Upgrading friction to index

Howdy.

I've read some of the old threads here and have already received some advice from the very helpful
Mr. Sheldon Brown. I would just like to confirm an issue regarding an upgrade of an old bike from
friction to index shifting.

I do not want to upgrade this bike to STI/Ergo shifting, and least not for the moment. Index
shifting on the downtube is fine for now.

Setup: (late 80's, early 90's) old Merckx frame with full Mavic group. (I mean full down to
everything but the pedals and seat post, maybe a few other bits.) 6 speed freewheel with Shimano 600
freewheel on there now. I have been told that simply putting on some old Shimano indexed shifters
(likely Dura-Ace) will get me in the ballpark, with maybe an upgrade to a 7 speed freewheel. I have
also been told that it will not work without also putting a 7 speed Dura-Ace rear derailleur.

What say ye? Just shifters and maybe freewheel, or both + derailleur?

Other suggestions besides Shimano parts will be considered. The objective is simply 6 or 7 speed
index shifting with the least amount of trouble and $$ possible.

Thank you,

A once-was dedicated rider getting back into it.

 

varechavalet-<< Setup: (late 80's, early 90's) old Merckx frame with full Mavic group.

To make it index, if a SSC, non-slant parallelogram rder-find some 7 or 8s downtube shifters. Match
the rder to the shifters only if DuraAce -go ride. The upper limit screw will give you only 5
clicks(6 speeds) but it will work fine. If you have a more modern slant parallogram rder from mavic,
that is shimano compatible with anything shimano except DA 8s shifters.

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 http://www.vecchios.com "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"