BigFinner

Hi

I want to put my downtube shifters on my stem just like an IRD stem shift mount. https://www.rivbike.com/products/ird...-shifter-mount

However I am not real keen on paying $50 US and then almost another $50 Us in shipping to Canada and then another $50 in exchange rate! So has anyone figured out how to build one of these with a down-tube shifter mount on a stem and then somehow adding some cable end barrel adjusters?

It might be interesting to see how much ingenuity is out there.

Essentially this. Just not costing an arm and a leg.

xenologer

Salvage genuine stem shifters off a cheap old bike?

not really seeing the purpose of this modern conversion piece when you can just get stem shifters that already exist....

Velo Mule

+1 on that. These are not my preferred shifters, however, I can see that they can be handier than down tube shifter when you don't have dropped handlebars or are mostly on the top of the bars.

HillRider

Do you have a friend in the US? Have them buy the adapters for $50 and send them to you for $5 in shipping.

MarcusT

Ebay has a ton of them.

70sSanO

^ +1000

John

cny-bikeman

If you have indexed shifting the selection is much more limited, but even then there appear to be 6 and 7 speed stem shifters available. But I hope you will not be using extension (suicide) brake levers as well.

BigFinner

I'm building this bike into my new touring bike. I will be adding trekking bars and mtn brake levers. At first I had thought of putting on sis deore thumb shift rear and XT derailleur and a friction thumb on the front. However I really like the look of the shimano golden arrow components and they work so smoothly that I am entertaining keeping the friction shifters if I can get them up to the stem. As I really like the look of the shift levers themselves I am trying to find a way to have them be on the stem and not some old cheap stem shift system with levers already on it.

BigFinner

This is our current cycle touring set up. Seeing what I am pulling may give you a better idea why I don't want to reach way down to shift. The load is not exactly stable all the time as it tends to jump around far too often.

leob1

Stem shifters, we used to call them 'de-nutters'.

Anyway, your current shifters look like they clamp on, couldn't you just use shims to put them on your stem? You'd also need stops for the downtube, which should be easy to find, housing and longer cables.

Good Luck

Doohickie

Get something like this:


....and mount your levers (and as much of the guts as will fit) on this kind of a base. You should be able to find a stem shifter like that in the old parts bin at any established bike shop, Craigslist, or the C&V forum, probably for cheap or even nothing.

wphamilton

Wouldn't this work Problem Solvers Downtube Shifter Mount > Components > Brakes & Shifters > Hoods, Parts & Accessories | Jenson USA

Doohickie

Looks like it would, but has issues similar to the solution in the first post.... just $10 cheaper.

HillRider

+1 Those band-on downtube shifters could be transferred to the stem with shims if needed. Similar band-on downtube cable stops are readily available and your LBS may even have some left over from older bikes.

That said, I agree that stem shifters have to be one of the least attractive places to mount them. You still have to remove your hands from the bars to shift.

trailangel

I think you need another bike.

chorlton

That's a tasty bike... Your down tube shifters are banded. No frame bosses. Makes things more complicated if you try to move them to the stem. It also looks like a large frame which would be more suited to your height. It also does not look like it was made to be a tourer. And then you are going to destroy it further with nonsense bars and brake levers...

That bike looks a bit small for you but it does have a triple front ring which might make more sense in terms of moving loads about the place. You might fit your unstable load with some velcro shorts in an effort to stop it shifting about so much.

n + 1

The one you want to modify is not a touring bike. The one you have is too small for you. Get yourself another one similar to what you are using at the moment, the yellow one, but in a larger size. Keep the yellow one for when your shifting load is too big to drag around behind you and needs a bike of their own.

BigFinner

**********???

Iride01 

I grew up with friction stem shifters and then rode with down tube friction shifters for over five years. I never got completely used to the down tube shifters and often contemplated moving them to the stem on my Raleigh. If your's are just a clamp-on type then you could get someone with some skills on a lathe to turn you a bushing with the ID of the stem's outside diameter and an OD of the down tubes outside diameter. The split the bushing and fit it to the stem. The clamp pressure of the shifters should be enough to hold them both securely.

I never got around to doing that myself, though I have the machinists skills. I instead bought another frame I could put an 11 speed cassette and STI shifters. My only regret now is waiting so long to do that. Two big benefits for me..... More gears means I can shift up and down a gear without driving my cadence too high or low. And for times I used to put up with a less than ideal gear because I didn't want to take my hands off the bar and/or brake levers are no more. I now shift to ideal gears anytime I want.

