lookinUp

I'm interested in the Trek 520, but am not thrilled with having bar end shifters. Most of my riding will be with my hands on the hoods and I will have to take my hands off the hoods, grab the drop and shift and then move my hands back. Seems pretty stupid and not as safe as brake/shifters.

Is there a real advantage to bar end shifters that I'm missing here?

ctyler

When I had a TREK 520 a few years ago, I replaced the bar end shifters with the usual brake shifters. Never was a fan of bar end shifters. Like you I ride with my hands mostly on the hoods or closer to the hoods than the bar ends. The only time I'm in the drops is when I'm going down a hill. My Fuji Touring bike has the brake shifters.

NoReg

I've used them on and off all my life. They world great. It is also true that they aren't as convenient as brifters. The reason that people use them is that. They work fine, therefore:

1) cheaper;

2) more reliable. A bike tech I respect told me he thought brifters were the most reliable. I think he meant it is durable good tech. But when brifters go wrong as can happen on a long trip. There is less fallback.

3) You may have more difficulty matching up everything you want to use at once. They don't make touring groupos, so if you want to use anything that won't work with the brakes or STI, then you need to go to some clunky tech.

On my tour, I shifted sure, but I didn't shift as much as I do in the city with stop and go. Get a nice road condition, and I occasionally did ten miles without a shift (of course, then you probably won't wear out your brifters either).

What is less immediately clear is wheter bar-ends are better than downtube shifter. When they were the only avialble choices, downtubes outsold bar-ends 100-1. downtubes allow shifts of both levers with one hand, and seem less likely to swerve the stearing.

I don't think either is unsafe, you will shift without even thinking about it, once you work your way in. It helps to have correct posture with bent arms. You can bruise yourself if you ram into the shifters. They will gouge you good in the thighs, I forget how I did that, I tend to ram those events into the back of my mind.

SteveE

Unless you're double-shifting, you only have to move one hand from the tops to the drops. If you're carrying any of your gear loaded onto the front of the bike, I think that bar-ends will be easier to use than downtube shifters because you can keep both hands on the bars as you're shifting.

The primary reason to go with bar-end shifters for touring is reliability, especially if you go with friction shifting.

Doug Campbell

They are simple and robust and won't fail in a remote location on a long tour AND are compatable with any deraillers (ie. if you swap to a MTB crankset and front derailler on your 520, as many do, the bar ends will work, your brifters won't. They can also be used in either indexed or friction mode. I, like many other tourers find them very easy to use with loaded touring. I agree, they are not what you want for racing, but that is not what they are designed for.

Thor29

I rarely use the hoods, usually I am on the tops or the drops. However, one HUGE advantage to bar-end shifters is that you can use V-brakes instead of cantilevers without any special device. Cantilever brakes suck. Bar-end shifters are theoretically more reliable than STI/brifters. I have absolutely no problem operating my bar-end shifters from my usual "hands on the tops" riding position while navigating intense city traffic so I don't understand why it would be hard to move your hand from the hoods to the bar-ends unless you have a very hard time keeping your bike in an upright position.

sakarias

I have ridden with bar end shifters, for years (three decades, actually). They have never failed.

When deciding between the Trek 520 and the comparable Cannondale touring bike with STI shifters, the sales person (who toured and raced) commented that he had once had an STI shifter fail on a tour. His field repair attempts were not very effective. His view (and, mine) was that bar end shifters are very robust compared to STIs. If shifter failure on a tour would be a big hassle, bar end shifters would be my recommendation.

When I ride, I too spend a good amount of time on the brake hoods. But, I don't ONLY ride with my hands there. When I have them elsewhere on the bars (I move them around, something you can do on a drop handlebar bike, to prevent hand problems), I am "forced" to move my hands to make a shift regardless of which type shifter I use.

NoReg

I don't see any reason why you would have a problem in city traffic with bar-ends, but I don't drive the same way when using them. I can shift like 5 times in 50 yards, if it in any way helps my cause. I shift constantly with my MTB fingertip shifters. I have only borrowed brifters, but I found them similar. All else being equal, easy shifting is a great deal. But all else isn't equal, so one has to decide.

