Originally Posted by
staehpj1
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My bikes typically have no spacers and a low stem. I think that alone is enough to account for the difference.
I suspect that is the difference. The top of my bars is usually pretty close to the top of saddle height, the bars might be slighly lower but are likely within a half inch. My folding bike is an exception with much lower bars, but that bike has a much shorter reach, so I am leaning forward about the same on the folder but with the shorter reach my arms are angled down more so the bars are lower.
all this talk about dt shifting--I use my old dt touring bike as my winter indoor trainer bike, and for me the hand movement and everything still comes completely naturally and in my case doesnt interrupt my cadence at all, 56cm frame in 1990 style, Im about 5'10.
with rolling hills and constant shifting, this is where I can easily see bar ends as being nicer, and what immediately came to mind when trying out a friends bar end bike years ago, never having ridden them before. A shorter distance hand movement that seemed rather natural, and for me would be an improvement over dt for constant shifting. This is one clear memory of dt that I recall, rolling hills and getting sick of constant shifting and the motion required to do it--and as mentioned, in city riding with traffic, potholes etc--all reasons I have no real urge to ever use a dt bike seriously any more.
I pulled an old Bianchi mixti frame bike out of a neighbor's trash several years ago. Six speed freewheel, lugged frame, small woman's frame bike. I think the bike had less than 200 miles on it. That became my trainer bike. But I had to find a much taller seatpost for my height. It is always in the highest gear, the trainer is a magnetic one and I have a lever on a long cable control that I can use to adjust the magnetic resistance on the trainer.
I like bar end shifters on touring bikes for the ability to have my shifters on the bars where I can also use my hands for steering. When I am going up a slow steep hill I like to be able to have both hands on the bars and also be able to steer with both hands. In post 20 above, you also see I have my Rohloff shifter on the right side bar end position, I can quickly shift it in up and down rolling terrain while I also have both hands on the bars for steering.
I built up my rando bike in 2016, photo above in post 24. That is the first bike I have a brifter on and the brifter is only on the rear. But I started using bar end shifters in the 1980s, so with decades of experience on bar ends and only a few years of using brifters, I do not have that preference for brifters that a lot of roadies have.
I actually find I am often cross chaining with brifters but not with bar end shifters, so I find that as one big advantage of bar ends. When I put my hand on a rear bar end shifter, I immediately know from the lever position if my chain is up on the big sprockets on the cassette or down on the small cogs. Or my front bar end shifter, I know which chainring I am on from the lever position. The brifter does not tell me where my chain is by feel like the bar end shifters do. I expect you find the same thing with your shifters mounted on your brake levers like that.