Bmc17

Greetings

i am new to the forum and am looking for advice or another’s personal experience
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i will be swapping out my RS685 levers for R8020 and am wondering if after removing cables and hoses, can I just remove the clamp bolt leaving the clamp, hoses,housings and bar tape intact and reassemble with new levers?

thanks in advance

jbucky1

Welcome.
I wouldn't do that. I would replace the whole unit.
1. Because it will be easier. 2. Because I would not be 100% sure on compatibility between the two parts. 3. Not a standard thing that shimano would recommend,

The new hoods will slide on the bars and its really easy, easier than removing and fathing with band clamps IMHO

james
www.buckyrides.com

Steve B.

You have to remove the bar tape at least half way just to get the cables off, so might as well go all the way.

Mark the bar on each lever where the current sit, just peel back the hood and mark at the band clamp.

Good excuse to but on fresh bar tape.

Wilfred Laurier

This.

Bar tape gets grimy over time so slowly that you don't really notice. Putting new bar tape, even the $10 Chinese no-brand stuff, will make your bike feel like new.

jbucky1

Good chance to practice your bar tape wrapping skills also! ooooh I should do a blog post about that!

- james
www.buckyrides.com

Wilfred Laurier

Be sure to link to Sheldon's excellent instructions:

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/handlebar-tape.html

Wilfred Laurier

A rule-of-thumb for brake/shift levers on most drop bars is to have the tips of the levers in line with the bottm edge of the lower straight portion of the bar - the 'flats' of th ebar.

An easy and foolproof way to get it perfect is to remove the bar from the bike entirely (not hard if there are no cables attached to it), fit the new levers loosely, and sit the bars on a table with the 'flats' flat against the table, then adjust the levers so they are both touching the table.

jbucky1

oooof, I dunno about that. That info is solid base but a LOT has changed since then.

enock111

Remove the bar tape and remove the levers the right way. The cables will most likely not fit in the same way and you will risk haven't them not fully seat into the levers. Also your bar tape (if done correctly) will be in the way and will likely stretch out or rip. It will also be very hard to put the levers back on that way to get everything lined up right and avoid issues with bar tape.

dedhed

You decide if the parts are the same.
https://si.shimano.com/pdfs/ev/EV-ST-RS685-3675.pdf

https://www.paul-lange.de/tradepro/s...R8020_4245.pdf

jbucky1

^ ha!

Wilfred Laurier

Are you joking?

The only changes I can think of is shift cables routed along the bars, electronic control wires instead of shift cables, and the occasional bike with a 'wing' shaped bar. Otherwise every bit of information is still relevant.