My 9 year-old son was just gifted a Specialized Allez Junior with 8-speed microSHIFT shifters and Shimano Claris derailleurs. The shifters are pretty big for his hands, and he’s not strong enough to actuate the front derailleur. I can probably tweak the spring in the derailleur a bit to make it a little easier to shift, but I’m wondering what other options I have.
I had him try to shift the FD on a couple of my old bikes, and it seems he could do a lot better with one of my SRAM double tap or Campagnolo groups. Both are 10-speed, though.
Is there a way to make the indexing of either group work on his 8-speed cassette?
I’d be okay with replacing the cassette, freehub body, or rear wheel if going all 10-speed is going to be easiest longer term, but I worry about the chainrings being too wide for a 10-speed chain.
by alt-227
1 Comment
Slap a narrow wide chainring on there and ditch the front shifting. Add a wide range cassette if you’re worried about gear range, but unless he’s actually racing, it’s probably not necessary.