bar end shifter questions

[vqdriver]

i've not used em, but am curious. so please indulge.

what's the real advantage to running these on touring bikes?
i don't exactly equate bike touring with speed, so i can't wrap my head around the convenience of bar end shifters for those who would spend more time in a more relaxed position on the tops or hoods.

instead of having the cable and housing stick out the front of the bottom flats of the bars, does anyone run them all the way around the bends of the bars to have them exit with the brake housing at the stem? or is this way too much drag?

are bar end shifters used for touring the same ones as those used for TT bars?

[rcnute]

Reliable; can be used in friction mode; helps keep your hands moving/prevents numbness from not moving hands; easier to access than downtube shifters; simple to set up.

[Ray]

Reliable; can be used in friction mode; helps keep your hands moving/prevents numbness from not moving hands; easier to access than downtube shifters; simple to set up.
And I'd add relatively cheap and on touring bikes you might want to use a non-standard triple, like a 34-36-46 or something and the friction left side barcon will work much better with this type of setup than STI. There's really no downside relative to STI except that its very difficult to shift while out of the saddle, but that's not an issue on a touring bike anyway.

-Ray

[pjmsj21]

Simple and thus reliable are the main reasons so that when you are out in the boonies you know you wont have a problem. Short of a break in your cable, I dont see how these could malfuntion. I have used them and while not quite as convenient as brake/****ers, they are easy and keep your hands on the bars.

[fourflys]

I had these on my Rivendell and wasn't sure about them when I first got them, but was really surprised on how easy they were to get used to after a couple of rides! I enjoyed them, no more or less than I would have STI's on that bike anyway! Give em a try.. they can also let you use different types of bars like the Albatross or North Road...

[eddief]

but have had them on a couple of bikes lately. I kinda like the indexing for the rear and friction for the front...especially for triple crank. The sorta fartless Shimano front derailleur indexing with the trimming options is always a crap shoot. Yes it works, but in the long run friction for the front is almost more direct/precise.

Since I spend most time on the tops of drops, STI brifters are the ultimate in efficiency. But barcons are a great alternative approach. If you have a hybridish bike with Vbrakes, then barcons and appropriate compatible brake levers make good sense.

And then it is just sorta cool to have alternate approach to shifting, hand positions, etc.

[chuckroast]

I bought a bike at an Estate sale a couple of weeks ago simply because it had a vintage Brooks saddle and some old Suntour barcons. I hadn't ridden bar ends for at least 15 years and I had forgotten how convenient they are. No, not as brainless as brifters but more convenient ( I believe) than downtube shifters. The reach, even when you are riding on the hoods or tops, is just natural.

[Peter P.]

I first tried barends as a teenager, 30+ years ago. They were all the rage with the "cool" guys at the local shop. As a kid, I couldn't understand it; I thought they were heavier! Imagine that; I was focused on grams as a kid.

I installed Suntour barcons then and they had a nice, light action, ratcheting mechanism.

A few years later, in my very early twenties, I put a pair on my Richard Sachs. Then I got all "racer" headed and dumped them because again, they were too heavy!

Well, I've sorta come full circle because I've had them on my commuter/touring bike for about 10 years, since I upgraded it to 9 speed.

The bennies?- The friction option is good should your indexing go south because of a bent something or other. No need to look at your cluster to see what cog you're in-when you grab a barend lever you can get a real good idea what gear you're in by the position of the lever, without looking at your shifter or the cluster. I also find barends less finicky than STI when it comes to sticky or dry cables/mud/wet/whatever. They have a simpler mechanism than integrated stuff so they're less likely to suffer a malfunction. I like barends so much that I'm tempted to convert my racing bike's STI over to barends.

I do not run my cables all the way to the stem; they exit below the hoods.

And yes; the TT levers and barends are the same.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3205/2335768851_f4c025cc31.jpg

[palincss]

instead of having the cable and housing stick out the front of the bottom flats of the bars, does anyone run them all the way around the bends of the bars to have them exit with the brake housing at the stem? or is this way too much drag?

are bar end shifters used for touring the same ones as those used for TT bars?

