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Old 10-18-12, 03:51 PM
  #25  
Rowan
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Bar-end or downtube shifters still need brake levers to go on the bike. So all that has to be incorporated into the costings.

Bike shop guys won't give good advice on mixing and matching MTB and road parts because of warranty issues.

There are plenty of guys and girls on here who ride with mixed and matched MTB and road parts. All the distance on my old Fuji Touring was with TB rear cassette, Deore derailleur and Tiagra shifters (circa 2000 -- which I mention because I think they were of better build quality than successive models).

I have two or three pairs of bar-end shifters are home, and only one pair has been used -- on a frankenbike emergency build for Machka after her bike was stolen, and she didn't like them).

I have used downtube shifters and quite frankly, I liked them. I don't know about bar-ends until I have used them.

The thing is, two of the bar-end pairs are Dura Ace varieties and they were picked up off eBay for pretty well brand new. The thing is that 9sp stuff is getting rarer and rarer by the day off the LBS shelves, and you might have to hunt around for them in the electronic marketplace... look particularly on triathlete forums and such like as competitors upgrade from 9sp to 10sp.

That being said, you shouldn't have to pay anywhere near retail for them.

Last edited by Rowan; 10-18-12 at 10:04 PM.
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