Back in the early 80s I bought a Fuji hybrid. I think hybrids were a new concept at the time. It had sun tour shifters that worked really well. They were just little levers that you move back and forth under tension (so they don't move when you let go). You were responsible for getting it "shifted" the right amount. They worked great! I've gone through 4 or 5 mountain bikes since then and they all have indexed click type shifters. My last 2 have been top of the line LX or higher. The bottom line is that none of them ever worked correctly, ever. There's always at least 1 or 2 gears that decide to switch back and forth. That's really annoying when you are trying to climb a technical trail and all of a sudden your chain starts clunking.
Anyway I just ordered a Bacchetta Giro and I noticed that it has grip shifters, which seems to be even worse than the rapid fire shifters. I've heard people mention bar end shifters. Do these do what I'm hoping? Are they retro shifters that allow the cyclist to shift the chain where you want it? Like on my old Fuji hybrid?
On 19 Sep 2006, cr...@hotmail.com <cr...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Anyway I just ordered a Bacchetta Giro and I noticed that it has grip > shifters, which seems to be even worse than the rapid fire shifters. > I've heard people mention bar end shifters. Do these do what I'm > hoping? Are they retro shifters that allow the cyclist to shift the > chain where you want it? Like on my old Fuji hybrid?
Pretty much.
Effectively, they are friction shifters (as mounted on the down-tube on a traditional diamond frame) but mounted onto a plug that goes in the end of a drop handlebar. Most modern ones have an indexing cassette built in, so the lever indexes, but every one I've found can switch the cassette out and just work by friction.
My Trice uses bar-end shifters in the handlebars. They work well, but I use the shifter in index mode (even though my road bikes are all down-tube shifters, and I keep all them in friction mode).
Howver, bar-end shifters are becoming rare and costly - in Shimano, for example, I think only dura-ace has bar-end shifters now.
Ian Smith wrote: > Effectively, they are friction shifters (as mounted on the down-tube
Friction shifters. That's the term I was looking for. Seems like a better design to me. Too bad it's still going out of style. I was hoping maybe they were making a comeback.
> Anyway I just ordered a Bacchetta Giro and I noticed that it has grip > shifters, which seems to be even worse than the rapid fire shifters. > I've heard people mention bar end shifters. Do these do what I'm > hoping? Are they retro shifters that allow the cyclist to shift the > chain where you want it? Like on my old Fuji hybrid?
The twists on my Giro work mostly OK, but it's a fair old heave to get on the big ring and takes a deal of work to get the rear shifting properly on all cogs.
I've bought bar end shifters - you need to buy the shifters and a Shimano rear derailleur as the SRAM has a different index pattern to the Shimano bar ends.
If you only want friction then you just need the shifters and the new cables and you can keep the rear derailleur.
I haven't put them on the bike yet, waiting for a free weekend!
I suspect the biggest hassle for friction shifting on straight bar ends will be where the shifters are, your hand won't be supported on the end of the tweener bars the way it is on tri bars or drops.
I'd suggest a set of Pauls Thumbie mounts for the bar ends, except that there's a fair bit of dosh involved by the time you get both items.
> Back in the early 80s I bought a Fuji hybrid. I think hybrids were a > new concept at the time. It had sun tour shifters that worked really > well. They were just little levers that you move back and forth under > tension (so they don't move when you let go). You were responsible for > getting it "shifted" the right amount. They worked great! I've gone > through 4 or 5 mountain bikes since then and they all have indexed > click type shifters. My last 2 have been top of the line LX or higher. > The bottom line is that none of them ever worked correctly, ever. > There's always at least 1 or 2 gears that decide to switch back and > forth. That's really annoying when you are trying to climb a technical > trail and all of a sudden your chain starts clunking.
> Anyway I just ordered a Bacchetta Giro and I noticed that it has grip > shifters, which seems to be even worse than the rapid fire shifters. > I've heard people mention bar end shifters. Do these do what I'm > hoping? Are they retro shifters that allow the cyclist to shift the > chain where you want it? Like on my old Fuji hybrid?
Hello again - You know, I don't like the idea of grip shifters but they undeniably work well on my recumbent. I like not having to change my grip to shift gears, and when I want to grab a lower gear, it is always right there. I use Dura Ace bar ends on 2 other bikes. One is mounted in handlebar ends - simple and effective. The other is mounted in Paul Thumbies for mounting on top of the handlebars. Dura ace bar ends give choice of index or friction shifting. If you are lax in maintenance as I am, it is nice to have the friction option because it is not sensitive to minor changes in cable tension. On a fourth bike, I use Rivendell's Silver Shifters as bar ends. Friction only, beautiful action, should last forever, cheaper than Dura Ace and the advantage of buying non-Shimano too.
Since you are new to bents, may I suggest that you check out http://www.bentrideronline.com/, especially the forum. A terrific resource about everything recumbent. Regards- Jon Shinefeld PhilaPA
ajsh...@comcast.net wrote: > On a fourth bike, I use Rivendell's Silver Shifters as bar ends. Friction > only, beautiful action, should last forever, cheaper than Dura Ace and the > advantage of buying non-Shimano too.
They're not cheaper than Dura Ace bar end shifters, even if you buy the Shimanos from Rivendell, where Dura Ace shifters are $68 and the Silver shifters are $75.
If you shop around, e.g chucksbikes.com, Shimanos are even cheaper, including the 10 speed shifters.
While I understand folks dislike of Shimano, I would think that their bar end shifters are one exception where there's not much to gripe about. One "gripe" I have with them is that if you're stupid, as I was at the time, it's easy to loosen the mounts too much and have them fall into your handlebars. I was lucky to be able to fish it out without performing any surgery.
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> ajsh...@comcast.net wrote: >> On a fourth bike, I use Rivendell's Silver Shifters as bar ends. >> Friction only, beautiful action, should last forever, cheaper than Dura >> Ace and the advantage of buying non-Shimano too.
> They're not cheaper than Dura Ace bar end shifters, even if you buy the > Shimanos from Rivendell, where Dura Ace shifters are $68 and the Silver > shifters are $75.
> If you shop around, e.g chucksbikes.com, Shimanos are even cheaper, > including the 10 speed shifters.
> While I understand folks dislike of Shimano, I would think that their bar > end shifters are one exception where there's not much to gripe about. One > "gripe" I have with them is that if you're stupid, as I was at the time, > it's easy to loosen the mounts too much and have them fall into your > handlebars. I was lucky to be able to fish it out without performing any > surgery.
Thank you - I sit corrected about the prices of Shimano and SILVER shifters for bar ends. There is no question that DA bar ends work quite well. There's nothing at all to gripe about with respect to the part. I have many Shimano parts on various bikes - when I evaluate them as the best option, I will purchase and use them. But I object to the company's policies and strategies and will support the competition when parts that work equally as well or just differently are available. Jon Shinefeld PhillyPA
ajsh...@comcast.net wrote: > Thank you - I sit corrected about the prices of Shimano and SILVER shifters > for bar ends. There is no question that DA bar ends work quite well. > There's nothing at all to gripe about with respect to the part. I have many > Shimano parts on various bikes - when I evaluate them as the best option, I > will purchase and use them. But I object to the company's policies and > strategies and will support the competition when parts that work equally as > well or just differently are available. > Jon Shinefeld > PhillyPA
Jon-
What "policies and strategies" are you refering to? I've seen an awful lot of good product and very little bad come from Shimano in the last several years. (Pre-1985, though... they came up with some wacky stuff: http://sheldonbrown.com/shimano1982/ .)
