[Kinggomes3]

Hey everyone,

I’m pretty new to road cycling so please allow any noob like questions haha,

I have a Carrera gryphon disc spec with a mix of Shimano and sram X5 components with a flat handle bar, however I am looking to convert this into a full pledged road bike with dropbars and brifters but I can’t seem to wrap my head around what brifters would work?

The bike has sram X5 brakes now with a Shimano front derailleur and sram x5 rear derailleur (which confuses me) so would the Sora st-r3000 work? The bike is a 2×9 speed!

Thanks so much

Topic

[Pilot Pete]

With cable operated discs the

With cable operated discs the compatibility issue will be the lever pull ratio. I don’t know whether SRAM and Shimano levers pull the same amount of cable over their throw – if they don’t then you may not be able to get full brake application with the lever pulled all the way to the bars.

PP

[Pilot Pete]

SRAM and Shimano cassettes

SRAM and Shimano cassettes are interchangeable. Chain won’t make a difference either. That’s assuming you mean like for like (both 9 speed etc!)

PP

[matlockmark]

An possible solution would be

An possible solution would be to use a Jtek Shiftmate. As the SRAM X5 derailleur is one of their 1:1 actuation models, I think the Shiftmate 6 would work, allowing the use of Shimano Sora levers:

Shiftmate 6

I am not an expert on this, and not connected with Jtek in any way, so would recomend contacting them to confirm this.

[TheBillder]

A friend of mine has SRAM 10

A friend of mine has SRAM 10 speed on his gravel bike with cable discs. He eventually lost patience with the double tap brifter action and fitted Tiagra 4700 brifters instead after checking the pull ratio was the same. It works very well with the SRAM derailleur.

Not the OP’s exact issue, and I can’t recall which SRAM model it is – but goes to show it’s not always impossible to mix the two.

[Kinggomes3]

Okay, so would I need to
Okay, so would I need to change the derailleur or also the cassette chain etc? Thank for your help

[Kinggomes3]

Cable operated!
Cable operated!
Yeah I was already thinking of going for a new stem as it didn’t look right when I trialed the drop bars on.

[Rod Marton]

Sora will not work with an

Sora will not work with an Sram rear derailleur. Shimano and Sram shifters and derailleurs are not compatible. You would either have to find an Sram 9 speed shifter (good luck with that, they are long obsolete) or change all the components for Shimano.

Note also Kil0ran’s comments about geometry. From my experience you will have to shorten the stem quite significantly to compensate. Changing flat to drop bars is much less easy than people think.

[kil0ran]

Are the brakes cable operated

Are the brakes cable operated or hydraulic? That’s the key question here. 

Do bear in mind though that bike geometry is kind of specific to whether its flat barred or drop-barred. You might also need to change the stem length to make it feel right.

[Author]

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