Convert 1968 Raleigh Pro to indexed brifter shifting

[john ferguson]

Believe it or not,. that is the original 1968 cable housing. That's the new SunTour 6 speed Ultra and the old Campi Nuovo Record Derailleur. So the question is would you do the cable housin different, maybe tape it to the tube so it comes out of the fitting straight, or make it shorter or (gasp) install a new one?

 

[Midlife]

Will a ferrule on the outer help? Seem to remember the official campag one that was just silver exposed metal had a ferrule that fitted into the chainstay stop.

 

[john ferguson]

I agree on the frules. do you think it should be shorter?

 

[non-fixie]

If you want to go to indexed shifting, I would strongly advise you to replace the shifter cable housing with modern compressionless material. And new stainless cables if you haven't got those already. The old stuff is too flexy for the kind of precision you need for an indexed system to properly work.

For the chainstay stop you'll need a stepped ferrule, like this:

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

If you want to go to indexed shifting, I would strongly advise you to replace the shifter cable housing with modern compressionless material. And new stainless cables if you haven't got those already. The old stuff is too flexy for the kind of precision you need for an indexed system to properly work.

For the chainstay stop you'll need a stepped ferrule, like this:

View attachment 794282

+1 for cable and ferrule.
Might be worth showing some of your lovely conversions mate

 

[hamster]

If you want to go to indexed shifting, I would strongly advise you to replace the shifter cable housing with modern compressionless material. And new stainless cables if you haven't got those already. The old stuff is too flexy for the kind of precision you need for an indexed system to properly work.

Spot on. Indexed cable outers are fundamentally different as the wires in the outer run lengthwise not spiral.
Removed all the old stuff and start again with new shifters, mechs and cabling.

It's a lot of faff, and to be honest friction works just as well if you are going to use downtube shifters.

 

[hamster]

I may be laboring under a misapprehension. There are some remarks in Sheldon Browns wonderful web-site to the effect that when Campagnolo first introduced indexed shifters, they were designed to work with existing derailleurs but required 5mm sprocket spacing. My guess is that the shifters in question were the downtube mounted type and that there is no good reason to suppose that this shifting geometry was retained into the first brifters. But I can hope.

7 and 8-speed Campag uses a 5mm spacing so using 8 speed Ergos (and pre-2001 rear mech) will be fine on any 7s rear (the last time they were identical in spacing) or a Campag 8s rear end.

 

[john ferguson]

The whole idea here was to get the shifters to the bar because I'm no longer comfortable leaning down to shift the friction downtube shifters. I had no idea the outers were different. the upper outers arrived with the shifters so I assume they afre ok although they appear to be spiral wound. The one at the rear-derialleur is very old, so replacing it makes sense. I asked it the new one should be shorter.

But there's more:

Using the old Nuovo Record rear derailleur despite Sheldon Brown's suggestion that it would work with the early Campi brifters might not be the best idea. He did say it didn't work all that well. My guess is that the spring on the old derailleur is much stronger than on the idexxed type. So I've gotta buy another reaer deraileur.

I also took a better look at the housing which came with my brifters and they are the brake type. The front works fine on my triple. So I'm going to figure out which housings fit either 4mm or 4.5mm and get the ferules and an adjuster for the rear derailleur.

 

[non-fixie]

the upper outers arrived with the shifters so I assume they afre ok although they appear to be spiral wound.

Compressionless housing is typically not spiral-wound, so best to check. The time to replace them is now.

I think you're OK, lengthwise. Compressionless housing is stiffer than what you've got now, so to make a nicely flowing bend I'd get a couple of inches extra, just to be sure.

 

[john ferguson]

Hi Non-fixie, it think we overlapped our posts but I agree with what you've suggested.