cs1

First, I’m getting old so I want a triple. PLEASE no gear charts about how great a compact double is. Who still produces a triple group or individual parts necessary to put one together? Campy, Shimano or SRAM I don’t care. The reason I prefer new is to avoid obsolescence with the ever changing standards. Tiagra is on the radar but I could use a few other choices.

dsbrantjr

Sugino make some nice triple cranks, I have them on two of my bikes.

Cyclist03516

My older Trek Pilot is a triple Shimano 105. I was just searching for parts online and there were plenty of options. Triple cranks, and derailleurs, shifters are still available Long live the triple. (Honestly, I don't care but I ride what I have and still love it.)

philbob57

TA Pro Vis 5/Cyclotouriste

cs1

The crankset isn’t really the problem. It seems like no one is producing derailleurs or front shifters for higher end components anymore. Obviously the general public has drank the Kool Aid of compact double first and 1X next. If I can live another 20 years triples might make a comeback.

Cyclist03516

you jumped in ahead of me. Google 105 on Amazon. all there.

Andrew R Stewart 

I share your burdens WRT age and gearing. It's frustrating to work in an industry that says how I ride isn't popular enough to support (other then with E road bikes of course).

Some of the triple ring issue is the number of rear cogs, as in what spacing the rings are speced for and what then is the rest of the system (ft der and shifter). If you run Shimano STI levers then that the ft shifter is a true indexed (albeit sometimes with trim points) design makes the matching it and the ring's spacing kind of important. So a crank speced to 8/9 speed spacing won't be really matched to a 10/11 speed frt der and shifter. It's almost circular reasoning but the interplay between ft and rear sprocket counts and what the ft or rear ders and levers are is the devil of details.

If you run Campy Ergo levers with the ft being the G spring design then the matching of shifter to ft der to ring spacing is FAR less the issue. This is what I do on all my regularly used bikes. I have mostly Shimano early 1990s road triples (FC-620X6 as example) although do install Sugino or SRs on friends and family bikes too. My ft ders are either Shimano or SunTour from about the same period. I use a 9 speed rear end. I also run a Shift mate on many of my bikes to translate between the Campy and Shimano bits of the rear system. Andy

Delmarva

Shimano Altus will be running years from now.

oldschoolbike

Exactly an all counts. Past 60 I am finding that I need sub 30-inch gears to get up the big hills, but still want 100+ inches coming down. Why would I not want to go fast any more? Doubles don't quite do it, even with 10-speed cassettes, as long as you respect the 16T front ring difference the makers specify. The biggest problem is an affordable Ergo brifter for the triple front derailleur.

My solution is to stick with the downtube friction shifters on my triple crank bike. I do like the new Campy Ergos on my 2 x 10 bike though, and am looking to make it work on the triple bike.

shelbyfv

You should still be able to find NOS Shimano 105 and Ultegra 10 speed triple components. Shimano also made some nice "Trekking" compact triple cranksets that may still be available from Euro sellers.

oldschoolbike

Triple chainsets are not an issue (check out spacycles.co.uk), the issue is the triple-capable left lever. This thread has got me cross-checking Campagnolo part numbers with eBay listings, in search of triple-capable left bodies (the guts of the Ergo lever). It turns out that they are much less expensive than complete levers. It may be reasonable to buy a set of Veloce-level Ergo levers and convert the left to triple, if required (depends on vintage it seems).

Andrew R Stewart 

Every Ergo lever I have seen/worked on is triple compatible. The basic configuration of the internals is the same across the Campy range (excepting very early Avanti, IIRC) when the upper groupos were still ergoed (and not power or ultra). What changed from group to group were the materials and bearings on the pivot shaft.

