DT shifters

[R3awak3n]

Just got back from a nice 55 mile winter... I mean... fall... it was cold when we started... ride and I took my Croll, the newest bike to me and this thing is BONKERS. Fits me perfectly, the quill stem rocks, threaded BB, steel straight bladed fork, 853 steel and best of all, DT shifters. This bike just put a smile in my face... I am youngish and never had a bike with DTs and I just LOVE THEM.

3 things, bike related I have loved this year... ETAP... CAMPY HYDRO and shimano DT shifters.

The clicks are just so positive and loud, shifting is immaculate. I am running 11 speed index (thank you Look585 for selling me these) and its freaking amazing...

Anyways, TMI but I just can't wait to take this damn bike on a few out the country trips.

[Big Dan]

DT shifters work great.
I have 2 bikes w/ them right now and enjoy every ride.

[zzy]

I always compare it to driving a car with a manual transmission. Takes a bit more attention but is also kinda fun.

[R3awak3n]

DT shifters work great.
I have 2 bikes w/ them right now and enjoy every ride.

Silly but I kind of want them on all my bikes now... As a crazy contrast I have a bike with Etap. Makes it fun

I always compare it to driving a car with a manual transmission. Takes a bit more attention but is also kinda fun.

Funny you mention that, I 100% agree and exactly what equated it to this ride. And the shimano DTs are just so dialed, the clicks feel AMAZING. I had tried bar ends before, on friction and that setup I really did not like, this setup, is lovely. I am glad I went index, friction would probably get annoying here and there with 11 sp.

[choke]

Silly but I kind of want them on all my bikes now....I love DT shifters too....I replaced the Ergos on my Hampsten with them. I like retrofrictions though, either Simplex or Campy versions. They shift almost like index only there's no clicking, just pure smoothness. Once I get around to it the Pegoretti is next.

[R3awak3n]

I love DT shifters too....I replaced the Ergos on my Hampsten with them. I like retrofrictions though, either Simplex or Campy versions. They shift almost like index only there's no clicking, just pure smoothness. Once I get around to it the Pegoretti is next.

I about did friction, with micr ratcheting but because 11 I was a bit worried it would be a bit harder to get the gear into what I wanted. I did have friction on a pair of Gevenalle (back then they were actually called retroshifters) and I really loved friction shifting, nothing like it for sure.

[keevon]

Maybe I missed something... How do you have a pair of 11-speed Shimano DT shifters? I thought they were discontinued after 10-speed?

[m_sasso]

Maybe I missed something... How do you have a pair of 11-speed Shimano DT shifters? I thought they were discontinued after 10-speed?

Replace a 9/10 speed DT shifter innards with the innards from some Shimano Dura Ace 9000 SL-BSR1 11 Speed Bar End Shifters.

[ChristianWong]

Silly but I kind of want them on all my bikes now... As a crazy contrast I have a bike with Etap.

Just glue some eTAP blips on your downtube, best of both worlds!

[marciero]

They are cool. I had the Simplex friction for years on one bike but replaced the rear with Shimano 9 after two of the Simplex rears broke in succession. Failures aside, the action on the simplex is nice but I also much liked indexing of the Shimano. I did leave the front as a Simplex. That bike has been sold . For its replacement is a toss-up Daytona 10 or the 9sp DT.

[oldpotatoe]

Not 11s but for you Campag luddites, way easy to make a Campag 8/9/10s bike DT/index with 10s barends and offered here, side plates. Plus easy to find 8/9/10s shift discs...:)

Down tube shifters are Kool.

[keevon]

Replace a 9/10 speed DT shifter innards with the innards from some Shimano Dura Ace 9000 SL-BSR1 11 Speed Bar End Shifters.

Got it, thanks!

[bikinchris]

You guys are funny.
You remind me of all the kids who have been shooting digital cameras that go out and buy a film camera.
Been there. Done that.

[R3awak3n]

You guys are funny.
You remind me of all the kids who have been shooting digital cameras that go out and buy a film camera.
Been there. Done that.

well, film is much better than digital, everyone knows that. Vinyl is much better than CDS or MP3s...

but for real, its a lot of fun. Will not replace my other shifters but I love the variety

[OperaLover]

All that is old will some day be new again!

Me. Two bikes with DT. One index (8-speedDura Ace) One friction (8-speed; Superbe pro and Campy ders.)

[shoota]

Replace a 9/10 speed DT shifter innards with the innards from some Shimano Dura Ace 9000 SL-BSR1 11 Speed Bar End Shifters.

Holy balls, mind blown! Do you have a tutorial you followed or any more info? I may want to do this fairly soon.

[R3awak3n]

Holy balls, mind blown! Do you have a tutorial you followed or any more info? I may want to do this fairly soon.

There is a tutorial here on paceline, written by look585

[Look585]

There is a tutorial here on paceline, written by look585

Holy balls, mind blown! Do you have a tutorial you followed or any more info? I may want to do this fairly soon.

Not my idea (credit to Ira Ryan / Breadwinner Cycles for "prior art"). I simply reverse engineered the process and posted the instructions.

11s DA Downtube Shifter Conversion (https://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=1960040&postcount=1)

[velofinds]

A weird blind spot in my bike/riding history is I have owned (still own, exclusively) "brifter" bikes and DT bikes, but not indexed DT bikes. I don't miss friction DT, but maybe I need to give this newfangled indexed DT thing a whirl.

