Musing about cockpit and shifter modifications for the Roadeo

[Patrick Moore]

The Roadeo has the Ultegra R8000 group with the brifters mounted on 42 cm Cannondale anatomic bar, and as I confirmed on this morning’s 50+ mile ride, everything is very comfortable, even tho’ I generally dislike the bends on anatomic bars.

But man, it would be nice to have friction shifting, and that would also offer the opportunity to switch the anatomic bar to a Maes Parallel and the brifters to my long-loved BL R400 (or similar) brake levers.

So, questions: Does the Maes Parallel in a 40 (42 max but I prefer 40 c-c at hoods) come in black? If not, is there a very similar bar — long reach (115 mm) and shallow drop (125 mm) with a 31.8 mm clamp area that comes in black?

And are there BL R400 levers that come in black?

And are there bar end shifters (or other friction shifters, bar ends or not) that come in black?

I don’t want to do a complete rebuild with silver friction at this point, and the goal would be to keep the R8000 drivetrain except for brake levers and shifters, which I’d want bar and brake levers and shifters to match the black drivetrain, the black Paul seatpost, and the soon-to-come (God willing) black Velo Orange Grand Cru calipers.

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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[Ben Miller]

Crust branded Nitto Bonneville are pretty close to what you want, but are 460 mm at the ramps. Black comes in 31.8

https://crustbikes.com/collections/handlebars/products/nitto-x-crust-bonneville-bar

Or you could always just get the Maes Parallel and wrap them in black tape all the way to the stem and only have a sliver of silver showing. 

I don't think there are all black BL R400s. Maybe TRP levers? You can get those in all black. 

Microshift makes black bar end shifters. You can get an 11 spd specific one and switch between friction and index. 

[Zachary Cannon]

Patrick,

A classy but expensive option with be the black 11-12 speed Ene Ciclo bar end shifter:

https://www.somafab.com/shop/ene-ciclo-uno-bar-end-shifter-right-rear-11-12sp-8272?search=ene+ciclo&order=name+asc#attr=5684

Blue lug sells pairs for less but with the added complexities of duties.

I've put a few hundred miles on one and have been quite happy. Those I fear i has the delicate plastic piece of Riv Silver shifters, so I used loctite and have tried not to overtight.

Those combined with TRP levers would look the part.

Best, Zach in ABQ

[Patrick Moore]

Zach: Thanks for these suggestions. I hear that Microshift makes black bar end shifters for 11 speed with a friction option, and the TRP levers have hoods that seem to match those on the R8000 Ultegra brifters (damn Google's spell correction -- Ultra and grifters -- this on a new computer; will transfer over the Neo-Luddite settings from the old computer).

Question for all and any: can anyone measure a TRP road brake hood from the center of the raised tip to the tail end of the rubber cover? 9 cm?

Next question: It looks as if the body proper of the TRP lever is plastic; is this right?

Next question: if it is plastic: do plastic brake lever bodies last a long time, what with bikes occasionally falling over and hitting the levers?

I've used only Shimano R400 and BL7402 levers for decades.

Thanks, Patrick Moore, who wonders if he can't use non-aero levers if he can more easily find these in the Shimano shape and in black -- thoughts?

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[Patrick Moore]

I meant to say re the Microshift bar end shifters: These seem to be much less expensive than the Ene BES.