Review on Steel Frame Compatible Shimano Sora SL-R400 8spd Downtube Shifter Set with Braze-On SP-3300 by Craig Pears

I used these as part of a project to convert flat bars to my wife's old Trek road bike. It has Shimano RS rear derailleurs from around 1993. 3 gears in the front and 7 in the rear. Standard rear aisle SIS spacing. The shifters are of good quality, well finished and have a nice feel. The front shifter has enough travel to work with a triple reduction gear. Getting in and out of granny and high gear is easy. The derailleur has a bit of a ratchet feel, but it's not indexed, just for friction. Overall shifting is comfortable. The rear derailleur is indexed for Shimano 8-speed SIS. I was a little concerned about this as my wife's bike has an old 7 speed derailleur. But no worry. I set the low gear to one and the derailleur limiter adjustment screw to high and it shifts fine. Transfers 1-7 clearly follow. Unlike Dura-Ace rear derailleurs, the R400 rear derailleur has no friction adjustment. It's set to balance the index, and that's all there is. But it runs at 7 or 8 speeds, so all is well. If you really need some friction tuning, spend the extra $20 and get Dura-Ace switches. It's possible to redesign them to get friction, I've looked into that, but it can ruin them, and I kicked. As it turned out, my wife liked the index switch anyway. So they are good switches. They are really well made and feel comfortable.