AaronAnderson

I don't have a problem with bar ends. Read the first post again please.

afilado

Aren't you trying to compensate for disproportionally short arms? Your first post says you "....kind of like the bar end shifters but they're going to have to be replaced". I noticed all that stem height and thought of stem shifters for the replacement.

AaronAnderson

I was considering the DT shifters because they are a lot cheaper (20 vs 80) and a LOT "cleaner" looking on the bike.

afilado

Aaron, all kidding aside, you should try the DT shifters, just for the experience. If you want to try a set I will lend you one. You never know how it would work out until you try for yourself.

Best,

J

AaronAnderson

I appreciate the offer, but I have some on a bike already. I know what they're like. I just don't shift this one as often. It's more of my "take my time and relax on long ride" bike.

Six jours

I guess now I've seen hate on C&V for just about everything to do with C&V bikes. It's kind of like a vintage car site where nobody likes carburetors or drum brakes or manual shifting.

So I guess I'm about ready for a taco.

Chombi

.......I hate tacos too!

Poguemahone

Of course not. But it does change how far (and easily) you can reach compared to some with "properly proportioned" arms. There's a reason why, for instance, Larry Saunders blocked so many shots at VCU, and it had nothing to do with the height of the basket. Same basic principle applies. So it's easier for me, with longer arms, to reach the DT shifters on my 62/64cms than another rider with shorter arms. They're two different variables and they don't have the slightest effect on one another.

Do the math-- I've got about two and a half to three extra inches of reach on each arm. That's substantial, and it allows me to reach further. What's a stretch for another rider is quite easy for me.

I find DT shifters quite easy to use. I've ridden on both Campy and Shimano brifters, and like both, but I really do prefer Simplex retrofrictions to either one. I'm not at all enamoured of bar ends, though I have them on a couple of bikes and I understand the appeal.

AaronAnderson

Do you ride with your arms bent a great deal? or pretty much straight out?

IsleRide

I was drawn into this thread because I'm over 6' 3" but I think this has little to do with rider height and more about rider preferences. To me though, there's another consideration and that's the character of a particular bike and what seems appropriate or suitable. I ride them all. DTs, "brifters", bar-ends, rapid-fires and Sturmey Archer triggers. The best shifting I've EVER experienced was Suntour DT Power Shifters. Don't have them now but I do have Suntour bar-cons on an old Fuji which are a close 2nd. If it wasn't for the fact that I just re-taped everything I'd move the bar-cons to my LHT and the DTs to the Fuji. One thing I love about the Ultegra brifters is when I'm out of the saddle. Those have the best "on top" perch for my big mitts.

Six jours

Dingdingding! Give that man a taco!

AaronAnderson

I disagree. How is the distance between bars and bosses not painfully obvious?

Six jours

The same way differences in arm length are not painfully obvious, is my guess.

AaronAnderson

The two are not related.

IsleRide

The pain is minimized by the soothing medicinal properties of a finely tuned downtube friction-shifting drivetrain.

Six jours

Yes, they are - unless you're riding around with your elbows locked.

-holiday76

Mmm, fish tacos.

fender1

Your elbows are locked because you are using them to steer, whilst eating tacos. FWIW, down tube shifters are fine IMHO.

SteveSGP

JunkYardBike

You, my friend, deserve some Schwinn Approved DT shifters.



Or maybe some of these:

JunkYardBike

Try some Simplex retrofrictions. Once you've tried them, you'll never go back...to brifters/ergos/STI.

But, by your logic, you'd need a French bike first.

ColonelJLloyd 

I'm 6', long-legged and have three fused discs in my lower back. No DT shifters for me no matter how clean they look.

I tried them. Once they cured my cancer (as many posters here suggested they would) I replaced them with better shifting shifters. ATMO!

Poguemahone

But it's further from your bars to your mouth, so your fish tacos will be stale by the time you get to eat them.

Sorry, it's obvious. I hope you don't get too sick because of it.

Of course, you could always keep your elbows locked, fail to steer, and then crash horendously. Then you could simply eat your fish tacos while they're fresh.

formicaman

Regardless of height, any shifter placement that requires taking your hands off the bars is inferior to one that doesn't.

-holiday76

yeah, especially when you're tall