pepslight

I have this old vintage bike with a complete Shimano 600 group with a 6 speed friction shifter. I would like to upgrade to a STI shifter. I found a lot of similar topics to my question, but I'm not fully sure what would be compatible.


In my price range I found a Shimano 600 STI Tricolor 2x8 (if i'm not mistaking, this was the equivalent of Dura-Ace / Ultegra at the time) If an 8 speed upgrade is not possible with my Hub/Freewheel, I would get a 7 gear upgrade. Shimano RSX 2x7.


Before I buy anything I have to make sure I could upgrade my rear freewheel, currently I have a 2x6 freewheel and the distance of my frame is 130mm (Surprised me, I read normally it's 126mm). I couldn't find much on an 8 gear freewheel for my vintage system. for the 7 speed I read from sheldonbrown bible that the mf tz500 14x28 7 speed freewheel. is excellent and widely compatible, I'm not sure but I think it would fit with my hub and the Shimano RSX 2x7. I believe I would need to upgrade the front and rear derailleur as well, I have a Shimano Dura-Ace rear and a Shimano 105 front derailleur, I think they're 3x9

though, but I guess I could calibrate with the adjustments screws to 2x7.


I read that the RSX had some tendencies to stick and isn't that great, is the difference big between the Shimano 600 sti Tricolor ?? what would be a better choice ?

my ride stile is aggressive, I like to go shorter distances but at full sprint.


Thanks a lot for the Help!

Luca

Iride01 

How much do you want to get into it? With 130 mm spacing on the rear you have a lot of choices. If I wasn't just going to buy a new bike altogether, then I'd consider anything from putting 10 speed Tiagra to 11 speed 105. Ultegra or DuraAce if pockets are deep and full.

If it's a 3x front, then maybe just a 9 speed Sora will give the most bang for the buck spent. If want cheap, then get a Tourney 7 speed STI, DR and 7 speed freewheel...... new.

You'll spend more IMO with used as most on ebay sell used bicycle components at new MSRP prices.

pepslight

Hi Iride01 thanks for the quick reply. honestly I would like to keep bellow 150€ upgrade. the shimano 600 I found was being sold for 100€ and the sxr for 70€ the price would increase a lot if I have to change the rear hub, If I could stick a 11 gear cassette on my rear wheel i would, although I don't really use the gears.

The day I will go for a full upgrade, I would definitely upgrade to Shimano 105 Minimum, I have still some Ultegra parts, my last race bike had a full ultegra kit, was not bad.

icemilkcoffee 

A 7 speed Shimano freewheel will work perfectly fine with Shimano brifters. The RSX brifters are actually very similar to the 600 Shifters of the same era. The shift feel is very similar. If they get sticky, you can take them apart, flush them out with WD-40 and re-lube with Finishline lube.
The 600 tricolor RD should work fine. Likewise the FD if it is FD6401. The FD6400 will not work. The 600 crankset and chain rings will work fine too.

KCT1986

You need to verify that the 600 RD is SIS compatible. The early 6 speed 600 was pre-index. See if there is a marking stating SIS or if it has a cable tension adjuster on the unit. Let us know the model #.

With a freewheel hub, you are generally limited to 7 speed. Most 8 speed systems uses a freehub/cassette.

Between the 7 speed and 8 speed, the brifters have very similar cable pull and are usually workable. With a properly aligned RD hanger and a RD in good condition, a 8 speed shifter will shift 7 speed OK. Just adjust for the middle cogs to shift well and both ends will be close. Us the low limit screw on the RD to lock-out the final low click.

Let us know the the model # of the Dura ace RD & 105 FD that you have and we can confirm if these would possible work. If they are 9 speed, they should work fine with 7 or 8 speed brifter.

Your 600 crankset should be OK too. Although older chainrings without the shift ramps & pins won't shift quite as well. If you have a 10 or 11 teeth difference in rings, it won't be too much of a problem.

pepslight

Hi guys, thank you so much for your support and tips,
In the end I found a cheap Shimano RSX ST-A410 2x7 Brifters from eBay for 50€, going for the 8 gears wouldn't make sense.
I did some research on what Groupset I have, I discovered I have the Shimano 600EX Arabesque Really beautiful groupset.

currently the following components are mounted to the bicycle:
For the Freewheel I found in HERE the exact model I have
and HERE is my Rear derailleur

For my reserve parts model I found the following things:
Shimano 105 FD 5500
Shimano Dura Ace RD 7700


Attached is a cool magazine page from 1978 that describes the kit I have, It was apparently the equivalent of Ultegra in the 80's

icemilkcoffee 

You can look up the specs for your parts here:
si.shimano.com

For example- your RD7700:
https://si.shimano.com/api/publish/s...000-00-ENG.pdf
It says the largest freewheel cog it can take is 27T. You might get lucky and it will work with your 14-28t freewheel. If not then you need a different RD to accomodate your 14-28t freewheel.

Also- the old single pivot brakes will not work well with the brifter brake levers. You'll need to get dual pivot brakes.

As to the rest of the 600EX Arabesque parts: The FD most likely will not work with the brifters. The RD might- you just have to try. The brakes, as I said, would not work well. The chain rings do not have ramps, and so would not work too well with brifters. You should replace with Shimano 8 sp chain rings, or Shimano chain rings with 'SG narrow chain' printed on there. The crankset itself will most likely work so the crankset can stay.

KCT1986

Couple of notes on the RSX brifters.

The ST-A410 front is triple capable. Use the high limit screw on the FD to 'lock-out' the final position.
The front does not have trim positions to adjust for FD chain rub. Not an issue for 7 speed freewheels unless you have a short chainstay or wobbly chainrings.

The FD-5500 should work OK with brifters.
The RD-7700 uses the correct cable actuation ratio to work with your RSX. If you can get by the limitation mentioned above it will work. Many people report that Shimano is conservative in their specs.

dedhed

They are both "short pull" brakes and the STI levers will work fine with the single pivot brakes, but dual pivot brakes would be an "upgrade".

icemilkcoffee 

The OP says he has a 600EX Arabesque groupset on there. These are old style single pivot brakes, not the SLR compatible kind.
And frankly even the SLR compatible kind sucked major a$$ when hooked up to brifters. I briefly ran BR1050 brakes with my ST3300 brifters and they were horrendously bad. Replaced with BR1055 and all was right with the world again.

pepslight

Thanks a lot for all those replies, i still have some modern Tiagra and 105 dual pivot brakes lying around, I will mount them than .
For the Freewheel I was thinking in buying the Shimano MF-TZ500 14x28 x7 and the chain SRAM 870Because I read from here and the Sheldon Brown that it's a very good choice, but honestly I'm not sure if it's the best choice, I often ride in long straight roads without any hills or any mountains, so I'm constantly at the hardest gear. If you guys would have a recommendation on this part, I could buy something, where I can be sure it would work in advance.

icemilkcoffee 

You'll probably want a small cog smaller than 14T. I use a 13-28T Sunrace 7sp freewheel. The shifting is not as good as Shimano cassettes but it gets the job done. There is also the DNP11-28T 7sp freewheel, but I have no experience with that.

pepslight

Hi, I looked at the freewheels, unfortunately they're hard to find and expensive in my region.
I went for the Shimano MF-TZ500 and KMC Z8 chain. even the mounting tool is the same as for my 600EX freewheel ( Shimano TL-FW30 / Park 1.3) which saves me the cost of buying 2 tools.

thank you for your time