I spent a lot of time on the top bar too when touring, or split finger on the hoods, or on the curve bewtween the two. Most of the time i would have had to move one hand to shift anyway, even with brifters.

Literally, at the end of the day, I don't think you will be one mile closer to your destination, or have travelled more safely or with greater comfort if you have brifters, so why spend the cash?

roadfix

Give them a shot, you'll get used to them in no time. Otherwise you can always re-locate them on bar tops using Paul's Thumbies and use them as thumb shifters but it can get pretty crowded there near the stem depending on what accessories/components you plan on mounting in that area.

buttbybrooks

One drawback to barends is you can hit them with your knee while riding home from the pub. Um, a friend of mine did this once and not only did it hurt like hell it put him in the wrong gear for a big hill. So use brifters when you're drinking ;-)

EmmCeeBee

This is one of those "personal preference" issues that only gets resolved by, well... personal preference. Lots of us whose first tours were in the '80's or early '90's, when barcons were standard, appreciate the ease and simplicity of the design. For others whose first bikes had brifters, they feel natural and easier to control.

If you change from something you're used to, you'll find the new system awkward and finicky. But only for a day or two. Motor skills are like that, the body trains itself by doing. So, really, this is just personal preference. I'm a barcons addict, wouldn't have anything else. Shifting is subconscious, effortless, never interferes with control.

But there's the issue of reliability, as others said. Here's a real-life story: On my tour this summer, I met a couple in Prineville, Oregon, heading east on the TransAmerica. They were doing a fast tour to New York -- so they were very frustrated to be stuck in town for two days. A day before Prineville, the woman's bike had fallen over and broken the rear brifter; she rode the rest of the day with essentially 3 gears (the chainrings). (The brake lever still worked, but no shifting.) Prineville is a good-sized town, but had no up-to-date bike shop. They spent a day trying to order parts; finally found a sporting goods store with old parts and zip-tied a thumb shifter to her handlebar for a semi-permanent fix.

Lucky this didn't happen AFTER Prineville, because it's about 200 miles to the next city.

Barcons just can't break, short of a catastrophe that would noodle your handlebar. You might lose indexing, but it would take less than a day to re-learn to friction shift again. Maybe the lesson is: if you use brifters, carry a spare thumbshifter!

-- Mark

tinrobot

finally found a sporting goods store with old parts and zip-tied a thumb shifter to her handlebar for a semi-permanent fix.

I'm surprised more people don't use thumb/twist shifters. They seem like a good compromise between brifters and bar ends. Thumb shifters are easy to fix, but they let you stay on the top of the bars when shifting.

Bekologist

Love oldskool thumbies on flat bars, I'd pay a ridiculous amount of money for some of those 80's suntour XC thumb shifters with the big metal clamshell housings. Those were SOLID.

Friction barends make me think of paddle throttles in a twin engine airplane when I'M flying down the road. They're more fun!

But the biggest thing about barends in friction is no more worries about the infernal indexing going out of adjustment for whatever reason. #$#%$#%#$%^#$ let me just curse a little bit for all the times THAT has happened to everbody running brifters or pods.

Another plus for barends is-versatility. Hub and chain limitations aside, you can run whatever kind of cogsset you want, all you do is adjust the stops on the rear derailluer. 7,8,9, don't matter. heck, even use a cheap old 6 speed wheel you picked at salvation army as a temporary fix.

Another thing, index shifting is choppy feeling if you're bleeding a bunch of speed or trying to put the hammer down. Friction shifting through a cassette is more plush.

I think all this stuff applies to both barrends and downtubes. Superior in their simplicity, reliability, versatility, and feel.

metal_cowboy

You would be surprised at how fast it is to shift with bar ends. My guess is that your hands leave the top of the bar for less than a second of two. There is no need to grap the drops on the bar, just the shifter. This of course becomes second nature with time spent on the bike.

There are times that I think it would like to have some STI's, but never have I had a shifting or maintenance problem with my bar ends. I own three single bikes and a tandem, they all have bar ends.

lookinUp

Thanks for all the info. OK, bar end shifters is the way to go. I'll give it a try.

cyclintom

I have bar ends on my touring bike and my cyclocross bikes. My latest road bike is a Look carbon bike. It's intended to be my winter beater so I'm putting bar ends on it as well. Probably eggbeaters as well so that I can wear walkers. I'm sure that will garner some comments but then since I have a couple of Colnagos and a couple of Merckxs all Campy Chorus equiped anyone that has anything negative to say can look silly.

roadfix

We knew you would.....

