upgrading to shifters and new brake levers

[mikehorne]

My 8 yr old son has an Apollo Vortice bike we got him from Halfords (current range) he as trouble with the grip shifts for the gears, they are stiff for him to twist I’ve tried to adjust them and lubricate the mechanism but to no avail.

In looking at possibly swapping the shifters and brake levers with trigger ones like my Carrera vengeance is this easy to do?

 

[ChrisEyles]

It's not too hard if you can already adjust the two derailleurs to shift properly. Even then it's not *hard* per se, but may take a little while on you tube and trial and error to get right.

You probably won't need to swap over the brake levers unless they are one piece with the shifters (which I think is rare for gripshifters).

Bear in mind you may not be able to re-use the shifter cables as some gripshifters are a PITA to get the cable out of (I should really replace the cables on the gripshifters on my MTB but can't work out how to swap the cables over!).

One other thing to check is you get shifters with the right cable pull for the derailleur. Generally any shimano shifter will work with shimano derailleurs, and SRAM with SRAM. Third party shifters eg microshift are also fine in my experience, but make sure you check which one they're designed to work with.

Ebay is often a good source for inexpensive 2nd hand 8 speed MTB shifters, there's not much to go wrong with them so if they don't look too battered they should be fine.

Loads of knowledgeable and helpful people on here so if you get stuck, just ask!

 

[ChrisEyles]

Ah, just had a look at the bike - looks like the rear mech is a 6 speed sram unit, a bit harder to find a compatible non-gripshift replacement for this.

Had a look on ebay and something like this but with a 1:1 pull ratio (sram) rather than 2:1 (shimano) would suit for the rear

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SHIMANO-...hash=item2a9b0deba9:m:mpr_eklZEJ2Glhchsi5wv0Q

Front shifter is much less difficult, any shimano or sram shifter should be fine for that.

 

[mikehorne]

friend had recommend a Shimano Altus M310?

 

[ChrisEyles]

Can you post a pic of the rear derailleur currently on the bike?

The halfords site lists is as SRAM, but the ones I checked on ebay were shimano tourney (you'd need different shifters for each).

 

[ChrisEyles]

If it's a shimano rear mech, something like this would be ideal:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SHIMANO-...948244&hash=item4d60d55ce3:g:CdgAAOSw7hRWQg3c

or this if you want to replace the brake levers at the same time (which probably isn't necessary):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-...739441?hash=item36226c08b1:g:R0sAAOSwikhZzk-N

 

[ChrisEyles]

The Altus kit is good stuff, but is for 7/8 speed drivetrains, which have different sprocket spacing on the rear freewheel from a 6 speed one - so you'd need a 6 speed specific shifter like either of the ones above.

 

[mjr]

Get friction levers and stop worrying about compatibility?

 

[mikehorne]

will get some photos up shortly, but in the meantime.... thanks

 

[mikehorne]

 

[mikehorne]

the twist grips need to be gone as my son has trouble making his fingers reach the levers, any more suggestions and recommendations welcomed.

 

[mjr]

the twist grips need to be gone as my son has trouble making his fingers reach the levers, any more suggestions and recommendations welcomed.

From the look of those pictures, removing the gripshifters won't bring the levers close to the bars. They do look short. I'd be looking for four-finger levers compatible with whatever the brakes are.

 

[mikehorne]

if I replace the grip shifters and the levers and put new bar grips on I maybe able to shuffle things around to suit small hands, im surprised Halfords sell this they obviously failed to try the equipment on a child?

 

[Tim Hall]

It seems there are two issues: Brake levers too far away and hard to shift gears.

Do the existing brake levers have reach adjustment screws? It's hard to see from the photo. Here's an article showing them and how to adjust:
http://bicycletutor.com/childs-hand-brake/

You say you lubricated the gear shifting to no avail. I'd look at replacing the cables (inner and outer) before going down the fitting new shifters route. However Ebay seems to be a good source of combined brake lever and six speed Shimano shifters, which is what you'll need.

 

[ChrisEyles]

Looks like a shimano tourney derailleur in the pics - in that case the link I posted earlier is a perfect match for that.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SHIMANO-...c&clk_rvr_id=1406615794767&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true

Tim's suggestion above about looking for a reach adjustment screw is a good one so you can hopefully use the brake levers you have.