Yes, on two of my bikes I have the cables running all the way around the bars, exiting at the stem. Here's a photo of one of them:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97916047@N00/4018066148/sizes/l/in/set-72157622475590131/
It works fine. The only disadvantage is the setup requires an extra long rear shift cable.

And yes, the bar end shifters used for touring are the same ones used for TT.

[Marcusaurelius]

They work well and have the advantage of working with mountain front derailleur. I also like down tube shifters which offer just a bit more simplicity.

[jpw]

Cheaper than sti
More aerodynamic :-)
Less prone to crash damage?

[jeo99]

Ladies and Gentlemen,
You have all listed very good advantages and dis-advantages for bar-end shifting. As a long time and long distance tourist, the main advantage for bar-end shifting is it's strength. Based on the sensitive nature of moving parts involved with brake/shift levers, you never want to shift gears with a loaded heavy touring bike. Brake/shift levers WILL BRAKE under load! I learned my lesson many times before switching to bar-end shifting. There are fewer moving parts to brake and it has never happened post switching to barcons.

CHEERS!
:beer:

[Tobias]

Ladies and Gentlemen,
You have all listed very good advantages and dis-advantages for bar-end shifting. As a long time and long distance tourist, the main advantage for bar-end shifting is it's strength. Based on the sensitive nature of moving parts involved with brake/shift levers, you never want to shift gears with a loaded heavy touring bike. Brake/shift levers WILL BRAKE under load! I learned my lesson many times before switching to bar-end shifting. There are fewer moving parts to brake and it has never happened post switching to barcons.

CHEERS!
:beer:
I'll assume you mean they will "BREAK" and not brake under load? The question is, why? How does a brake/shifter lever know the bike is loaded? Why should it make a difference? :confused:

I'm not saying it won't, just want to learn why it makes a difference.

[Tobias]

instead of having the cable and housing stick out the front of the bottom flats of the bars, does anyone run them all the way around the bends of the bars to have them exit with the brake housing at the stem? or is this way too much drag?
As you suggest, the straighter the cable the better, but if you can make it work following the bars to near the stem go for it. I tried it and couldn't make it work to my liking so I changed it to normal routing. Unfortunately with standard routing I don't like the cable interfering while on the drops so I mostly ride other bikes. As I spend more time on the hoods maybe it'd be OK.

I even considered running them inside modified bars but talked myself out of it due to the danger of likely bar failure. That's the only option I suggest not trying. Plus friction would likely be nearly as bad as following the outside of the bars; maybe worse.

[jeo99]

Tobias,
Thanks for being my spell checker. I do believe there is a term for using a different spelling to emphasize a point. Anyway, try shifting gears on a loaded touring bike (300#s) with brake/shift levers going up hill and experience the expense of replacing those shifters if you can find a replacement in the middle of a South Dakota. You will not have that problem with barcons.

:beer:


I'll assume you mean they will "BREAK" and not brake under load? The question is, why? How does a brake/shifter lever know the bike is loaded? Why should it make a difference? :confused:

I'm not saying it won't, just want to learn why it makes a difference.

[93legendti]

I had a 9 speed Ultegra STI lever go out on me on the last climb of a Tuscany trip. Shimano replaced it within 1 week, but the last climb was a bear.
My current travel bike has 9 speed bar ends and I take an extra set with me for backup.

[Sheldon4209]

I have used bar cons and STI on my tandems. The bar cons are simple, cheaper, can use brake levers that don't require travel agents, will shift to smaller chain rings and the friction mode could be important on a tour. The STI is nice in a pace line, allows down shifting while stopping, don't require moving hands from hoods and I shift more with the STI.

I have not had a problem with the STI levers braking although the STI shifters with 15 K miles are being replaced this winter before something brakes. On loaded touring our weight is close to 400 pounds.

[RPS]

Tobias,
Thanks for being my spell checker. I do believe there is a term for using a different spelling to emphasize a point. Anyway, try shifting gears on a loaded touring bike (300#s) with brake/shift levers going up hill and experience the expense of replacing those shifters if you can find a replacement in the middle of a South Dakota. You will not have that problem with barcons.