Mentor58

I'm rebuilding the Cdale this winter, and am going with a Mt. Bike front crank and derailer. I'm keeping the brifter for the back, but going to a bar-end for the front DR. Not only that, my plan is to mount the FD Barend on the right bar, so that I can make my double shift by just reaching up and tapping the brifter, and then just a shift of my wrist puts me on the bar end for the front.

I anticipate it being a lot easier to tune, the 105 triple I have now for a FD isn't going to be crazy about going to that small of chainring, and while I 'could' get it tuned to work, it's going to be a bit touchy. I like the idea of being able to do both shifts with one hand, I've practiced the movement while riding and seems like its going to be a very good system. Once I get it done, I'll post up and let ya know how it works in practice.

Steve W.

BeTheChange

I've been using my 520 with bar end shifters for almost 2 years now for touring/commuting/group road riding. I've been thinking of replacing them with bar ends again because the indexing has started to get sloppy. Is there a way to tighten up the indexing? I do really like them except when you are climbing a hill and standing on the pedals it is hard to shift (like I said I use it for group road riding). I've wrecked this bike more than a few times and the shifters have never failed. Recently when I was using my 520 for an impromptu cyclocross ride I went down braking on some wet grass going about 20mph. I bent my handlebar and my right brake a little but the bar end shifters are still golden. I'm not exactly sure how you would have to wreck to mess up some bar end shifters because I haven't been able to yet. Oh and I do hit my knee on the bar end shifter sometimes when I'm standing climbing up a hill. To remedy this to replace my bent handle bar I got a Salsa cyclocross bar that flares the drops out a little bit. Nice and stable platform in the drops to boot. I don't want to replace my bar end shifters for new ones in less than two years so if there is a way to crispen them up I'd like to hear it. Thanks.

Bob S.

Good info above. Like Sakarias above, I have 30 years on my bar ends. Wonderful, not a moment of trouble. I prefer them the STI's on my other bike. Bob

EmmCeeBee

Sounds like cable stretch, if I understand your post. These things need occasional tweaking.

Usually simply adjusting the barrel adjustment (on the derailleur end of the cable housing) will give you crisp shifting again. If not, the cable itself might be going (strands breaking); replace it. Or the cable housings might have gotten slop in them (especially if you've wrecked it a few times...)

Not as likely, normally, is that the derailluer isn't aligned to the frame. However.... since you said it's been crashed a few times, this might be the problem. Put it up on a stand and see if the derailleur is parallel to the chain, in all shift positions.

I can't see how the shifters would be the problem (unless you've mated an 8-speed shifter to a 9-speed cluster, for instance). The throw between clicks is matched to the derailleur displacement, and this can't be altered. It almost has to be cable adjustment or derailleur.

On tour this summer, after putting in new cables, I had to tweak the barrel adjuster every couple of days for the first two weeks, until the shifting settled in.

-- Mark

BluesDawg

Or just switch to friction mode and don't worry about the indexing. Bar End shifters are (to me) especially easy to friction shift.

hillyman

Whats wrong with cantilevers? I had a set on a Diamondback hybrid and never had any trouble. Calipers are what suck. I hit a set going down a BIG hill in the rain and I swear I started going faster
I like my barends on my 520 but I still miss my downtube shifters for some crazy reason

Thor29

In my experience, cantilevers can't match the stopping power of V-brakes (or discs). Maybe Paul Components super expensive retro cantilevers work (haven't tried them), but Shimano and Avid cantilevers are pretty weak. Also, if you adjust them so that the pads are close to the rim, you can't remove the wheels. I know some of the retrogrouches out there still believe in cantis, but I will take my steel framed, leather saddled, bar-end shiftered bike with V-brakes, thank you.

roadfix

Then what the heck do I do with the permanent rear cable hanger of my leather saddled, bar-end shiftered steel frame? I don't want it to go to waste.....