Originally Posted by
Sixty Fiver
As stated, these are Suntour Command Shifters which do fetch as much as a set of new indexed bar end shifters... I have a set I am saving for some future project and they are not a commonly found part and ergonomically, they are an excellent design.
Ergonomically they are fantastic, you can easily shift from the drops, hoods or even flats. As far as shifting, it's chunky, not accurate indexing and the friction isn't really friction. I've heard that you can remove some bearings inside them for true friction shifting. I would not recommend them and will likely replace these at some point.
I have to admit that I like canti's over V-Brakes. I have had both and find the V-Brake tolerances to be much narrower than canti's. As a result, I have converted most of my applicable bikes to canti's. Yes, canti's are a little difficult at first, but once you get the hang of it, not at all bad. At the end of the day, both are fine and workable.
They each have their place, but on a bike like this, I really like the v-brakes. I'd like to try some mini-vs at some point, preferably the Pauls.