Shimano R500 STI shifters?

[MartinM]

Just found these on ebay; they look like just what I want (105 quality
but 8 speed) to update my nice bike and cascade the old bits down. Has
anyone ever heard of it and is it new? At £125 without the cables or
140 with (assuming I lose the ones on ebay which is fairly guaranteed
as I don't have sniper) it seems a bit pricey but will probably come
down a bit if I wait

 

[Clive George]

"MartinM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>Just found these on ebay; they look like just what I want (105 quality
>but 8 speed) to update my nice bike and cascade the old bits down. Has
>anyone ever heard of it and is it new? At £125 without the cables or
>140 with (assuming I lose the ones on ebay which is fairly guaranteed
>as I don't have sniper) it seems a bit pricey but will probably come
>down a bit if I wait

Never heard of them but I'd give it a go for up to about 40 quid. 125 quid
though? At that point I'd go to 9sp...

cheers,
clive

 

[MartinM]

Clive George wrote:


> Never heard of them but I'd give it a go for up to about 40 quid.

you jest of course!; an old pair of RSX is up to 30 with 3 days to go

125 quid

Parkers price

> though? At that point I'd go to 9sp...

plus new frame/freehub etc etc?

 

[Jim Price]

MartinM wrote:
> Just found these on ebay; they look like just what I want (105 quality
> but 8 speed) to update my nice bike and cascade the old bits down. Has
> anyone ever heard of it and is it new?

I've certainly heard of them. They are "new" in the sense that they were
not available before this year.

> At £125 without the cables or
> 140 with (assuming I lose the ones on ebay which is fairly guaranteed
> as I don't have sniper) it seems a bit pricey but will probably come
> down a bit if I wait

I have successfully used Campagnolo 9 speed levers with 8 speed shimano
components, and saved a packet to boot. I used Mirage levers, which I
got for £40 new off eBay, but for ~£140 you can get Campagnolo 2003
Chorus 9 speed Ergo levers, which would be higher quality than 105. If
you prefer Shimano ergonomics, then just ignore that suggestion.

JimP

 

[MartinM]

Jim Price wrote:


> I've certainly heard of them. They are "new" in the sense that they were
> not available before this year.

thanks; I think they are the 'generic' stuff shimano make to go with
mix-n-match groupsets. If they are new I will bide my time, I reckon
the ebays will go for 100

> you prefer Shimano ergonomics, then just ignore that suggestion.

I've only used Campag once and decided my thumbs are in the wrong place
plus I need all the lever body I can get to grab hold of on my usual
uphill antics ;-)

 

[PhilO]

MartinM wrote:

> ... as I don't have sniper)

If you e-mail me, I'll recommend you to sign up for a sniper service.
It's free to sign up and we'll both get free itroductory snipes. You
don't need to buy any after that.

PhilO

 

[Pete Biggs]

PhilO wrote:
> MartinM wrote:
>
>> ... as I don't have sniper)
>
> If you e-mail me, I'll recommend you to sign up for a sniper service.
> It's free to sign up and we'll both get free itroductory snipes. You
> don't need to buy any after that.

No need for any signing up with the one on www.vrane.com -- use the Public
Snipe Box. It works.

~PB

 

[MartinM]

Pete Biggs wrote:
> PhilO wrote:
> > MartinM wrote:
> >
> >> ... as I don't have sniper)
> >
> > If you e-mail me, I'll recommend you to sign up for a sniper service.
> > It's free to sign up and we'll both get free itroductory snipes. You
> > don't need to buy any after that.
>
> No need for any signing up with the one on www.vrane.com -- use the Public
> Snipe Box. It works.

thanks; will try, what happens when everyone in the world has signed up
to it?
"The Snipe Event Horizon"

BTW I think the main reason I always lose out on ebay is;

1. I am a tight fisted git
2. A lot of what I have bought was such **** I wonder why I bothered
(not usually cycling stuff; see 1)

 

[Clive George]

"MartinM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> BTW I think the main reason I always lose out on ebay is;
>
> 1. I am a tight fisted git
> 2. A lot of what I have bought was such **** I wonder why I bothered
> (not usually cycling stuff; see 1)

Think about it this way : you're not actually losing out. If the price is
more than you want to pay, then there's no point.

cheers,
clive

 

[Simon Brooke]

in message <[email protected]>, MartinM
('[email protected]') wrote:

> Clive George wrote:
>
>> Never heard of them but I'd give it a go for up to about 40 quid.
>
> you jest of course!; an old pair of RSX is up to 30 with 3 days to go
> 125 quid
> Parkers price
>
>> though? At that point I'd go to 9sp...
>
> plus new frame/freehub etc etc?

