Hi, i wanted to convert this old cx bike to a bikepacking rig. I wanted to change the drops i have on for two reasons:
1-The rubber is super sticky
2-I wanted to upgrade to a more recent gen of hoods, where the shifter cable is hidden under the bar tape, so it does not interfere with my bags.
The groupset is a mismatched 2×9 with a shimano 105 rear derailleur and a shimano tiagra front derailleur.
Is this possible? and if so, which levers should i be getting? My budget is not the largest. Ty (ignore the grimy cassette i bought it used yesterday and still have to clean it)
by giulippo
3 Comments
Get a pair of Sora St-R3000 2×9 and yes, it is possible to mix rear and front derailleur, as long as you respect the speeds number
there a cheap modern style shifters on Aliexpress, they have 9-11 speed with shimano compatbility. I bought a used set of Ultegra 6700 to upgrade from shimano Sora, much cheaper than a new set of the R3000 sora levers
The move to under-the-tape shift cables, while an aesthetic and possible functional upgrade (if using handlebar bags) was a colossal shifting downgrade. A downgrade so bad that it forced Shimano to change their road derailleur ratios with 11-speed (and 10-speed Tiagra / GRX) to ones using more cable to overcome the finicky shifting caused by the additional friction of going under the tape.