My brother-in-law is building up a road bike and has a 9-speed Ultegra groupset (front derailleur, rear derailleur, chain and brakes). I am trying to help him find 9-speed Ultegra shifters but am having no luck.
I believe some of the 10-speed stuff will work with 9-speed, but will the pull by right for his previous generation brakes? I know the new Dura-Ace will shift the old Dura-Ace but the brakes don’t work because of different cable ratios.
Anyone have any insight or advice? Thanks.
10 speed ultegra shifters won’t work with an otherwise 9 speed group.
A 10 speed shifter(6600) will probably work reasonably well with 9 speed derailleurs, brakes and cranks; if the cassette and chain are 10 speed.
You probably won’t find new Ultegra 6500 shifters but here are some other options:
Shimano r-600 shifters are shorter reach but Ultegra level and still available in 9 speed
Tiagra is available and 9 speed compatable
Microshift also makes a 9 speed Shimano compatible road shifter
A few follow-ups if you don’t mind. You said:
10 speed ultegra shifters won’t work with an otherwise 9 speed group. But then said: A 10 speed shifter(6600) will probably work reasonably well with 9 speed derailleurs, brakes and cranks; if the cassette and chain are 10 speed.
So 10-speed shifters will or won’t work? Those two statements seem contradictory. Are you saying the shifters would work if the cassette and chain are 10 speed? Even if the derailleurs are 9 speed? So the rear derailleur just wouldn’t be able to get the chain into the last gear? That seems like a poor solution.
Shimano r-600 shifters are shorter reach but Ultegra level and still available in 9 speed
What’s the deal with Shimanos R-600 stuff, I have seen R-600 compact cranks and now you are mentioning R-600 shifters. And what do you mean by shorter reach? This seems like the best option if there is nothing I am failing to understand about them.
Thanks for the help.
I think what Runless was saying was that 10sp shifters will not work with a nine speed chain and cassette. They will work with a 10sp cassette and chain if you’re looking for a low cost way to upgrade to 10 speed. Hope that makes sense.
I think I have a set of 9sp 105 shifters in black. If you want them, PM me on Thursday as a reminder. I’m on my way out of town this afternoon.
A few follow-ups if you don’t mind. You said:
10 speed ultegra shifters won’t work with an otherwise 9 speed group. But then said: A 10 speed shifter(6600) will probably work reasonably well with 9 speed derailleurs, brakes and cranks; if the cassette and chain are 10 speed.
So 10-speed shifters will or won’t work? Those two statements seem contradictory. Are you saying the shifters would work if the cassette and chain are 10 speed? Even if the derailleurs are 9 speed? So the rear derailleur just wouldn’t be able to get the chain into the last gear? That seems like a poor solution.
Shimano r-600 shifters are shorter reach but Ultegra level and still available in 9 speed
What’s the deal with Shimanos R-600 stuff, I have seen R-600 compact cranks and now you are mentioning R-600 shifters. And what do you mean by shorter reach? This seems like the best option if there is nothing I am failing to understand about them.
Thanks for the help.
I just had to change from a set up like this.
Without getting too deep into how the derailleur-shifter setup works: The 10 speed shifters will work with your 9 spd setup but only in a small range of the gears. That’s because the index shifters for 10 gears makes the derailleur travel a few thousanths of an inch less than 9 spd shifters. You can tune it to a “sweet spot” that will work fine, but outside of that, the chain starts to make noise and doesn’t track well. 9 speed brifters apparently are discontinued. Thus you have two options: get lucky and find someone online that still has stock, or buy a cheap wal-mart bike just for the brifters. (yes, I’ve heard of people doing this)
If you end up with 10 speed shifters, it’s livable. You’ll have to stay in the sweet spot, but then some riders never get out of particular gears.
R-600 is a set of pieces from Shimano that a basically low to mid end, and typically meant for OEM bikes. They’re known as “non-series”. You can still buy them brand new, and they’re good quality for the money. If you can find them, they’re probably the least expensive solution for you.
Me? I chose to bite the bullet and I went full Ultegra 10 speed all around. Cost me about $500, but worth it.
My brother-in-law is building up a road bike and has a 9-speed Ultegra groupset (front derailleur, rear derailleur, chain and brakes). I am trying to help him find 9-speed Ultegra shifters but am having no luck.
I believe some of the 10-speed stuff will work with 9-speed, but will the pull by right for his previous generation brakes? I know the new Dura-Ace will shift the old Dura-Ace but the brakes don’t work because of different cable ratios.
Anyone have any insight or advice? Thanks.
Shimano still makes the ST-R600. A non-series version of the old 9 speed STI using many Ultegra “internals”
You can find them here:
…and probably would have to special order them from Shimano directly, so find a shop that carries Shimano shoes as it would probably help sourcing with a store that makes frequent purchases to S.A.C.
