clayton c

These are defiantly not wide at all. They are vintage rando bars. They are 14 inches hoods center-center.

djb

Wow, those are 36cm, I'll check out my old touring bike drops to see if they are that narrow. My newer drop bar bike has 44cm center to center, which I like.
If your bars are really that narrow, that must really mean the cables go out in a way that they really won't interfere with an ortlieb bar bag.
Thanks for checking them out

clayton c

Oh yeah, they tuck out of the way because of Ortlieb's bracket sticks out a couple inches. And there is just enough room to shift without touching the bag, though it's very close.

In fact, I was going to swap out the stem to another and was going to put some wider bars on just for a little shoulder comfort.

djb

Re wider bars, can only speak for myself but while I first found my 44 bars really wide compared to my old narrow bars, it very soon became apparent that they were more comfortable for both breathing and general shoulder comfort. And I'm a 5'10" skinny guy who does not have broad shoulders.

MassiveD

If you love brifters for the right reasons, lots of efficient shifts, you are going to hate bar ends. In my day Bar ends were the brifter of the time, they were a lot closer than downtubes, particularly from a touring position. Bar ends don't bother me for my use, but as I look towards a less athletic future, the whole durable like a bank vault thing is less necessary, and I can't really see brifters crapping out on me.

Mike Barry, of Maryposa cycles, and kid on the Tour fame, is a strong advocate of brifters on touring bikes. He says that they are more reliable than other systems as they are designed for pros (he likes the Campy ones). He agrees they are a bigger pain if they break, just doesn't believe they are going to break any time soon, if new and properly maintained. So I am not sure the anti-brifter sentiment on touring bikes is anything more than an affectation, like 48 spoke wheels. Straight, real touring bikes (not used for five other uses at the same time, as they might be), are low mileage low stress bikes. Except for maybe the wheels.

Tourist in MSN

Sorry I am off topic (not on retro shifters).

My first set of bar end shifters were Shimano friction, I think I got them in the 1980s. They had a return spring to counter the spring in the derailleurs. At that time the Suntours were more popular, they had a ratcheting mechanism. Compared to down tube shifters, I loved them.

When I built up a LHT in 2004 I used 8 speed bar end shifters because I knew that I liked bar end shifters. Since then I put the same 8 speed bar end shifters on two other bikes, one was another touring bike and the other my foldup bike.

I tried brifters a couple years ago. After a couple rides, decided that I did not like them and went go back to the bar end shifters.

But, with the world firmly in the brifter-is-better camp, I am trying a brifter again. That was my post above with the photo of the Campy brifter and handlebar bag that I put on the rando bike I am building up. I can't say yet how much I will like the Campy brifter, it is near zero (F) outside so I am not doing any testing yet. I probably will not have an opinion for a few months. On this bike I am mixing a right side brifter for the rear, downtube friction shifter (vintage Huret) for the front derailleur on a triple.

Regarding race bikes and reliability, a race bike has to be reliable for a few hundred miles. For a long race like the Tour de France, a few thousand miles. Professional mechanics that are top notch go over the bikes every day. They are not just doing a visual inspection, they are making them spotless again (so the sponsor names stand out better) and often are changing components like cassettes each day for different course conditions. Anything with even a tiny bit of wear is discarded because if a bike breaks for one of the contenders, that mechanic might be out of a job. My point is that I consider racing use to be meaningless when it comes to deciding what I want to use for a bike tour.

djb

I have used shimano brifters for about 6 seasons and find them to be great to use. At least once a season I spray a silicon based spray called jigaloo into the innards, and have complete confidence that in my general riding conditions (not riding in cyclocross mud and volcanic dust conditions) they will have a good long life. The key is not letting the innards to get gummed up with crap, no gunk, clean innards=little wear. Being aware of any increased friction will also help with less strain on innards, so changing cables and housings every so often is logically good too.

That said, my interest with these diff type shifters is for a pipe dream of a Latin America trip that could have more challenging dirt conditions, rain and whatever.
Will this trip ever happen, life stuff like work, children stuff, elderly parents, someone to do a trip like this..... Who knows, I hope so--but this is the why of my interest.