# Shimano 7 speed shifter on 6 speed?



## TuCsaT (Apr 5, 2008)

I'm going to preempt any "it's not even worth fixing, get a better bike" with I am currently in Afghanistan and while I have several nice hardtails at home all I have here is an old mountain bike that has Shimano tourney parts. The rear shifter is broken and I'm trying to find replacement parts. I was able to find the exact parts from a third party seller on amazon Amazon.com: Shimano Shifters SL-TX30 Tourney 3x7 Pair: Sports & Outdoors
but I am interested in seeing if I can actually upgrade to a better trigger shifter.

The rear derailleur is a Shimano Tourney with a six speed cassette and it appears to allow for indexed shifting. Can I use a different shifter such as a 7 speed? They seem reasonable and easy to find and would actually prefer them.

I know this is kind of a weird post but I've gotta make do with what I have over here.

Thanks in advance,

Paul


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## Slash5 (Nov 27, 2011)

You would need to either add a 7 speed cassette or use 7 speed spacers on the current 6 speed cassette.
Are you sure it's a cassette? Many 6 speeds are freewheel. The derailleur should work fine.
Shimano Cassettes & Freehubs


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## TuCsaT (Apr 5, 2008)

Slash5 said:


> You would need to either add a 7 speed cassette or use 7 speed spacers on the current 6 speed cassette.
> Are you sure it's a cassette? Many 6 speeds are freewheel. The derailleur should work fine.
> Shimano Cassettes & Freehubs


Thanks for the help. I guess I'll just try to get a six speed shifter. This bike really isn't worth spending much money on and it looks like I would need to buy new gearing, chain and the shifter.


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## zebrahum (Jun 29, 2005)

You could always try a friction shifter, they're usually pretty cheap. Or go visit your local bike shops and see what they have in their take-off bin. If they have an old 6 speed around, they would probably sell it cheap.


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## owensjs (May 21, 2009)

What kind of shifter is currently on the bike? I've made 8s shifters work with a 7s freewheel before. A 6s shifter would be ideal, but the 7s you linked could work for you if that's all you can get. You would just have one dead click on the shifter where you would click from 7 to 6 and nothing would happen.


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## zebrahum (Jun 29, 2005)

owensjs said:


> What kind of shifter is currently on the bike? I've made 8s shifters work with a 7s freewheel before. A 6s shifter would be ideal, but the 7s you linked could work for you if that's all you can get. You would just have one dead click on the shifter where you would click from 7 to 6 and nothing would happen.


The spacing for 7 and 8 speed is the same which is why you can use an 8 spd shifter with a 7 speed cassette (but you don't get a "dead" click because you adjust your limits, right?). The spacing for 6 speed is different to 7/8 speed and, while I haven't done it, I would suspect that it will not work well. I suppose if you're happy enough with a few gears in the middle working and not being able to shift into the extreme ranges, it might be serviceable though. Here's a chart: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Frame and Cassette Spacing Crib Sheet


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## owensjs (May 21, 2009)

zebrahum said:


> The spacing for 7 and 8 speed is the same which is why you can use an 8 spd shifter with a 7 speed cassette (but you don't get a "dead" click because you adjust your limits, right?). The spacing for 6 speed is different to 7/8 speed and, while I haven't done it, I would suspect that it will not work well. I suppose if you're happy enough with a few gears in the middle working and not being able to shift into the extreme ranges, it might be serviceable though. Here's a chart: Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Frame and Cassette Spacing Crib Sheet


Yeah good point on that. It slipped my mind to think about the spacing being different between 6 and 7s. If the 7s shifters are all the OP has access to, it might be worth at least trying. 6s or even friction would be the best way to go.


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