If your frame's steel it will be fine. As to the freehub, if you're going
go have to spend your time chasing obsolete parts and constantly having
to worry 'is this compatible with...?' then you probably find in the
long term that coming up to one known standard and date point would make
life easier (and probably cheaper).

Having said that, Shimano seem particularly good at built-in obsolescence
and making damn sure that this year's stuff isn't compatible with last.

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; in faecibus sapiens rheum propagabit

 

[Clive George]

"MartinM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>> though? At that point I'd go to 9sp...
>
> plus new frame/freehub etc etc?

The 8 speed shifters you're looking at won't shift 8 of 9 properly - they'll
shift a 7 speed hub ok and an 8 speed one properly. But if you've got an 8
speed hub it's just a new cassette to get it to 9 speed - the hubs are the
same.
New chain. Front bits won't necessarily need changing. (although STI may not
work with the front mech anyway for the cheaper ones).

If you're running 8 of 9 on a 7 speed hub, you need 9sp shifters.

cheers,
clive

 

[MartinM]

Simon Brooke wrote:
> If your frame's steel it will be fine.
it's not!

As to the freehub, if you're going
> go have to spend your time chasing obsolete parts and constantly having
> to worry 'is this compatible with...?' then you probably find in the
> long term that coming up to one known standard and date point would make
> life easier (and probably cheaper).

Promble is my frame is for 7 speed, I want upgrade to 8 only because
of non-availability of decent range road cassettes (had the last one
off ebay) and using Sora is a considerable downgrade. Shimano's website
claims the r500 is compatible with all 8 speed other than Dura-Ace. I
remember this range now; it's 105 with just Shimano branding so you can
fit it to anything; only not quite as easy for my situation, my nice
bike is double, so I can't put the Rx100 onto my audax bike which is
triple, so it will have to go on the audax bike (I also don't want to
split the rx100 groupset over two bikes). Evevtaully all the rubbbish
old stuff will make a proper winter bike as I'm fed up with using the
audax bike. So it looks like I'll have a nice new wheels new gears
audax bike for 2007 (have to wear out the new 7 speed cassete first)
which just happens to be the year of.....

I think Shimano's strategy is more upgrade the number of gears each
year; Ultegra 9 spd seems to be cheap at the mo

 

[MartinM]

Clive George wrote:
> "MartinM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
> >> though? At that point I'd go to 9sp...
> >
> > plus new frame/freehub etc etc?
>
> The 8 speed shifters you're looking at won't shift 8 of 9 properly - they'll
> shift a 7 speed hub ok and an 8 speed one properly. But if you've got an 8
> speed hub it's just a new cassette to get it to 9 speed - the hubs are the
> same.
> New chain. Front bits won't necessarily need changing. (although STI may not
> work with the front mech anyway for the cheaper ones).
>
> If you're running 8 of 9 on a 7 speed hub, you need 9sp shifters.

I'm planning to buy a new pair of 8 speed wheels (should have had the
ones off Xpedia for £50) so everything will be cool; but will try my
8spd wheel on my 7spd frame first just to make sure; I find it hard to
believe that a 4 year old frame wont take 8 speed hubs; no mention was
made of the gears when I bought it.

 

[MSeries]

PhilO wrote:
> MartinM wrote:
>
>
>>... as I don't have sniper)
>
>
> If you e-mail me, I'll recommend you to sign up for a sniper service.
> It's free to sign up and we'll both get free itroductory snipes. You
> don't need to buy any after that.
>
> PhilO
>
I have a sniper client that runs on your PC, free to use, free to obtain.

 

[Clive George]

"MartinM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> I'm planning to buy a new pair of 8 speed wheels

What's the difference between 8 speed wheels and 9 speed wheels? Ans = None.

cheers,
clive

 

[Chris Eilbeck]

"Clive George" <[email protected]> writes:

> "MartinM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>> I'm planning to buy a new pair of 8 speed wheels
>
> What's the difference between 8 speed wheels and 9 speed wheels?
> Ans = None.

Bah! The 9 speed is one faster!

