Thoughts on the IRD quill stem mount shifter

[greenteadrinkers]

Wondering anyone has tried out the said quill mount? How was the experience shifting? Did you stick with the quill mount? 

I'm running bar-ends on a the Bluelug Bullmoose Bosco, and have been giving the quill mount some thought as an alternate solution for shift lever location. I love having the shift paddles right behind my hands, but, with the Bosco, bar the paddles come back far enough that from time to time, they hit my leg, not a deal breaker by any means..

Thanks!

Scott

[Johnny Alien]

I haven't tried it out but I often think that the stem is one of the best places for shifters but it suffers a bad reputation from cheap 70s bikes. On my new Clem I thought about mounting the thumbshifter on the stem. I still might at some point. I think its a smart location.

[greenteadrinkers]

I also like that the shift cable isn't wrapped to the bar. The length of the cable is less and seems to be more direct to the boss on the DT, wondering if that improves shifting in any way? 

[lconley]

I used the IRD stem mount for years on my Sam Hillborne. My 1st 3 derailleur bikes were all Schwinns with headtube mounted shifters (Suburban, Varsity and Super Sport in the early 70s) and they were what I learned to shift on, so they seem natural to me. I rode downtube shifters for many years on what were basically road racing frames (Gitane, Paramount, Masi). I have tried bar ends on many occasions over the years, but have never really liked them  On my custom, that has drop bars, I had shifter mounts installed on the headtube as sort of a compromise position between stem and downtube - kind of a long reach down to the downtube with high mounted bars, even drop bars. I am going to try thumb shifters near the stem on the Crust Towel Rack bars on my Bombadil. 

I like the adjustable positions afforded by the IRD stem shifters, I tended to put the stop one notch forward of vertical.

Laing

On Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at 9:52:46 AM UTC-4 greenteadrinkers wrote:

[lconley]

I meant to say steering tube mounted shifters for the Schwinns.

Laing

[Jay Lonner]

I ran that exact experiment with both bullmoose and regular Boscos after experiencing similar issues with barcons. The IRD stem shifter worked fine, but the Achilles’ heel was the band that clamps around the stem — it was made of a cheap metal that broke within a year. The shifters are integrated into the band, so there’s no easy way to salvage those components and transplant them to new pods or whatever. It worked fine while it lasted, but I have since moved on to thumbshifters using Paul Thumbies (in combination with the now out of of production Silver adapters) and find those vastly more ergonomic/functional. (I also wound up ditching the Boscos, but not because they didn’t play well with thumbshifters.)

Jay Lonner

Bellingham, WA

Sent from my Atari 400

On Apr 19, 2022, at 6:52 AM, greenteadrinkers <greentea...@gmail.com> wrote:

Wondering anyone has tried out the said quill mount? How was the experience shifting? Did you stick with the quill mount? 

I'm running bar-ends on a the Bluelug Bullmoose Bosco, and have been giving the quill mount some thought as an alternate solution for shift lever location. I love having the shift paddles right behind my hands, but, with the Bosco, bar the paddles come back far enough that from time to time, they hit my leg, not a deal breaker by any means..

Thanks!

Scott

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[Bill Lindsay]

I run two copies of the IRD stem shifter mount and it's a sensational product in my opinion and the right choice for several different situations.  One potential shortcoming or warning is that it's a clamshell clamp with a thin pivot pin.  Since it wraps completely around the stem, it needs very VERY little bolt torque to hold steady.  Folks who want to tighten every possible bolt as tight as their hands can tighten them might over tighten the bolt and break the pin or the aluminum of the clamshell part.  Run one layer of newbaums and just snug it up, more like the clamp on a bell, and less like the bolt on a handlebar clamp 

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Joe Mullins]

I haven’t tried the IRD mounts but I have a DA front shifter mounted on a Paul thumbie on the stem of my Sam. The rear shifter is a bar end. I love this combo on that bike! I rarely use the front so it’s nice and out of the way. I like the ease of access to bar end shifter but occasionally I do bash it with my knees when mounting the bike. 

I just built up a bike with Riv’s Silver 2 shifters mounted inboard right in front of the grips and this might be the smoothest shifting I’ve ever experienced! Does anyone know if the Silver 2’s will fit on the IRD stem mount?

Joe

On Apr 19, 2022, at 7:03 AM, Johnny Alien <johnny....@gmail.com> wrote:

I haven't tried it out but I often think that the stem is one of the best places for shifters but it suffers a bad reputation from cheap 70s bikes. On my new Clem I thought about mounting the thumbshifter on the stem. I still might at some point. I think its a smart location.

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[Ed Carolipio]

I run the IRD mounts with Silver1 shifters on a bike with Billie Bars since the bars are way too long for bar ends and quill shifters open up hand positions all along the bars. The shifters work great in this application but I find it best to mount shifters below the top of the stem. You may not have enough stem showing to mount them that way.

--Ed C.

On Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at 6:52:46 AM UTC-7 greenteadrinkers wrote:

[greenteadrinkers]

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone for sharing thoughts and experiences with the IRD mount, I'll make sure to post pictures once everything is in place!