The only Ergo levers I would avoid are that entry level version that had the shift paddles combined into one piece and both moved either way depending on up or down shifting. I haven't found any practical advantage of the ball bearing version over the sleeve bearing ones. I do prefer the metal paddle though the plastic equipped ones work well enough. Andy

Darth Lefty 

What he said. The last iteration of my Shimergo bike was 3x9 with Athena 11 shifters. I have a set of Veloce 10’s with exactly the same left pull, the right will happily run 7-8 speed SIS

Jeff Wills

My new bike will be 3x9, but I'm salvaging the shift levers from my previous bike. (Frame broke, so I'm saving what still works.)

Here are some brifters that claim to be compatible with Shimano 3x9 derailleurs: https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...0&category=771

dedhed

I have 10's of 1000's of trouble free miles on a my Ultegra 6603 drive train. I do replace cables yearly.

djb

CS1, you might not be interested remotely in this sort of thing, but I set up my expeditiony type touring bike with Gevenalle shifters, and they are a pretty neat setup.
Friction front works as nicely and quietly as friction does, and the rd shifter system works well, but clearly isnt as fun as sti.
I ride sti, Gevenalle, and trigger shifter bikes, so can appreciate all, but if you really like sti quickness and fun, Gevenalle might not be your cup of tea, but maybe take a peek at their website and videos of operation.
They have diff versions for various speeds and various setups, even hydro braking.
I found adapting to using them took about 10 seconds, so thats a non issue, they just arent as fast as sti, but for touring and really most riding, its fine--but sti still are more "fun" with slightly faster shifting.
The versions I have are older ones, 9 speed and for long pull braking systems, and the hood shape are pretty standard tektro shape, so not as nice as some sti shapes, but there are diff version hoods with the newer Gevenalle stuff.

anyway, something to look at .

and yes, I hear you on triples, and yes, I am certain they will "come back" at some point.

Moishe

Oh CS1, I'm 68 and I've been chasing down Shimano triple shifters and chainrings for years until the end of last year. I found that the best place to get them now is Chainreaction in the UK. They continue to stock Shimano triples to this day, and they are cheaper and ship even faster to the USA than any US online store. For example, check out the Shimano 105 5703 triple shifter at chainreactioncycles dot com (I'm too new on bikeforums to post url's).

By the way, I broke down this year and got me a pricey compact double bike. With geezer friendly Shimano 46-36 chainrings and a 32-tooth cog, I have replicated the lowest hill-climbing gear that I had on my triple. Just sayin'.

dedhed

Yeah, good luck with that now.

https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...s-shimano.html

davidad

If you can stand to be old fashioned a set of bar end shifters will last a decade or so.
You can go yo Rivendell and find parts that make sense to most people. https://www.rivbike.com/collections/...derailer-17160

HillRider

+1 on the Gevenalle brifters. Front friction shifting makes them compatible with almost any crank and front derailleur configuration and rear indexing is available in 9,10,11 and 12-speed as well as friction for the true Luddite. Caliper, mechanical disc and hydraulic disc brakes are accommodated.

I've ridden STI and Ergo brifters for tens of thousands of miles each and find the Gevenalle brifters every bit as convenient, more durable and more versatile.

katyjcrow

Due to restrictions from Shimano, you can no longer get there products by mail from the U.K.

Moishe

Well! I guess that’s that.

Eggman84

You haven't looked very hard. Shimano has a whole trekking series with triples. For example the Shimano XT T8000 series (https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/produ...ext-t8000.html) and Deore T6000 series (https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/produ...ore-t6000.html) are triples. You could do some basic research. Have you even looked at Campagnolo's or SRAM's websites. The Internet is an amazing thing if you learn how to use it.

Jeff Wills

Yes, but neither of those groups have shifters or brifters.

cs1

Campagnolo has long since dropped their triples. SRAM has also. Shimano only has a triple in it’s Tiagra group and lower. I did mention that in the initial post. I was I also mentioned I was looking for a new group. Thanks for pointing out the Trekking series. I knew they existed but have never seen them for sale outside of the EU. They are for flat bar shifting only though.