Chris
--
Chris Eilbeck
MARS Flight Crew http://www.mars.org.uk/
UKRA #1108 Level 2 UYB
Tripoli UK Member #9527 LSMR

 

[MartinM]

Chris Eilbeck wrote:
> "Clive George" <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > "MartinM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> >
> >> I'm planning to buy a new pair of 8 speed wheels
> >
> > What's the difference between 8 speed wheels and 9 speed wheels?
> > Ans = None.
>
> Bah! The 9 speed is one faster!

I have cancelled the snipe; looks like 8 speed will not just fit
straight onto my bike (even with a new back wheel)

here's what I want to do;

race bike (FSVO race) Audax bike winter
bike

RX100 8 speed double RSX 7 speed triple does not
exist
Rx100 8 speed hubs Exage 7 speed hubs
V V
V

RX100 8 speed double R500 8 speed triple RSX 7 speed
double
Rx100 8 speed hubs new 8 speed hubs Exage 7speed
hubs

short of buying a new bike, any suggestions?

 

[Clive George]

"MartinM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Chris Eilbeck wrote:
>> "Clive George" <[email protected]> writes:
>>
>> > "MartinM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> > news:[email protected]...
>> >
>> >> I'm planning to buy a new pair of 8 speed wheels
>> >
>> > What's the difference between 8 speed wheels and 9 speed wheels?
>> > Ans = None.
>>
>> Bah! The 9 speed is one faster!
>
> I have cancelled the snipe; looks like 8 speed will not just fit
> straight onto my bike (even with a new back wheel)
>
> here's what I want to do;
>
> race bike (FSVO race) Audax bike winter
> bike
>
> RX100 8 speed double RSX 7 speed triple does not
> exist
> Rx100 8 speed hubs Exage 7 speed hubs
> V V
> V
>
> RX100 8 speed double R500 8 speed triple RSX 7 speed
> double
> Rx100 8 speed hubs new 8 speed hubs Exage 7speed
> hubs
>
> short of buying a new bike, any suggestions?

So race bike stays the same?
The other two frames: What material are they and what's the rear dropout
spacing?

cheers,
clive

 

[MartinM]

Clive George wrote:


> So race bike stays the same?

only 'cos I can't fit the RX100 front shifter to the Audax bike as am
not sure if it's double or triple and it needs to be triple, any idea
how I can find this out?

> The other two frames: What material are they and what's the rear dropout
> spacing?

One frame, 7005, don't know spacing; fits an exage 7 speed hub (out of
the box)

other frame; haven't even got it yet; I bet you're thinking (as I have)
"why not just buy a new audax bike?"

because I can't see anything better than the one I already have for
less than £1k when all it needs is new gears and eventually new rims.
It only needs new gears and hubs because of rapidly diminishing 7 speed
kit availability.

I've never thrown away a bike ;-)

 

[Clive George]

"MartinM" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>> So race bike stays the same?
>
>only 'cos I can't fit the RX100 front shifter to the Audax bike as am
>not sure if it's double or triple and it needs to be triple, any idea
>how I can find this out?

How many clicks/positions? 3 = triple, 2 = double. But a 3-position triple
isn't that great - no trim.

(suck it and see! put both bikes next to each other, and run a cable from
the shifter to the other bike and see if it works)

>> The other two frames: What material are they and what's the rear dropout
>> spacing?
>
>One frame, 7005, don't know spacing; fits an exage 7 speed hub (out of
>the box)

I think you need to get a ruler out and find out the spacing, otherwise it's
impossible to make a sensible decision.

>other frame; haven't even got it yet; I bet you're thinking (as I have)
>"why not just buy a new audax bike?"

>because I can't see anything better than the one I already have for
>less than £1k when all it needs is new gears and eventually new rims.
>It only needs new gears and hubs because of rapidly diminishing 7 speed
>kit availability.

I still reckon 9speed of some form is the way forwards.

If the existing frame is 126mm, keep the existing hub, get new 9sp shifters
and chain, and put 8 of 9 on the hub.
If the existing frame is 130mm, you can get a new 8/9 speed wheel (they are
identical), new 9sp shifters and chain and put a 9 speed cassette on.

Alternatively you can get 7sp cassettes just as easily as 8sp - just get an
8sp and remove one of the cogs! Do this until the hub (freehub or bearings)
dies, then work out the next move - which should be to 9sp IMO.

Your front shifter can remain the same whatever you do.

cheers,
clive