Can Sti changers work on 7 or even 6 cog cassettes?

[Cyclopathic]

I'm doing up an old Raleigh and want to give it some modern touches. I can only afford the bottom of the range and want to know if they will be ok on the older type cassettes which presumably have a different size gap between the cogs. Will this affect indexing? If so is there a way around it?
If impossible to do are bar end shifters a possibility?

 

[festival]

No they won't work, yes it will affect the indexing, maybe bar end's will work if they match your gear system.
Its difficult to give you advise without knowing more, but my advise is put what money you have aside, save up more and buy a new or better 2nd hand bike.

 

[Falwheeler]

I have 7 speed Sora shifters on my old Raleigh Randonneur. Don't know what cassette it has but works just fine

 

[theloafer]

sure can my tourer has a 7 speed block and Sora shifters had no probs

 

[mcshroom]

I'm pretty certain the only 7sp STI drop bar shifters were RSX, and they are very rare now.

Bar ends will work fine, either indexed if you can get 7sp, but more likely in friction mode where you choose the tension yourself. Pairing a set of dia-compe bar ends with Tektro drop bar brake levers would probably be about the cheapest way of doing it being about £60-70 for the lot.

Of course there's nothing wrong with using down tube shifters either

 

[grimpeur]

I'm pretty certain the only 7sp STI drop bar shifters were RSX, and they are very rare now.

Bar ends will work fine, either indexed if you can get 7sp, but more likely in friction mode where you choose the tension yourself. Pairing a set of dia-compe bar ends with Tektro drop bar brake levers would probably be about the cheapest way of doing it being about £60-70 for the lot.

Of course there's nothing wrong with using down tube shifters either

Sora 7 speed sti's were common and are still available secondhand.

 

[gbb]

I'm doing up an old Raleigh and want to give it some modern touches. I can only afford the bottom of the range and want to know if they will be ok on the older type cassettes which presumably have a different size gap between the cogs. Will this affect indexing? If so is there a way around it?
If impossible to do are bar end shifters a possibility?

I did similar with an old 1970s 5 speed Raleigh for the wife. Ancient old 5 speed freewheel and friction shifters, fitted a pair of gripshifts (which are indexed of course)...it works fine. That said, i have read some old 5 speed freewheels sprockets are not equally spaced, so fitting indexed shifters wont work on REALLY cheap or old stuff.....but i can be done on some.

 

[sidevalve]

Just fit some nice downtube shifters. Easy to get, cheap to buy and more or less foolproof.

 

[fossyant]

You can do it. Assuming you can fit a cassette. Use 8 speed 3mm spacers and an 8 speed STI or SIS shifter. You need to be able to strip the cassette to individual sprockets - buy an 8 speed cassette, use 7 !