[shoota]

Not my idea (credit to Ira Ryan / Breadwinner Cycles for "prior art"). I simply reverse engineered the process and posted the instructions.

11s DA Downtube Shifter Conversion (https://forums.thepaceline.net/showpost.php?p=1960040&postcount=1)

Thanks!

[R3awak3n]

A weird blind spot in my bike/riding history is I have owned (still own, exclusively) "brifter" bikes and DT bikes, but not indexed DT bikes. I don't miss friction DT, but maybe I need to give this newfangled indexed DT thing a whirl.

I know you shorter than me but always welcome to try mine to see what all the kids are talking about :D

[old_fat_and_slow]

Great for retro builds, but haven't most frame producers eliminated the DT bosses these days?

[R3awak3n]

Great for retro builds, but haven't most frame producers eliminated the DT bosses these days?

yep, a dumb move imo :banana:

Its nice to have options and man do I have some of these integrated cable stops

[bikinchris]

well, film is much better than digital, everyone knows that. Vinyl is much better than CDS or MP3s...

but for real, its a lot of fun. Will not replace my other shifters but I love the variety

You are correct about vinyl. But I shot film for over 30 years and I had a complete darkroom and developed everything myself except Kodachrome of course. I can tell you that film doesn't beat digital except in a very few specialized niches. I spent many hours in my darkroom souping film and making contact prints and enlargements. No more.

When I rode my first bike with shifters on the bars, I immediately sold every towntube shifter bike I had. I might still have a set of Modolo friction shifters somewhere. But I have no interest in using them.

[unterhausen]

I like putting dt bosses on my frames. You can always bolt cable stops to them, but it's hard to mount a dt shifter on a cable stop.

I don't presently have any dt shifters on bikes. I occasionally will reach for the DT when I want to shift, always makes me laugh.

[R3awak3n]

You are correct about vinyl. But I shot film for over 30 years and I had a complete darkroom and developed everything myself except Kodachrome of course. I can tell you that film doesn't beat digital except in a very few specialized niches. I spent many hours in my darkroom souping film and making contact prints and enlargements. No more.

When I rode my first bike with shifters on the bars, I immediately sold every towntube shifter bike I had. I might still have a set of Modolo friction shifters somewhere. But I have no interest in using them.

there is something from film you don't achieve in digital, better or worst is preference but there is something to be said about the look of film.

I would not want to just have 1 bike with DTs but its a nice variation, makes this a lot of fun.

[ChainNoise]

Replace a 9/10 speed DT shifter innards with the innards from some Shimano Dura Ace 9000 SL-BSR1 11 Speed Bar End Shifters.

Don't forget removing some material in the lever so that it can get to the 11th gear!

[Mark McM]

there is something from film you don't achieve in digital, better or worst is preference but there is something to be said about the look of film.

Graininess?

[velofinds]

Graininess?

Massive thread drift at this point, but graininess ≠ bad. To wit, Tri-X 400 is objectively grainy but subjectively beautiful; I prefer it to digital B&W generally.

[Mark McM]

Massive thread drift at this point, but graininess ≠ bad. To wit, Tri-X 400 is objectively grainy but subjectively beautiful; I prefer it to digital B&W generally.

I would be surprised if you couldn't use a (software) filter to add film-like graininess to a digital image.

[rccardr]

Perhaps.
But when I dream of riding, I dream of down tube shifters.
Mmmmm.......

[R3awak3n]

I would be surprised if you couldn't use a (software) filter to add film-like graininess to a digital image.

yes you can add digital grain.... it will not look as good.

[marciero]

yes you can add digital grain.... it will not look as good.


Not sure if he was serious, but yes. My take on these digital vs analog discussions is that the digital advocates will argue that it comes down to distortion-optical/visual, aural, etc. "What you are really hearing is the distortion..."
My view is that the distortion is an artifact of the qualities that make the analog thing good, rather than actual being one of the qualities. So adding digital grain or other kind of distortion creates a caricature of sorts. (Whether one can tell the difference is another story/argument)
On the other hand I would also note that one of the arguments on the analog side-"our ears are analog devices" is misleading. Am pretty sure that, though our eardrums are analog, the current neuroscience says that the way we hear has digital aspects also.

[YoKev]

I never dug downtube shifters, but I love Suntour ratcheting barcons (even Shimanos barcons in a pinch).

Infact, in the next 48 hours I will be finishing another build using Suntours to shift a 10 speed Centaur triple group. It just feels so good.

[choke]

Great for retro builds, but haven't most frame producers eliminated the DT bosses these days?

yep, a dumb move imo :banana:

Its nice to have options and man do I have some of these integrated cable stopsThat's one of my biggest pet peeves. I want the ability to run downtube shifters...I know that's rare these days...and I simply won't buy a bike that doesn't give me that option. It can be very frustrating as it eliminates some really nice bikes from consideration; there's one builder who frequents here who almost never builds a frame with DT bosses so if I ever want to own one of his frames it means I'll almost certainly have to have him build one for me.

[rccardr]

That's one of my biggest pet peeves. I want the ability to run downtube shifters...I know that's rare these days...and I simply won't buy a bike that doesn't give me that option. It can be very frustrating as it eliminates some really nice bikes from consideration; there's one builder who frequents here who almost never builds a frame with DT bosses so if I ever want to own one of his frames it means I'll almost certainly have to have him build one for me.

Same here.

Only two bikes in my collection have STI's, and one of them is a carbon Canyon.

I'm looking at converting the red Merckx back to down tube shifters over the winter.