in search of shimano 6500 hoods

[Terrapin Ben]

Trying to show my commuter/town and country bike some love. Does anyone have any OLD shimano 6500 brake hoods lying in a parts bin somewhere?

[Terrapin Ben]

Or since these hoods seem to be unobtanium since 2010 or so, what would be an appropriate drive train for this thing? Any input is appreciated.

For perspective, the bike is a neo retro build up of a 96 Hakkalugi frame with full Ultegra 6500 drivetrain, Paul brakes, salsa dirt drops, Thomson and Chris King bits. It's just a sweet bike. However, I am not road or gravel knowledgeable at all. So yeah, what would be ideal to shift gears on this thing? The bike gets me from home to the office and does see some mileage on dirt roads around Western MT.

[teledad]

You could try to find some used levers (maybe broken) that have hoods in good shape and move them over. Could be either ST-6500 or ST-5500. Other 9 speed shifters like ST-5600 and ST-6600 are a different shape and not compatible.

Or replace the levers - choose from Sora (ST-R3000) or Microshift R9, or go used. With an older bike the shifters may be going anyway, and the Shimano stuff is essentially non-repairable. (Though this also makes it hard to find used levers that are in decent shape.)

If you're not attached to STI, just get some regular brake levers (Tektro makes some decent ones that should work with the Pauls) and run bar end shifters. The Dura-Ace 9-speed bar ends (SL-BS77) are really nice and still available new. That's what I'm planning for my CX bike when my last 9-speed STI lever gives out.

Moving to 10-speed doesn't really help from a parts availability standpoint (unless you have a stash of 10-speed parts), and moving to 11-speed will probably require a new hub (as well as cassette, derailleur, etc.).

[joetron]

Yep. Bar end shifters are the ticket.


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[Terrapin Ben]

Teledad - Thanks for all the input! Much appreciated.

[singlesline]

I've played with these in person at CX races and they do work: https://www.cyclingabout.com/drop-ba...i-convenience/ Back then they were calling them "Retroshift" and people had used them both to run MTB rear mechs (before that was an easy option with brifters) or because they were cheaper/less fragile for use in muddy races with frequent crashes.

Let you shift from the hoods rather than having to reach for the bar ends (or downtube).
They will sell you a version that comes with 9s microshift levers, but you can also get levers that come bare and add your own dura ace levers.