Epicus07 

Velo Orange is selling the silvers as bar ends for $75. Way to undercut Rivendell

robtown

I love bar ends and I've used both DA and the Silvers. The Silvers are nice friction only and I highly recommend them.

ColonelJLloyd 

To be fair, Rivendell sells a "kit" that includes the down tube cable stops. Velo Orange sells the bar end shifters only.

DiaCompe products are branded DiaTech as far as I can tell.

Epicus07 

that makes more sense. I had a really bad experience with the Chris the owner of VO and i swore to boycott them. They are making some really nice products and I will probably have to suck it up on order to get what i want

realestvin7

I have a set of these sitting on my living room table. Maybe I'll get around to doing something with them. Lol.

RFC

All good, but really, these should be available from some enterprising Asian source for aboutr $20. This is a very simple technology.

ColonelJLloyd 

I suspect it has something to do with recouping patent costs or the like. Until someone can show me I'm mistaken, these Silver shifters seem to be the pods plus Suntour Superbe downtube shifters.

It may be simple technology and there are several small parts. I doubt anyone's getting rich selling these shifters.

Grand Bois

I built a set years ago and I never got around to putting them on a bike. I used Shimano pods, but the Rivendell pods are just copies of them. I was going to put them on my Gitane, but then I found a set of genuine Simplex retrofriction bar end shifters. I prefer the smooth retrofriction action to the ratcheting shifters.

noglider 

I'm so glad to learn about Gaerlan! I put his site in my "bike supply notes" document.

bigbossman 

Not by much. Centaur 10 speed ergos commonly go for $150 or less. The last set of ergos I bought were Chorus, and cost me $150.

Junkfoodjunkie had a very nice set of 10 speed Veloce for less than $100. He might still have them - if I weren't flush with ergo's, I'd have bought them myself.

ColonelJLloyd 

Still not a fair comparison. You can't just slap 10sp Ergos on there and run them with any derailleur you want. The price difference between a 10sp chain and an 8sp chain is also noteworthy.

sced

I'm pretty sure that the shifters are Suntour Sprints

ColonelJLloyd 

And the Sprints are different from the Superbes I linked in what way?

sced

These are Sprints. They are non-indexing and ratchet only when you pull back. Velobase is wrong about them.

https://cgi.ebay.com/SUNTOUR-DOWNTUBE...item2a112e2590

ColonelJLloyd 

Why would a Sprint shifter have a Superbe decal on it?

I don't think there is any functional difference between the Sprints and the Superbe levers. The Superbe levers to which I'm referring are friction only. If you look at the back side of the Sprint lever you linked you'll notice it's not quite the same as the Silvers. The grooves in the Superbe Pro levers, however, are exactly like the Silvers. That's why I think the Silvers are made using the old equipment used to produce those model Superbe Pro/Sprint levers.

A friend of bought a set of Superbe Pros from Rivendell, before they began selling the Silvers. They're currently on his Heron.

Superbe Pro

Epicus07 

I don't think its fair to compare the cost of buying new shifters/brake levers with used ergos. I'll admit that you can get awesome deals on secondhand shifters. I bought a pair of never ridden 10 speed Campagnolo Record Shifters for $70 at the bike swap this year. If money wasn't an issue I would be running campy on it. Since i have a random mix of parts around and used all of my budget on the bike, i'm going to have to find an inexpensive way to convert it. I'm not expecting that selling my tiagra/sora group will allow me to afford a full campy group. I had been toying with the idea of stripping my Guerciotti but the idea of friction shifters on a rando bike kind of appeals to me.

sced

Maybe I stand corrected. I have a set Sprint shifters and derailleurs from a mid-80's Bianchi and the Ebay ones looked close enough. Mine ratchet as noted, are grooved on the back side, and are marked SUNTOUR longitudinally+ inboard on the topside. Maybe the Silvers don't ratchet.

robertob

We're getting waaaay off topic here but I was able to do an ergo conversion pretty cheaply, just scrounging for old parts on ebay/craigslist, etc. THe most expensive part was the 9-speed cluster but even that I got on Bike Nashbar in a clearance sale.

Back on topic now I'm thinking of running these same silver shifters on that bike with more flat bars instead of the ergos and drops.

ColonelJLloyd 

Both the Superbes and the Silvers are micro-ratchet just as your Sprints. I know, I've used them both. I wasn't suggesting that you were wrong; rather pointing out that the Superbe, Sprint and Silvers are essentially one in the same.

sced

So will the Silvers handle Campagnolo and Shimano 10sp cassettes?

Epicus07 

I was reading on Rivendell's site about friction shifting. Grant was saying that its hard to shift under power (ie going up a hill). Could you explain this? I'm also planning on using a Deore XT rapid rise rear derailleur. Will this be any different for me since my derailleur starts out in a low gear and cable pull shifts it to higher gears?

ColonelJLloyd 

Works great over a Shimano 8sp cassette with pull to spare. Should work fine with a 10sp cassette.

Puget Pounder

If you've ridden DT shifters/barcons in friction mode then you'll find that it is hard to pull against the pressure you put against the system. It's easier with STI/Ergos because the levers gives you a lot of leverage against the pressure. The indexes also catch the derailleur at the right cog. A bit more complicated with friction, but it gives you good form

It'll be fine with rapid rise. It'll just be opposite to what you are use to. Pull = high gear, push = low gear.

sced

I have been looking at them on Ebay for a possible 10sp project and have seen them advertised as working with 10sp and up to 9sp. My Sprints are already mounted on one of my classics and I am too lazy to do the experiments.

MalcolmsFrejus

I have Sprints with an 8 sp cassette - they work fine.
The issue is the fine tuning, there's less space between cogs on 9/10 in the same space.
But it's what, a couple mm?
Can't imagine it would be difficult.