Originally Posted by
Kilroy1988
Any of the early STI levers are up for consideration, and the pricing on Ultegra 6500 is particularly tempting... But I think Dura Ace 7700 is what I really have my eye on. How well did those first-generation 600 STI levers work by way of comparison?
A couple people have mentioned cleaning and lubrication. I don't mind getting into the things, but was for some reason under the impression that these Shimano levers (particularly compared to Campagnolo) were very difficult to perform maintenance work on. Is that true?
Thanks!
-Gregory
I can’t assist much with maintenance since my main pair of 7700 rear, 7703 triple front I purchased new over 10 years ago. That iteration was already superseded by the 10 speed 7800 series but I wanted to try 9 speed triple. I rode this set for 17,000+ miles and they were great and I took great care to never scratch them. Unfortunately I destroyed the rear shifter in a freak accident on a group ride this past summer. It might be rebuildable, maybe but I’m not counting my breath. Quickly, I subbed in a (new old stock) Ultegra 6500 9-speed Flightdeck shift lever. I untaped just one half of my bars, installed the shifter and set it up with a new inner wire, re-taped that side of the bars and I was back in action the following day. The shifting with the 6500 Ultegra is spot on. The actuation is stiffer compared to the 7700 which had a more refined click. But it is fine. My issue right now with it is that I have not sorted out the wiring harness on the Flight Deck. The 7700 always read out on my Flight Deck display in the correct gear so I made great use out of the LCD gear readout and virtual cadence. I am at a loss as to why there are not more enthusiastic fettlers for this amazing era of Shimano integrated shift levers. In a way, I think Shimano did
too good of a job innovating which made some folks exploit their utility and just thrash and trash them. To me, Shimano’s higher end road components are super logical and usually serviceable if you can get decent exploded diagrams on PDF files that also give part numbers for the (scarce now it seems) elusive replacement parts.
I never used the 600 sti shifters and I missed my chance several times to acquire a new set for a sane dollar figure. The 600 sti set may be more versatile than the 7400 Dura Ace integrated levers in the world of 8-speed. The reason for this is because you are not confined to the 7400 or 7402 rear derailleur which did not work with triples or touring gearing. So if you have some 600 integrated shifters in good condition they could be put to good use on a 2x8 commuter/road bike with a GS (long) cage rear derailleur such as an Ultegra 6500-GS (6603) or 105 GS cage RD (105SC GS, 5503) and a compact double crank or traditional road double (39/53) with say a 12/28 or 12/32 8 speed (Deore XT or XTR or Deore, Deore XT or XTR) rear derailleur.