cosmetic and/or mechanical reasons then I suggest you consider selling the mismatched Shimano shifters, separately, which you have on eBay and then buying a pair of 10-speed CAMPAGNOLO shifters ....

The Campagnolo shifters will be immediately compatible with 8-speed Shimano drivetrains ... and, the 10-speed Campagnolo shifters will be compatible with 9-speed Shimano drivetrains by using the alternate hubbub.com rear derailleur cable connection at 3 o'clock....

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Similarly, you can use a pair of 11-speed Campagnolo shifters by attaching the rear derailleur cable using Shimano's alternate rear derailleur cable attachment at 9 o'clock.

• the "newer" Campagnolo shifters use the annoying-to-me TORX (25) wrench instead of a "standard" 5mm ALLEN wrench for installation & removal

Due to a lack of demand, you can buy a pair of Campagnolo shifters for $100+ on eBay OR you can pay a huge premium over the eBay prices and buy them from an LBS or from a mail order retailer ...

• Use www.parktool.com or YouTube for installation if it isn't immediately obvious.

Possibly the ONE (?) problem with choosing Campagnolo shifters for 99% of the people who use them is that you will probably not want to use another brand thereafter unless you become a sponsored rider ...

• I certainly know at least one person who is amongst a percentage of people who feel that everything on their bike needs to be sold by the same manufacturer & be from the same group ... if you are one of those people, then swapping out all the other components to Campagnolo could certainly exceed your budget ...
• of course, there are riders who want their bikes to have the components du jour ... minimally, to have components made by the "in" manufacturer which is being hawked by the reviewers ... nothing wrong with that since under most situations THEY ARE ALL GOOD ... or, good enough ...

BTW. Shimano 600 was renamed Shimano ULTEGRA c1998 ...

• the difference between Ultegra & Dura Ace AND Ultegra & 105 is relatively small, but the difference between Dura Ace & 105 is probably more obvious ...
• and, when you get to a jump of two-or-three group levels, then the difference is probably even more evident ... at least, cosmetically ...
• BUT, it's all good, as they say ...
• and, for most riders, the choice of group level is often a matter of ego -- "I can afford this-or-that, so why not buy it even if it is more a matter of conspicuous consumption than function or need?".

If YOU can't see the difference, then why pay the difference?​

BTW2. For practical considerations, the FLIGHTDECK designation is meaningless unless you are planning on attaching a FlightDeck harness & computer head to the shifters ...

• there was possibly a moment in time to choose a FlightDeck harness & computer head if you had Shimano shifters ...
• heck, I still use MY FlightDeck computers but with "universal" harnesses because I'm not worried about most of the functions which would be easily equaled with a $20 computer head/harness made by CATEYE ...
• Cateye is the manufacturer of the Shimano FlightDeck + the obsolete Campagnolo ErgoBrain computers ...

 

Thank you! this is very good information!, the bike is a 1998 cannondale, and the computer is a CATEYE thats very cool...my computer seems to not measure distance some times -___-