Some opinions please: bar end shifters

[geordieracer]

Bar end shifters; who's used them, what do you think of them, anyone got any to get rid off?

So I've acquired a road frame, and its ancient, but I'll enjoy tidying it up and trying to make something ride-able of it, so no ridicule for the time being please!
The downside of it is the downtube gear shifters, I'm not keen on them at all, having had several bikes in a past life with these shifters and not wishing to ride this bike as a single speed, so I'm thinking of going the bar end gear shifters route, but I've never had the pleasure of riding with these shifters so am after some opinions please.

And if anyone has a pair of shifters they'd like to move on, let me know.

Cheers, Kez

[Saddle bum]

Bar-end shifters now seem to be fave with the tourists.

When originally introduced (by Benelux, I believe) they were just an alternative to DT levers. Bike riders are not insulated fro the effects of fashion and during the '60s, anyone trying to emulate Rik van Looy, used them, as did Tom Simpson in his final years.

Campagnolo perfected them, they were difficult to adjust and fit.

I don't feel they offer much of an advantage. They would be perfect for a '60s retro-bike. Campag originals are still available.

Edit: I have one in my box of junk. They should also be available at the local bike jumble next Sunday.

Edited by Saddle bum on Sunday 26th September 12:09

[anonymous-user]

should be loads available out there as they are very popular in tri/tt. a apir of ultegra from the usual sources should be around £50. is it an 8/9 speed casette?

[geordieracer]

Cassette - this is the fun part; its a 5 speed cassette, or will be as its an old frame; and I reckon I'll struggle to get shifters for a 5 speed; so there's going to be some fettling regardless.

[Saddle bum]

geordieracer said:

Cassette - this is the fun part; its a 5 speed cassette, or will be as its an old frame; and I reckon I'll struggle to get shifters for a 5 speed; so there's going to be some fettling regardless.

It should be a 5-speed screw on block. Check the frame out to see what the OLD (Over Locknut Dimension) is. If it is 126mm, it's old. If it's 120mm, it's very old. 126 frames can be streched so that modern hubs (130mm) will fit them.

Any friction levers will do for 5,6 or 7-speed, that includes old bar-end shifters.

[geordieracer]

It's 126; I'm not actually looking to have the frame stretched; well, not at the moment.
It's an 1980s frame, definately a project for the winter!

[b2hbm]

Like saddlebum says, they were very trendy in the 60s, and because "Sporting Cyclist" had pictures of Simpson, etc, using them I joined the fashion with a pair of campag levers.

From what I remember I wasn't too impressed and they didn't stay on the bike for long because you still ended up moving your hands from the hoods to the end of the bars to change. And that made very little difference to moving for downtube shifters which were cheaper, lighter and easier to tension (friction levers of course).

If you were racing and on the drops all the time, then they were ok as your hands were much closer to the levers, especially if you shortened the ends of the handlebars. And of course for modern TTs they are just about perfect, definitely an idea ahead of it's time.

I think most of us fitted them just so our clubmates would think that if it weren't for a club run, we'd be belting around on the drops like the pros. Some hopes.....

[Vipers]

Never had bar end shifters, but did have 2nd brake levers fitted on the straight piece of the drop bars on my racing bike, easier to brake when just resting your hands on the top of the bars.

[DrMekon]

I've got them on my bike. I chose them over STI or Ergo because I like DX thumbies on MTBs and had downtube shifters as a kid. I use my bike for commuting and audax, and it needs to be reliable. The ability to shift to friction shifting on the fly is great - no buggering around with indexing. I use Shimano Dura Ace shifters. I really, really like them, and would spec them again.