Expert advice needed on early Shimano downtube shifters

[martbaischful]

Im the process of building up a Koga Miyata with 7200 Dura Ace. I figured I'd be smart and get a bike that has a full group and simply transfer the parts to the Miyata, and was lucky to pick up a bargain.

Stripping it down I discovered that the lever mounting braze-ons were totally different to the ones that I know.

The Miyata (which fits, Simplex, Campy, and everything I knew up that point) has a braze on with a square base. The bike fitted with Dura Ace has no squared off flat but a short tab that acts as the stop.

So a straight forward job of transferring levers is turning out to be impossible.

Looking at Dura Ace levers in ebay it seems this is just the way Shimano was in the days. Not sure if there ever was some sort of conversion kit available, or if I simply need to give up on the idea of a full clean dura ace 7200 group on this bike.

Anyone with some experience in this department out there?

Cheers
Martin

 

[mdvineng]

According to velobase info, they had their own keyhole mounts specific to that lever, so could prove to be a Pita to sort, short of unbrazing and rebrazing the correct ones. http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx? ... AbsPos=183

 

[martbaischful]

cheers for that... I guess my fall back solution is to put something "neutral" onto that frame like simplex retro frictions then... cant mix campag and shimano..... people have received the death penalty for lesser crimes.

anyone else out that that knows of some conversion kit perhaps?

 

[legrandefromage]

Looking at some pics, why not try the mounts from the later series and see if Your DA shifter fits. The mounting parts look visually similar at least.

 

[martbaischful]

funnily enough, that's exactly what I was looking into... think those came from about 7400 onwards.... looks like its back to ebay for some 7400s

 

[martbaischful]

magic advice.... found some 6400 levers on ebay, and just used the mounts off those... perfect conversion.
Good news: It works perfectly
Bad news: it doesn't look original
More good news (my opinion): it looks better than original

 

[martbaischful]

Re:

and here the pic

 

[martbaischful]

meantime I have also changed the right hand brake cable.... having 2 different cable ends was driving my OCD nuts

 

[The History Man]

Please post a healing picture of the correct pairing.


Twitch.

 

[Maca]

Re:

Hi

Nice looking project, did the 6400 levers you bought have the little plastic side inserts that cover the hole where the cable goes in ?

If they did would you sell them on as spares ? I need some of those caps.