DT Shifters for Campy 10?

[Dr. Doofus]

Anybody know where I can get downtube shifters for Campy 10? I thought about putting some on the Merckx for some retro flair, but I don't know what levers I'd use, and the fork is threadless anyway so maybe the retro thing wouldn't really fly....

Thoughts?

[saab2000]

As far as I am aware Campagnolo does not make downtube shifters anymore. About 10 years ago I got the last 4 sets of Record friction I could find. They since made DT indexed, but stopped with 9 speed I think.

I believe that they only make Ergo shifters and the bar-end type.

I am also a bit of a retro guy and am saddened by this. :(

[jerk]

hey-
with a little bit of modification the nine speed down-tube shifter will accept the rachet wheel from the ten speed bar-con. (yes, the jerk has tried.) as you all know, the jerk also got ten speed guts to fit in 9 speed point levers...so anything is possible even for someone as mechanically inept as the jerk.

[CarbonTi]

I was looking over Campy's spare parts exploded diagram of the bar end shifter and it looks like it can be modified for DT bosses. It looks like you might need a lever stop plate (the thing that fits over the square part of the DT lever mounting bosses), more to hold the guts in than as a travel stop for the lever.

Branford also offers a mounting kit to convert this but their web page doesn't tell you what parts are included.

If anyone has tried the Campy 10 tri-to-DT lever kit or done it from scratch I'd be interested in knowing how it went. Thanks.

[dnovo]

Okay, I know I'm going to get wacked for raising this, but what's the point of trying to recreate DT shifters? I understand that my preference for the STI/Ergo style is simply that, a preference, but it is tough to argue that STI/Ergo or bar ends are so much better placed for shifiting than DT shifters, which require you to remove your hands from the bars (the control points of the bike) and reach down to shift. And, while I understand that shifting and braking all at once is supposed to be the downfall of STI/Ergo, it really is no big deal -- and even then the bar ends will allow some of that, of course then how does one shift with the same hand you are breaking with, so the STIs would let you . . .

Oh, never mind, Mongo just pawn in Great Game of Life. (Hey, my first movie quote of the new forum!) Dave N.

[Dr. Doofus]

Dave --

My answer is...well...at a young 37 I'm turning into a nostalgic old fart.

There is a functional advantage to STI/Ergo -- but, my first season on STI was also my first season as an ex-racer. I just miss the look of them....

[Ahneida Ride]

DT Shifters are Kool.

Problem is ..... reaching them on a 64 cm frame !!!!

[CarbonTi]

Why recreate DT shifters? For some bikes I think the aesthetics are better. The DT levers help certain bikes look simpler and less high tech and I like the irony of this look concealing 10 speed indexing.

Retro is picking up steam again, if it ever left at all. The Gios SR, Merckx MX, Cinelli SC...bikes that won't stay dead. And bikes like those had offspring like Peg Luigino. My Luigino is setup as a modern classic (no carbon, no black anodized parts) but other bikes might go better with DT.

[dnovo]

I don't knock 'retro' but my own Luigino, my new Gios Super Record 78, and my other new 'retro' rides all use STI/ERGO. The vintage stuff, and I collect those avidly, is DT with one or two Campy bar end examples as well (and a SA three speed on a q949 Claud Butler Path Racer.) Dave N.

[dbrk]

I'm not sure why you'd go to all the trouble to index in 10 with dt shifters because there is still plenty of 9 out there and there was nothing gained by adding that extra cog...but I surely get why people want to use dt shifters, indexing or not. I like the look, the hands off the bars is not a big deal unless you are racing and need the speed/edge, and they make you a better rider because you have to think about reaching, shifting, and riding your bike. I dunno, I just love dt shifters, always have. I put them on my new custom CSi and would never get a lugged steel bike without dt shifter bosses---cause it ruins the look of the lug, imho. My favorites used to be the Simplex (later Mavic) retrofrictions with the CRec retrofrictions a close second, but then Grant had the "Silver" brand made by DiaCompe and those ROCK, they are so, so smooth and you can still get some (and there won't be any more when they are gone).

There's nothing retro about dt shifters, it's just that people mostly don't use them anymore and Campagnolo thinks they don't have to sell them. I have stocks of 9 speed stuff, just to have the option.

Okay, so it is retro. I don't care. I like'em and they look about a MILLION times better than any STI/Ergos EVER looked...and I like that stuff just fine too.

dbrk