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I am riding 90s road bike with Shimano 105 dual-pivot brakes and brake levers, and 2x7 downtube shifters. Since braking becomes less and less reliable I want to replace both brakes and levers with something new.

There's a plenty of good opinions on 105 br-r7000 but I am having hard time to find matching levers. I don't think there are any compatible shiftless levers. Can I go with cheaper claris shift levers or do I need to pay for 105?

Bonus question: could I use 11 speed 105 shifters to work with 7/8 rear derailleur if I do STI conversation?

EDIT:

First, thanks for so many great comments. I see I have missed some important information:

• my goal is to improve braking performance - it feels underpowered and my rear brake lever has a crack already.


• I have already replaced cables, brakepads (swisstop) and my bike is running brand new wheels (frame was cold-set to 130mm)


• fit 28mm tires

From what I have found, here are some interesting brake / lever combinations:

• Shimano BL-R400 ($35, brake levers, no shifter, SuperSLR) + BR-R2000 ($50, NEW SuperSLR)


• Claris: ST-R2000 ($130, NEW SuperSLR) + BR-R2000 ($50, NEW SuperSLR)


• Claris+105: ST-R2000 ($130, NEW SuperSLR) + BR-R7000 ($75, SLR-EV)


• 105: ST-R7000 ($185, SLR-EV) + BR-R7000 ($75, SLR-EV)


• SRAM S 500 ($75 brake levers) + SRAM Rival 22 brake ($75)

Most likely the problem is not with the actual brakes, but cables and brake pads. Replacing these is very likely to fix your problems.

If you want to replace everything and keep everything in official Shimano spec, it seems that there aren't non-shifter brake levers. The options are to install the expensive and useless shift levers, non-Shimano brakes or use a non Super SLR lever that results in slightly mushier feel.

There's no reason that old brake calipers should become less effective. In the 1990s, we knew plenty enough materials engineering to make good brake calipers and there's no reason for calipers to degrade. In contrast, brake pads wear away and brake cables stretch and fray. It sounds very much like those are the components you should be replacing.

Answering the bonus question - no. 7 is decades away from 11 speed.

So if your OLD is 135mm you could throw money at the problem and replace

• Brake levers with STI Brifters


• New inner/outer cables


• Remove downtube shifters and fit two barrel bosses


• New rear 11 speed derailleur


• New 11 speed cassette


• New 11 speed chain


• New 11 speed freehub, which probably means a new 11 speed compatible wheel hub.

About this time add up the costs and see its an affordable number. I doubt its a small number, so unless you have some ebay wins or some spare parts or a complete donor bike, it going to be expensive and therefore a bad spend.

On the plus side, if you do this there's a fair chance the front derailleur and chainrings will work okay in an 11 speed environment. Or you could leave the downtube shifter on the left for the front mech and only use the STI brifter on the right hand. May benefit from squeezing the front mech's cage slighty to account for the narrower chain.