jinws

Bring this one back.

Update:

It's a Sora 7 speed set up. After riding a couple times, the GF does not like the road bar set up. "too low she says." So I told her I'll put a riser on it and change it to a mountain bike style handle bar/shifter/brake combo. Put on one of those stems that jacks up the handle bar so she can sit more up right.

So here's the plan, I'm gonna order a pair of Shimano Altus 7-speed shifter/brake levers. 3x7, I'm pretty sure this will work with the cassette and derailleurs I already have. The question is, will it work "well" with the Sora road brakes? If it does, should I get the levers compatible with canti or V-brakes?

Thanks

Jin

P.S. if anyone wanna trade some used 7 speed mountain bike shifter/brake for used Shimano 7 speed Sora parts, let me know.

x136 

Correct. Shimano's road and mountain equipment work together fine.

One of my bikes is a mishmash of Ultegra/105 (brifters, crank, front derailleur) and Deore XT (hubs and rear derailleur).

johnny99

Shimano MTB and road components generally work together, except for:
1. front shifters/derailleurs may not index properly if they are not the same type (road vs. MTB)
2. MTB drivetrains are mostly 9-speed, so don't invest in a 10-speed road drivetrain if you want to use some MTB components
I don't think these will be issues in what you are describing.

jinws

thanks guys.

time to start hunting on CL.

SesameCrunch

Hmmm. I'm trying to figure out what you're saying here. Do you mean to suggest that there are specific derailleurs for mtb vs road bikes? Or do you mean to say that mtb shifters are indexed/spaced differently than road shifter spacing?

In either case, it differs with my understanding of Shimano components and contradicts my actual experience of mixing cassettes between mtb and road shifters.

Perhaps I'm not understanding what you're saying.

Alan

BlastRadius

I converted a 13" Trek 7300fx into a cyclocross/road bike and used a old STX-RC front derailer with a Bontrager double crank, 2009 Tiagra STI shifters, Deore rear derailer, and an 11-32 MTB cassette. Works great.

BlastRadius

I have a riser bar that I took off a Trek 7300fx with V-Brake levers and 8-speed trigger shifters. I also have the 8-speed cassette and chain that goes with it as well. LMK if you want to check them out.

0_o

aww man what a bummer maybe she'll like how campy shifts over shimano. try taking her into a local shop and have her test out a campy setup.

Ygduf

I say make it a road bike and convince her to try it a few times. Getting used to road bars vs flat bars is like, 10 minutes of practice.

johnny99

I have heard of people having trouble using Shimano flat-bar MTB shifters (like Deore) with Shimano road front derailleurs (like Ultegra). This is only an issue with the front, not cassettes, etc. I know lots of people successfully mixing and matching on the rear end.

jinws

Thanks for all the replies, to be honest I haven't gotten her to even try road style shifters yet. I'm just concerned about turning her off from cycling. I thought by giving her flat bars and a more upright position, she'd be more interested in biking more. Then eventually, a real road bike. Her first and only experience with a mountain wasn't that great, took her a while to learn how to shift properly. Hence the reason why I wanna put on something she's familiar with, and getting rid of front shifting, making things easier for her.

Maybe I should sit her on the bike first and go around the block as is and see how she likes it.

BlastRadius

She'll like it more if the bike is "cute".
I've found that to be true in more cases than not.

SesameCrunch

Spoken like a guy with some experience in the matter.

jinws

bring this one back. updated OP

x136 

Cantilever and caliper brakes use the same cable pull, V-brakes do not. So if you have a choice between cantilever and v-brake versions, get the cantilever.

jinws

thanks

rydaddy

+1 - you don't want the v-brake option. Many levers offer both options. It's just a matter of putting the cable end into one hole or the other (within the lever). I recently converted an old steel road bike to flat bar. Same reason, she's not comfy in the drops.

Anyway, she loves the bike now.... but wants grip shifters instead of the downtube shifters. It's a 2 x 7 but all shifters are 3 x 7. I'll see how it works. Should be a fun experiment.