I'd think those same benefits would hold true for pulling too.

I've never ridden a triple FD. For certain, IMHO, 11 speeds and high capacity RD's must make a triple obsolete. I am even wondering if 11 speeds make a double FD unnecessary. I road all but the last mile of the metric century I did this weekend in my 52 chainring with the 11-32 cassette. No more wasted leg energy while trying to shift the front down and the back over several. I just get a smooth progression to the next gear I need. The move to 1x on mtn bikes might be coming to road bikes.

trailangel

That green bike looks like a sport/light touring bike. Might not carry a lot of weight.
Seems a shame to modify it. Looks good the way it is.

Doohickie

Not sure how tall you are, but my bikes are about on par with the OP's Apollo. With a head tube that tall, the reach all the way down to the downtube can be very awkward. In my case the solution was to go with bar end shifters. I would have suggested the same to the OP if he wasn't trying to keep those sweet shifters he's already got.

fietsbob

OP, 1, With a steel stem and you can braze on the downtube boss parts and housing stops, onto those..

Post # 9, why not thumb shifters in their conventional location, right by the grips .. on your handlebars..?








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BigFinner

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigFinner
I'm building this bike into my new touring bike. I will be adding trekking bars and mtn brake levers. At first I had thought of putting on sis deore thumb shift rear and XT derailleur and a friction thumb on the front. However I really like the look of the shimano golden arrow components and they work so smoothly that I am entertaining keeping the friction shifters if I can get them up to the stem. As I really like the look of the shift levers themselves I am trying to find a way to have them be on the stem and not some old cheap stem shift system with levers already on it.

As you noticed the frame is huge and a great fit for me cycle touring.

It is a 1985 Apollo touring bike built by kuwahara. The frame is hand built in Japan by Kuwahara and is exactly the same as the Kuwahara Caravan they put out under the Kuwahara badge of the same year. The only main downside is the Apollo is for some reason brake bosses were not brazed on so it has side pull single pivot brakes that fortunately are very good side pulls but still side pulls. The forks and rear triangle have dual braze-ons each for racks but again for some reason they did not put on the top rear triangle rack braze-ons or braze-ons in the centre of the forks like they did on the caravan. However it is still easy to mount racks on as proper lower braze-ons is the key and there are lots of clamp options for the upper stabilizer braze-ons that never really have any weight on them.

Not sure why you would think trekking bars and cantilever brake levers would destroy the bike? Trekking bars are fantastic for touring and cantilever brake levers mate very well with side pull brakes.

Quote:
Originally Posted by BigFinner
This is our current cycle touring set up. Seeing what I am pulling may give you a better idea why I don't want to reach way down to shift. The load is not exactly stable all the time as it tends to jump around far too often.

It is a TREK 850 that I have cycle toured with for years and has over 40,000kms of cycling many places around the world. You are right it is a bit small but unfortunately it is the largest mtn bike frame I have ever seen (XL). Maybe there are bigger but I have never found or seen one.

The Apollo also has a triple which like you mention is good for touring.

The velcro shorts are a brilliant idea. The monkey loves to dance when he gets excited and no matter how many times he is told to sit down and steady the bike a day or sometimes even a km later the dance breaks out again.

Quote:
Originally Posted by trailangel
I think you need another bike.

Like I mentioned the Apollo is indeed a touring bike, actually very similar to the miyata 1000. I would like a larger trek or similar 80's mtn bike to what I have but they just don't seem to exist.

Don't get me wrong I really appreciate your advice and as there are not very many Apollo bikes out there I can see where you might not realize that it is a touring bike. My main issue however is getting the shifters up higher. For balance and control up on the stem will be the best place for them if I try and keep it fairly original and stick with the friction option. However maybe I am just best putting on deore thumbies as that will be the best of all options for balance and control.

BigFinner

Your exactly right and that has been a bit of my plan. It's just the cable end necessity on the stem that becomes the issue.

BigFinner

If my shimano levers would fit on that clamp this would likely be the ticket. I had seen those but not suspected my levers would work on that clamp.

Iride01 

Not sure I understand what you mean..... I thought @leob1 stated all that is needed.