Why did bicycle racers in the 60's/70's sometime go with bar-end shifters
Anyone in the C&V community want to throw out their ideas on why bicycle racers in the 60's and 70's might have periodically raced with their bicycles set up with bar-end shifters? What were the bar-end shifters of the day... Campy and Simplex? It was just an observation I took away from the photographs people posted with my earlier questions on M.A.F.A.C. racer brake sets. Theories? Facts? Show us if you got them...
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Easier/quicker to reach for while riding? At least that’s why I prefer them over DT shifters.
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I remember hearing that the advantage was that you could keep both hands on the bars while shifting in a hard sprint. Disadvantages: The longer cables changed the shifting feel and another rider could reach over and shift you out of your gear.
Probably all BS |
My guess is that they did it for the same reasons we use them now - easier to reach and you can have both hands on the bars whilst shifting, which is a seriously good thing sometimes..
By the time I got into this sport c.1973, they were close to extinction in the pro peloton. Jose Manuel Fuentes was still using them when he dueled with Merckx and Ocana in the first half of the seventies, but nobody else leaps to mind. it is possible they did it because barcons did not slip the way some DT shifters can, but that is a WAG. |
Having put in lots of time with both, I wouldn't want bar end shifters for riding close together in a pack because they're exposed and prone to getting bumped out of position.
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Bar end shift levers also have a "telegraphing" advantage over down tube shift levers. Telegraphing a shift is the ability of other competitors to detect that a shift is going to occur before it actually takes place. Since the arm and hand movements aren't as large with bar end shift levers, other riders are less likely to detect them and/or react as quickly. This can be critical in something like a final sprint.
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So, in the other thread, here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...fac-racer.html You can see the Cannibal, Eddy Merckx, has is Peugeot outfitted with both types of shifters (bar-end and down tube). Let's assume the photos were taken within a close period of his career... why does Eddy choose different shifters? Different racing strategies? |
Originally Posted by T-Mar
(Post 22436668)
Bar end shift levers also have a "telegraphing" advantage over down tube shift levers.
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Eddy is also sporting high and low flange hubs in the pics.
I suspect both choices are mostly, if not entirely fashion choices. |
More aero.
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Originally Posted by Classtime
(Post 22436731)
More aero.
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Originally Posted by uncle uncle
(Post 22436670)
So, in the other thread, here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...fac-racer.html You can see the Cannibal, Eddy Merckx, has is Peugeot outfitted with both types of shifters (bar-end and down tube). Let's assume the photos were taken within a close period of his career... why does Eddy choose different shifters? Different racing strategies? IIRC. Merckx turned pro in 1965 with Rik van Looy’s Solo Superia team (not a happy experience for him), went to Peugeot for the next two years, then to Faema 1968 through 1970 (called Faemino the last year) then on to Molteni from 1970 to 1976, then to Fiat for 1977, then to C&H for his last few days races in 1978. |
I recall a member here, @Slightspeed I think, still has the bar-end equipped Legnano he raced with.
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Judging from photos and information about the races in which Merckx and others switched from downtube to bar-end shifters, it appears they favored bar-end shifters for races or stages with more sketchy pavement, cobbles and gravel, presumably to keep both hands on the bar.
I put bar-end shifters on my Univega hybrid with albatross bars a few years ago and it does help on sketchy terrain. I've considered bar-ends for my Centurion Ironman road bike for the same reason, since some of our group rides include mixed terrain. But I'll probably install a set of either MicroShift 7-speed brifters, or 8-speed Dura Ace brifters. Those are even better for keeping both hands on the bar on sketchy terrain. I've heard claims that bar-ends have more slop in shifting compared with downtube, but I don't really notice much difference on my bikes. Might depend on the type of downtube shifter. I have Dura-Ace and Ultegra SIS bar-ends that offer indexed or friction shifting. I'm not sure I've ever tried Suntour barcons or other bar-ends. |
The Swiss bikes, Mondias and Allegros, seemed to come with them as standard equipment for quite a while. My cycling coach in the early seventies wouldn't let us use them. He had seen a teammate tear up a knee pretty badly on one.
He did teach us how to upshift a downtube shifter into the smallest cog with your knee in a sprint. (Not that it ever did me any good: I had all the sprinting power of a bull hamster!) Brent |
Originally Posted by bikingshearer
(Post 22436625)
Jose Manuel Fuentes was still using them
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Originally Posted by BFisher
(Post 22436787)
I recall a member here, @Slightspeed I think, still has the bar-end equipped Legnano he raced with.
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https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3fd14ae905.jpg
My Legnano, had since new in 1965, Campy bar ends, still loving them, and the bike. Picture is 2016 Eroica California. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...06ee3b69ab.jpg Me, junior racer, on the new Legnano, 1965. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...40a330331c.jpg Our club, me on the right. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1f0d958613.jpg |
Putting barcons on your bike in the 70s was like dropping your gloves in hockey. it meant that you were serious about riding crits( what else was there?) and you were prepared to take no prisoners in a sprint. If you didn’t have to let go of the bars, you could throw an elbow and up shift at the same time.
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@Slightspeed, it's a beautiful bike, and when I saw this thread I remembered seeing it posted before.
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Originally Posted by BFisher
(Post 22437023)
@Slightspeed, it's a beautiful bike, and when I saw this thread I remembered seeing it posted before.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...eafca5f4f4.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1d2ea3883a.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a2f37ea76f.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e310442da6.jpg |
Originally Posted by BFisher
(Post 22437023)
@Slightspeed, it's a beautiful bike, and when I saw this thread I remembered seeing it posted before.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...eafca5f4f4.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1d2ea3883a.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a2f37ea76f.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e310442da6.jpg |
I’ve heard it was most common for crits, and that people would cut off some of the drop bar ends to shorten the level part. That way you could go quickly from brakes to shifters with little hand movement
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Some riders, like Godefroot, used them for the cobbled classics only, mainly Paris-Roubaix. All hands on bar, all the time!
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...516ba39052.png https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a20c46656f.png Godefroot and the Pogacar of his day |
Originally Posted by vtchuck
(Post 22436624)
I remember hearing that the advantage was that you could keep both hands on the bars while shifting in a hard sprint. Disadvantages: The longer cables changed the shifting feel and another rider could reach over and shift you out of your gear.
Probably all BS Someone stupidly showed me that little trick once. He was a friend of a friend that went on a lunch break ride with us now and then. He was nicely chatting with me and the next thing I new it was very hard to pedal. He reached down pushed my DT shifter all the way down and took off for the Town Line Sprint with Eric candy I was like :notamused: . So I added that my little bag of fun Peleton tricks like sprinting around a bend in the road and hiding behind the bushes or a van, or grabbing a seat bag and gradually letting someone pull me along. The coupe de Grace was unplugging the boss’s ZAP rear derailleur one morning. I miss those guys and those great rides. as the the bar cons, I knew a few guys who liked them for “Crits” since they spent most of the time in the drops anyway. I don’t have any experience with them so we’re the early Campagnolo and Shipmano ones retro friction like Suntour? |
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