Scooby214

My steel road bike (a Specialized Allez Double Steel) has Shimano 2300 components. It has downtube shifters, with an indexed 8 speed shifter for the rear and a friction shifter for the front. I want to change the downtube shifters out for bar end shifters, but want to keep the indexed shifting for the rear. Here is the Shimano SL-BS64 shifter set I'm considering:

https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-SL-BS6...d=LGG876MHEQ8U

I don't know if the Ultegra line of rear shifters have the same cable pull as the 2300.

Can the bar end shifter set linked above work with my 2300 rear derailleur in indexed mode?

desertdork

Yes, it will index with your RD-2300.

Within the Shimano road product line, the only indexing problems will occur if you mix D/A 8-sp 7400 series RDs or shifters with those outside the 7400 series. In the case of bar end shifters, I understand that Shimano did make a shifter that was specifically matched to the RD-7400, but it was sold under a different product number (BS-50-8 ?).

Since this sounds like your first experience installing bar end shifters, I encourage you to heed the warning to not fiddle with the shifter assemblies prior to installation. Before mounting, the assemblies will readily come apart, and if you don't reassemble them correctly, you may lose some indexing positions.

Scooby214

Thanks for the confirmation, and thanks for the warning about the assemblies coming apart!

Jeff Wills

Ditto about being careful with reassembly. The part you want to pay attention to is the "lever boss cover", part #2 here:
https://techdocs.shimano.com/media/te...9830628723.pdf
It will fit the lever body 4 different ways, but the shift lever works properly only if the fat tab is pointing downward.

Also, once it's put back together, really tighten the center screw of the shift lever. If it works loose, the shifter will fall between "index" and "friction", possibly damaging the mechanism.

Scooby214

Thanks for the link. The diagram helps me see what you have explained.