Barcon shifters...

So I bought a pair of dura-ace barcon shifters and it said in the catalog that they were 8 speed compatable.

So I hooked them up to a 105 rear der. and a sora 8 speed casette but I couldn't get it to work on the index setting.

Then I look at the instructions and they say I have to have a Dura-Ace der and a Dura-ace 8 speed cassette to run it 8 speed.

In my mind this must mean that they are 9 speed shifters only and the dura-ace 8 speed cassette is in 9 speed spacing requiring a 9 speed chain pretty much negating all the advantages of having an 8 speed.
The 105 der. is pretty old but it's straight without a lot of play and I was thinking about replacing it but if it's a spacing issue then that would just be a waste of time and money.

Does anyone have any experience trying to run dura-ace barcon shifters on and 8 speed drivetrain?

Then I look at the instructions and they say I have to have a Dura-Ace der and a Dura-ace 8 speed cassette to run it 8 speed.

This cannot be true from my knowledge of shimano, 8 speed dura ace is pretty standard stuff spacing wise.
Maybe they mean 8 speed compatible in the friction setting? What model are they? "SL-XXXXX" where XXXX = 6500 or 7500 etc.

Dunno about the barcons, but I'm running Durace downtube shifters on my commuter, matched with a 105 der. Lotsa people told me it'll e a sketchy shift, and they were right. Definately have to play with it in SIS mode to click it into all cogs.

This cannot be true from my knowledge of shimano, 8 speed dura ace is pretty standard stuff spacing wise.
Maybe they mean 8 speed compatible in the friction setting? What model are they? "SL-XXXXX" where XXXX = 6500 or 7500 etc.

Not sure the manual is at work.

The more I think about it the more I want to just buy a 9 speed cassette and chain and just put the 8 stuff back in stock but I donut like 9 speed.

But an 8 speed with 9 speed spacing and chain thickness is just dumb as it would seem that is the only way these shifters will run 8 speed.

the only odd sapcing that i am aware that shimano has played with (AFAIK) is for the Airlines system (a dedicated 7 speed cassette running 9 speed chain)….

There was a Dura-Ace 8-speed that used a different indexing from the rest of the Shimano groups. In other words, you needed the DA derailleur to work with the DA shifters. (I happen to have one of them in my parts box.)

There is an alternate cable routing that you can use to make the DA shifter work with newer (standard) derailleurs. Sheldon Brown talks about it here:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/dura-ace.html

He also says that the cassette spacing is the same as other groups.

There is an alternate cable routing that you can use to make the DA shifter work with newer (standard) derailleurs. Sheldon Brown talks about it here:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/dura-ace.html

He also says that the cassette spacing is the same as other groups.

Sweet! I just tried that and it works perfectly now!

Who would have thought that hooking up a shifter cable incorrectly would allow me to get around a comatibility issue. :lol: