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Bar End Shifters?

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Old 07-16-18, 09:05 AM
  #26  
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People actually get out of the saddle to pedal? Too much work for me. I'm never in that much of a hurry.
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Old 07-16-18, 09:21 AM
  #27  
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Originally Posted by jyl
Darn. Can anyone shift while standing using drops or bar-ends? What's the trick? I seem not coordinated enough.
I enjoyed Bandera's dry wit in answering this question, but perhaps someone should be more direct. Don't do it. People did not shift while standing up in vintage days. It would not have worked, and why would you need to anyway? Shift just before you stand up. Usually you go up a gear to stand. Wind it out. Sit down, and then shift if needed. There's usually a lull in the torque for a fraction of a second just after you sit.
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Old 07-16-18, 09:25 AM
  #28  
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Originally Posted by Charles Wahl
If you really wanted Simplex retrofrictions on bar-ends, and couldn't find the Simplex model, you could always mount the downtube models that fit Campy-standard braze-ons to the Riv "silver shifter" bar end mounts, no? A bit longer levers, though.
Yes. Shimano pods, too

.
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Old 07-16-18, 10:00 AM
  #29  
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Originally Posted by HTupolev
...The hand doing the shifting is out past the ends of the drops, with most of its fingers not gripping the bar to a very meaningful degree, and its coordination is occupied with the shifting process...
Technique and a little practice. I shift barcons with only the pinkie and the part of my hand below the pinkie. It is a zen process, and requires only a fraction of my attention.

... and yes, there's no issue shifting while out of the saddle if you do it the way described above.

Back to the OP - I don't see any problem fitting them on a Team Pro, as long as you're not banging your knees on them. I have brifters on my '77.
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Last edited by USAZorro; 07-16-18 at 10:06 AM.
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Old 07-16-18, 10:22 AM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by USAZorro
Technique and a little practice. I shift barcons with only the pinkie and the part of my hand below the pinkie. It is a zen process, and requires only a fraction of my attention.
I wasn't talking about the amount of my brain's attention it requires, but the amount of my hand's attention it requires. Fingers aren't fully independent of each other, and can't always act powerfully in arbitrary different directions.

The comment about not being able to do it when pumping at race effort is basically what I meant when I said it's clumsier than brifters and more disruptive to pedaling. You're not as well-braced by your hands through the shift, so you have to time the whole process a certain way alongside a relativelty low-gas pedal stroke.
With brifters, I can pretty much just lightly let off the tension at the instant the chain wants to move.

Last edited by HTupolev; 07-16-18 at 10:40 AM.
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Old 07-16-18, 10:29 AM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by HTupolev
I wasn't talking about the amount of my brain's attention it requires, but the amount of my hand's attention it requires. Fingers aren't fully independent of each other, and can't always act powerfully in arbitrary different directions.

Your comment about not being able to do it when pumping at race effort is basically what I meant when I said it's clumsier than brifters.
Wasn't my comment about not being able to do it when at race effort. I maintain that it can be rather easily done.

IF you are reaching for your bar end levers with your thumb, index, middle, or ring fingers, you are doing it inefficiently, and yes, you will have problems. The technique to employ is to grasp the drop near the end of the bar, and nudge the shifter (up or down) by flexing your wrist. Once your hand is in the proper position for this, the task becomes quite simple.
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Old 07-16-18, 10:35 AM
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Originally Posted by USAZorro
IF you are reaching for your bar end levers with your thumb, index, middle, or ring fingers, you are doing it inefficiently, and yes, you will have problems. The technique to employ is to grasp the drop near the end of the bar, and nudge the shifter (up or down) by flexing your wrist. Once your hand is in the proper position for this, the task becomes quite simple.
That's exactly what I do. And the task is indeed quite simple.
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Old 07-16-18, 11:14 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by HTupolev
That's exactly what I do. And the task is indeed quite simple.
The "most fingers not gripping the bar to any meaningful degree" part had me imagining that something else was going on. I feel no sacrifice of control when shifting them.
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Old 07-16-18, 11:26 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by Grand Bois
Yes. Shimano pods, too

.
Sacre bleu!!...
"Simplexno" retrofrictions!
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Old 07-16-18, 11:42 AM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by jyl
What do you think about bar end shifters? Do you use them on your strict C&V builds?

I've been thinking about how to make my 1978 Team Pro more rideable. One issue I have with the downtube shifters (Simplex retrofrictions) is that I am not coordinated enough to shift when riding out of the saddle. So if I'm, say, pushing hard on a hill and the grade eases so that I want a bigger gear, I have to sit down, shift, and get up again. I've gotten used to simply shifting while staying up, using brifters and Gevenalle shifters.

I do recall from prior bikes with bar ends that sometimes my knee hit them when sprinting or climbing out of the saddle. I don't know if those bikes were perhaps poorly sized for me.

So, the book on the Ti-Raleigh teams shows a few team bikes with bar ends, in races. Apparently a few of the team riders used them, back in 1976-1980, and thus I could try bar ends without losing the "correctness" that is important for this particular bike in the fleet.

I have a suitable set of bar end shifters and some CLB alloy housing that I could install. One thing I wonder is if Benotto tape works well when wrapped over housing. The other is if I should try to adapt the retrofrictions for bar end use, and how.

Comments?
I'm a tall guy and generally ride a 25" frame. I find it's way too long of a reach to downtube shifters and my two drop bar bikes now have Suntour Barcon friction shifters (picked them up hear and there, you can still find them on ebay). The Barcons go back a long ways, long before either of my drop bar bikes were built (1983, 1994). I also cheated a bit on the freewheels and use ramped freewheels (the kind used with indexed shifting) to help the shifting performance.
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Originally Posted by bragi "However, it's never a good idea to overgeneralize."
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Old 07-16-18, 12:32 PM
  #36  
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@jyl, I had bar-ends for years, and I think it's a good location for shifters. I can't remember if I shifted them while standing. I do know you can wrap housing with Benotto tape.

I have a pair of Shimano bar-ends you can have. Let me know if you want them.
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Old 07-16-18, 12:47 PM
  #37  
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I would keep the downtube shifters and develop more strength so you don‘t have to stand up. At the moment i have to stand up i accept defeat, dismount and push.
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Old 07-16-18, 12:50 PM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by Kovkov
I would keep the downtube shifters and develop more strength so you don‘t have to stand up. At the moment i have to stand up i accept defeat, dismount and push.
Some might argue that you're not using good technique.
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Old 07-16-18, 01:04 PM
  #39  
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Thanks everyone. Tom, I appreciate the offer but I think I will figure out a way to use the Simplex retrofrictions on bar-end mounts. I am trying to stay fairly "correct" on this bike.
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Old 07-16-18, 04:27 PM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by Salamandrine
I enjoyed Bandera's dry wit in answering this question, but perhaps someone should be more direct. Don't do it. People did not shift while standing up in vintage days. It would not have worked, and why would you need to anyway? Shift just before you stand up. Usually you go up a gear to stand. Wind it out. Sit down, and then shift if needed. There's usually a lull in the torque for a fraction of a second just after you sit.
I'd imagine riding DUI bars would make it easy to shift while standing!
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Old 07-16-18, 06:40 PM
  #41  
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Originally Posted by JohnDThompson
They do. Both Simplex and Shimano made them:


VeloBase.com - Component: Shimano L-600 Fingertip Control Barcons

But as you note finding a set can be a problem, and they tend to be costly when you do find them.
Cool seeing those. I put a set on my Raliegh Comp some 40 years ago. They're going back on soon. The kid wanted to experiment with downtube. But he's on his own now.
Cheers!
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