They also have reach adjustment, a feature left off the old Ultegra 9spd items.
-SD
My brother-in-law is building up a road bike and has a 9-speed Ultegra groupset (front derailleur, rear derailleur, chain and brakes). I am trying to help him find 9-speed Ultegra shifters but am having no luck.
I believe some of the 10-speed stuff will work with 9-speed, but will the pull by right for his previous generation brakes? I know the new Dura-Ace will shift the old Dura-Ace but the brakes don’t work because of different cable ratios.
Anyone have any insight or advice? Thanks.
There are a few of them on ebay.
John
why dont you buy some on ebay for 100 bucks?
Because all the ones on eBay looked banged up.
I am upgrading a 9spd ultegra bike and will have some used Ultegra shifters. They function fine, one is missing the top cap. They are in ok shape cosmetically, PM me if you are interested
I can see how my post is confusing.
Basically, I’m saying that some 6500 parts should work with 6600 parts(I make no guarantees about 6700). So if all you could find was 6600 shifters, you could get a 6600 chain and cassette and run it with the the 6500 derailleurs, brakes and cranks.
What won’t work is running 6600 shifters(10 speed) on 6500(9 speed) chains and cassettes.
The R-600 are designed for a slightly shorter reach to the brake lever through the use of shims. I’ve never used them but I’m guessing it’s got the same internals as a 6500 lever.
Hope this was clearer.
I upgraded my road bike from 105 9-speed to Ultegra 10-speed (6700) not too long ago. What I found was that the front & rear derailleurs worked fine with either as long as you know how to tune them properly. The chain and cassette had to be replaced - but if he is working with used components already then the chain and cassette are probably due to be replaced regardless. The shifters are by far the most expensive component of the group - so it would make sense to find the best deal possible on the shifters and then build the rest of the group around that. I kept the 105 brakes with the 6700 shifters and they work fine too.
Sorry about resurrecting this long lost thread, but I have a question on similar lines. I think some of the original responders are still around so would appreciate your feedback/input on this.
I am looking to upgrade my 2002 Trek 5200 with Shimano Ultergra 6500 9 speed group to accomplish two things:
Install a 4iiii or stages PM so I can use it for trainer road and zwift. The Trek 5200 is always mounted on the KK.
Allow me to take off the left crank so that I can use it on my regular (outdoor) road bike, 2013 BMC Roadracer with Ultegra 6700 53/39 172.5 10 speed cranks.
I am planning on buying a used Ultegra 6700 53/39 172.5 crank on ebay and then swap it into the trek 5200. Will that work and what else do I need (adaptor, bottom bracket, ?) to fit the crank in?
Also, I plan on swapping the 9 speed chain with a new Ultegra 10 speed chain and 10 speed cassette.
I plan on leaving the original Ultegra 6500 shifters, front derailer, and rear derailer as is.
Keeping in mind that the bike is for indoor use only and that I only need a narrow range of gears to ride in. Most of my indoor work can be on the big ring and using 3-4 gears.
Overall will this work? If not, what else do I need or is there a better alternative approach? This is going to be my first bike project and I figure its ok for me to tinker with an old 13 year old bike; I can learn how to do this by trial and error since I have a regular road bike and tri bike to use while the Trek is work in progress.
Thanks!
Also, I plan on swapping the 9 speed chain with a new Ultegra 10 speed chain and 10 speed cassette.
I plan on leaving the original Ultegra 6500 shifters, front derailer, and rear derailer as is.
9spd shifters won’t work with 10spd. Just run 9spd chain and cassette.
Your bike must be a standard BSA threaded bottom bracket, so the 6700 bottom bracket will work.
Got it. That jives with the earlier posts. Thanks!!
Just an FYI, I have found through personal experience and experience of friends that the 9speed Ultegra shifters tend to fail. The right (rear) shifter stops shifting. Sometime, holding one lever still while moving the other works for a while, or just being very careful, but eventually they all fail, and fail much sooner than they should. They might last longer on the trainer, but it wasn’t like I was abusing my shifters.
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Thanks for the info. You are spot on that the right shifter fails. Mine takes several pushes inward to shift to an easier gear. It frequently does not respond. The comment to use Microshift is good. I’ll have to take a look through eBay for that as well.
You’re getting lots of advice and recommendations. Here’s something simple to consider. If this is an actual Shimano 9s drivetrain and you are looking for shifters, you can get a set of Microshifts for short money. They work very well for the price (I’ve them on a bike and I like them better than Ultegra), and you can get them under the Microshift name on Ebay or as branded Nashbar at Nashbar’s site. They are fully compatible with Shimano drivetrain components.
I got the Nashbar version, and despite the slightly different shifting action, they’re flawless.