Upgrading old SIS 5 speed with 7 speed shifters?

[pteknae]

Hey all,

I picked up a fixer upper vintage mountain bike, Shimano SIS 5 Speed (3x5) with the old friction shifters seen here: https://ssli.ebayimg.com/images/g/CS4AA ... s-l640.jpg.

I bought some 7 speed ST-EF51 shifters from ebay thinking the cassette was a 7 speed, would they work with the 5 speed derailleur?

Also, it appears they're fake. Does anyone know if counterfeit gear will still work the same-ish? Anything is better than the rusty old friction shifters.

[find_bruce]

There was a small difference in spacing between 5 & 7 speed- 5 speed is 5.3 mm while 7 speed is 5 mm.

The ST-EF51 is an index shifter, & while the difference means it is sub-optimal, if you have already spent your money, you might as well hook it up & see if you can get it to work.

As for fake, its a lottery - might work, might not, only one way to find out

[Duck!]

The indexing won't work nicely due to the shorter gear stops, and will get progressively worse further across the cassette as the discrepancies accumulate. Just chuck a 7-sp. freeheel cluster in place of the 5-sp.

[find_bruce]

That's the joy of 5 speed duck - set it up on 3rd gear & the indexing only has to work for 2nd & 4th - 1st and 5th are covered by the limit screws

[10speedsemiracer]

Can you not do a return/trans dispute via eBay, i.e. the item wasn't what it purported to be? Or contact the seller, and indicate you want to return them as not suitable/not as advertised....if the seller is a long-term eBay presence with a lot of feedback, they will care about negative.

[10speedsemiracer]

Oh and those shifters you linked to as being the originals aren't friction, they're early-gen index. Just replace them with a newer equivalent, like :



which are available online for $20-30, but LH shifter (friction) is separate usually. SJS Cycles (UK) have them, plus they're freely available on eBay.

[Duck!]

What gives you the impression the shifters are fake?

[Duck!]

That's the joy of 5 speed duck - set it up on 3rd gear & the indexing only has to work for 2nd & 4th - 1st and 5th are covered by the limit screws

Still doesn't address the fact that the index stops are shorter than the sprocket spacing, and will still accumulate the out-of-whackness at each shift.

[twowheels]

What gives you the impression the shifters are fake?

My question also.

[10speedsemiracer]

What gives you the impression the shifters are fake?

My question also.

I was also wondering....

[pteknae]

Thanks for the help guys, I guess it'll probably work (just) but wont be worth the effort for sub-optimal performance.

I actually just tightened the cable using the threaded tension-er on the derailleur and it shifts great now.

What gives you the impression the shifters are fake?

The print on the numbers and logo is faded and not clean or crisp, and the orange gear indicator is a poorly stuck on sticker, which ever Asian sweat shop worker put it on didn't even stick it on properly, its got a crease in it and is wonky.