PromptCritical 

Does (did) anyone make brifters with friction shifters? I'm restoring a vintage bike, and I'd like to avoid downtube shifters due to arthritis. I really want to avoid the hassle of finding a combination of STI brifters and derailleurs not that most new stuff is hydraulic discs.

I have other options for friction shifters, but a friction brifter would be best.

I'm open to modifying a standard brifter if this would work.

Steve B.

Why run as friction ?. Just find some e-bay 8-9 spd or something and use indexed with brifters ?

And to answer, I am pretty sure all brake shifter units were indexed. Shimano STI is plus 30 years old now as indexed, Campy was close behind.

Would bar-cons be better than downtube ?, you can run them friction.

base2 

https://www.gevenalle.com/shifters/

PromptCritical 

I've done the eBay thing, and it is really hard to know exactly what you are getting and since matched sets are pretty much non-existent on eBay the huge number of variations of shifters, etc makes it very much "hit or miss" (mostly miss) using eBay. I have a box of about 15 trigger shifters that didn't work properly from another conversion. Really don't relish going down that road again, and the cost would be excessive with brifters. Trigger shifters are cheap.

Yeah, I could use bar end shifters. My prior tandem had them. I didn't like them on the tandem, so I'm looking for something else.

PromptCritical 

Those are bloody brilliant! Thanks so much!! Exactly what I'm looking for. This forum is fantastic!

zandoval 

What type bicycle?
What type bars?

Oh... And dont forget there is such a thing as Stem Shifters too.

For some people it can be hard to understand the things us arthritic riders have to adapt to...

PromptCritical 

It's a custom frame (old school steel. Threaded stem, so probably late '70s or early '80s) that I bought on eBay.

I thought about stem shifters, but they bring back bad memories about junior high school and Schwinn (lead pipe) Varsitys.

oldbobcat

How? Dual control levers are a ratcheting mechanism, and friction levers work by continuous sweep. By the time you swept the lever to the largest cog, you'd have to take your hand off the handlebar to reach it.

PromptCritical 

That's a good point. I just ordered a pair of Gevenalle levers, so we'll see how they work.

Russ Roth

A good modern choice. The old school levers you were looking for were called Modolo Morphos, they shifted everything from 5sp-9sp, shimano or campagnolo. Little chunky but they worked really well and I liked them at the time because the chunky meant you could really hand onto them.

Steve B.

My question was if OP wanted something like brake/shifters, why not just run indexed brake shifters ?. Why use friction at all. Get a matchup set of F and R derailers and just use an indexed system.

Kontact

Kelly Take Offs also allow the use of any downtube shifter:


I have a pair - they work well.

Then there's the ratchet shifting Ene Wing:


And then there are flat bar type shifter mounts that are the right size to work on drop bar tops.

KCT1986

For someone who has finger mobility issues, brifters or rapid fire type shifter would seem to be the best option since the lever 'returns' to the same position. Assuming a suitable position can be found which would work, it would limit the mobility needed. Friction shifters would seem to need more mobility range to work on most none downtube mounts.

Shimano's modern rapid fire shifters allow some adjustments on placement on the brake lever/mount.

Shimano shifters have quite a few option but the compatibility must be understood, something that the OP doesn't seem to be willing to learn.

Camilo

What kind of drive train are you planning on - for instance 6 or 7 speed rear? 8 or more rear?

Kontact

I don't know if the main lever throw of a Shimano brifter is actually easier to deal with than the throw of downtube lever.

PromptCritical 

Right now, the plan is a Shimano HG freehub wheel (Which I have. No idea how I got it). I'd prefer a 9-speed cassette as I have a bunch of those. I just installed a set of Shimano Ultegra STI shifters from a tandem (what I had while I wait for the Gevenalle levers to arrive), but they are seriously worn out. The previous owner of the tandem must have really enjoyed riding it!

I have a Campy rear derailleur on it, and am hoping it works. The frame is a little unusual. The B-screw doesn't line up well with the dropout, so I'm not sure what to do about that (I really don't want to weld on the frame). It has the shortest chain stays imaginable and really narrow. I put a 700c x 32 tire on my wheel and I couldn't get the wheel on. I deflated the tire and it went on, but when I re-inflated it, the tire hit both sides of the chainstays. Fortunately, I had a 700c x 25 tire lying around and it went back together.

I've thought about doing this again (picture of a Paul thumbie with a Campy lever I cobbled up on our tandem).

PromptCritical 

With my back and neck arthritis, it is about impossible to reach a downtube lever.

PromptCritical 

Those are cool! Unfortunately the Kelly Takeoffs are out of stock and the Ene Wings are a bit pricey, but I may go for them.

bboy314

Finding appropriate 9 speed STI shifters isn’t hard, but you will need to do some basic research on compatibility, IE Shimano vs. Campagnolo, drivetrain speeds, etc.

Also a picture of the dropout may help folks help you figure out the b stop issue.

Kontact

I'm talking about the type of lever, not that it is mounted on the downtube. Like the Genevalle levers, the top mounts or the Kelly's.

zacster

I looked into the Gevenalle a couple of years ago to convert an MTB with 10sp Dynasys derailleurs to a drop bar to do a tour with it. They supposedly made them but were out of stock, and they were going to be expensive, more than the original setup. I ultimately bought SQ Labs bar inners, which give me a drop bar thumb hook position on the otherwise flat bar setup. I can shift and brake without moving my hands. This won't help the OP though since he already has drop bars.

icemilkcoffee 

The B screw notch has to be sorted out or else nothing will work. Is this a French frame with Simplex or Huret drop-outs?

masi61

PromptCritical - you say you have the Gevenalle integrated shifters on order. Just curious: did you order the "Audax" version that comes without the shift levers? If so, which friction levers were you thinking of using? Or did you get the ones that come complete with the Microshift levers re-branded as Gevenalle? Also, how many front chainrings and rear cogs are you running?

PromptCritical 

Oh. Duh, of course.

PromptCritical 

I bought the ones without shifter levers. I'll use some old school Campy downtube levers.