Tourist in MSN

I recall back in the early 70s seeing bar end shifters listed in a catalog of Campy components but never actually saw any. A couple years ago I saw some vintage Campy bar end shifters for the first time, someone had them at a swap meet. They were quite rare back in that era considering that I worked in a bike shop in the early 70s but never actually saw any.

I think I bought my first set of bar end shifters in the late 70s or early 80s. At that time Suntour bar end shifters were the favorite ones, they had a ratcheting mechanism that worked well to counteract the derailleur spring tension since back then all shifters were friction. I bought the Shimano bar end shifters instead of the Suntour, they were on sale and much more affordable than the Suntour ones. The Shimano ones had a spring inside to counteract the derailleur spring, I recall having to work at getting the friction setting just right.

I still have a bike with down tube friction shifters that I almost never ride. I did not like taking one hand off the bars when going fast down hills or when riding on bumpy terrain, and bar end shifters were the only viable way to shift with both hands on the handle bars at that time. Thus, their popularity for touring bikes before brifters became available. But I can see where a racer could want to keep both hands on the handlebars at times while also being able to shift, so it does not surprise me that some racers used them..

I have friction downtube shifter for front only on my rando bike, I put that on in 2016 as a temporary measure when I built up the bike, but have not gotten around to replacing it yet, thus it is becoming less temporary over time.