fjacquette

Greetings,
Way back in 1991, my trusty old Trek 750 hybrid came with drop handlebars fitted with Suntour Xpress Power Control trigger shifters. After 30 years my right shifter finally had enough and the shell cracked, so I'm looking to replace it.
The shifters are mounted below the main part of the bar, and I'd prefer to keep the same configuration rather than move to something like brifters. Any suggestions for a reasonable replacement shifter or set? It's a 3x7 gear configuration.
Thanks!

ShannonM

I doubt that there's anything other than those shifters that will index with a Suntour MTB drivetrain. Suntour indexing was weird.

Fiction thumbshifters or a long and expensive ebay search for NOS shifters are probably your only options.

--Shannon

Classtime 

My 750 had flat bars and shifters as you describe. I think I’d go friction bar ends from Rivendell for your drop bars or thumb shifters for other bars.

Dylansbob 

If it's a freewheel rear hub, you could throw a modern 7 or 8spd freewheel on, virtually any Shimano rear derailleur and run Sensah STIs.

dmark 

Suntour freehub on my '91 750 (unfortunately).

2wheelbuzz

The Suntour 7 speed cassettes and freewheels are spaced the same as Shimano 7 speed index freewheels and cassettes, so Shimano or Shimano compatible 7 speed index shifters will work with your 7 speed system. I have a Trek T50 tandem that came new with a Suntour 7 speed cassette and Shimano Deore 7 speed index thumb shifters, index shifting works great.

2wheelbuzz

panzerwagon 

If it’s anything like my ‘90 750 was, it should’ve come with a flat bar with those Suntour trigger shifters. You can verify specifics in that year’s catalog on the vintage-trek website.

My rear hub has a Suntour alpha 7-speed freewheel. If yours is the same, you could try and locate a Suntour accushift 7-speed shifter (either trigger, or a pair of bar end shifters), but those will be tough to find.

Alternatively, as others have mentioned, you could switch the freewheel to a shimano-compatible 7-speed, replace the rear derailleur with a suitable shimano, and a plethora of shifter choices will open up.

Those early trek hybrid frames were something else— lugged and tru-temper chromoly, made in USA. The 750 and 790 (latter only made in ‘90 and ‘92) have identical frames. The perfect gravel touring frames IMHO. The original wheelset was utterly bomb proof and fantastic— never give them up! Keep them tru-ed and bearings greased, and easily travel to the ends of the earth! <pardon the digression>

fjacquette

Thank you all. I was able to find just the right shifter NOS for a not unreasonable price, so I'll go with that.

I confirmed that the drive train is labeled as Suntour XCE and it's all in good shape, so I'll hold off on swapping in a Shimano drivetrain for now.

And yes, the bike has been durable as hell despite regular use, so it may very well outlast me.