:beer:
Many if not most modern tandems use brifters and failure due to extra combined weight and power of two riders doesn’t seem to be a major issue. I’ve never had a problem with my Co-Motion using Shimano Ultegra and my wife and I weigh about 300 pounds combined if we include the bike and gear -- granted we don’t ride as far as you. I have seen much larger couples weighing over 400 pounds riding brifters which makes me think that if failure due to weight was a normal occurrence they would have replaced them with bar-ends or DTs.

Being concerned with the seclusion of South Dakota I do get quite well. I haven’t toured across that country on bike but have driven it many times and I’m always concerned about possible vehicular breakdowns. Once we had an RV’s house battery fail which kept the heater from working and it took some effort and driving out of our way to get it replaced. Finding a deep cycle battery the right size is easy where I live but in South Dakota we had to go to a major city. I'd expect high-end bike parts are also hard to find there.

[palincss]

Being concerned with the seclusion of South Dakota I do get quite well. I haven’t toured across that country on bike but have driven it many times and I’m always concerned about possible vehicular breakdowns. Once we had an RV’s house battery fail which kept the heater from working and it took some effort and driving out of our way to get it replaced. Finding a deep cycle battery the right size is easy where I live but in South Dakota we had to go to a major city. I'd expect high-end bike parts are also hard to find there.

I have done a bike tour there, mostly in Custer State Park. The only bike shops in the entire area were in Rapid City. That's some lonely countryside. You can go for many miles and not see anything but wild animals and empty landscape. If you let yourself dwell on it, it can be quite frightening.

The locals compensate for it by being very helpful, we found. If you stop by the side of the road (in my case, I was waiting for my tour companions, who'd stopped at a store a few miles back) motorists will stop to ask if you're OK and offer help. Trouble is, unless you're on a main road it may be a long, long time before anyone shows up.

[Tobias]

Tobias,
Thanks for being my spell checker. I do believe there is a term for using a different spelling to emphasize a point. Anyway, try shifting gears on a loaded touring bike (300#s) with brake/shift levers going up hill and experience the expense of replacing those shifters if you can find a replacement in the middle of a South Dakota. You will not have that problem with barcons.

:beer:
I wasn’t trying to correct your language as much as making sure you didn’t actually mean “brake” as in trying to stop the bike under load. One of the disadvantages I don’t like to integrated brake/shifters is that for riders with small hands it’s easy to shift while trying to brake. With bar cons or down tubes that isn’t an issue at all.

South Dakota is indeed remote but beautiful in its own way. Cool place to visit in summer … not so much in winter. ;)

[palincss]

South Dakota is indeed remote but beautiful in its own way. Cool place to visit in summer … not so much in winter. ;)

We went in September. 40 degrees in the morning, mid 80s during the day. Three weeks later, the state was under 4 feet of snow and they had declared a state-wide emergency.

[Tobias]

I'd guess bar end shifters don't help riding in 4 feet of snow, do they?

I like durable equipment but don't worry much about things like shifters. The odds of having a problem is very small .... maybe in the order of being gored by a buffalo. :rolleyes: Seriously, I'd worry more about wild life in South Dakota than bike reliability.

[sg8357]

Shimano bar-cons in friction mode are 2nd class citizens compared to Suntour power ratchets or Simplex retrofrictions.

Friction is nice on touring bikes or bikes that get boxed up, less fiddly adjustments, I like to remove the chain and rear derailer when boxing the bike,
Like the other posters said you can use anything for a front derailer,
Campy triple FDs are good at mid range ring combos 48/36/24 for example.

[palincss]

Campy triple FDs are good at mid range ring combos 48/36/24 for example.

"Good" doesn't begin to describe it. I have a Campagnolo Racing T on my Velo Orange Randonneur (24/36/46) and it is by far the best shifting front derailleur I've ever used. It's just marvelous.

And who would have thought it? Campagnolo has never shown the slightest bit of interest in gearing like that, and it's about as far as you can get from racing, which is what Campagnolo is, and always has been, about.