Bicycle Mechanics - Bar End shifter cable routing with Ergon Grips?

Repost from Commuting Forum:

I test drove a Raleigh Sojourn touring bike at my LBS a few days ago. Nice bike, but not nice enough to make me buy it. However, it was the first time I've ridden a bike with bar end shifters, and I really liked them. Mostly because I could shift all the way across the cluster in one motion, but also because I could tweak the position of the front derailer in order to center it on the chain.

I'm running steel North Road bars (Wald 8095) on my bike, which will accommodate bar ends as best I can tell, so I've ordered a set. I've got Ergon grips, and I'm thinking I'll just run the shifter cable along the underside of the grips and across the brake clamp, and then zip tie the cable to the bars from that point on. But I'd be interested if anyone else has suggestions. For example, is there a way to route the cable inside the bars, drilling an exit hole somewhere near the sweep?

Man, that's a tricky one. On the Barcons, the housing exits very close to the shifter body. It's meant to be low profile as it runs along the flats of the drop bars--wrapped within the grip tape. One thought i have is the housing running into an abrupt kink as it hits the Ergon grip.

After that you've got another problem, unless you leave large loops of housing coming out of the shifter you'll most likely be constantly grabbing them while you've got your hands on your grips.

What sort of frame are you riding? You might be able to mount downtube shifters. They're similar but not as convenient.
Good luck

According to Harris Cyclery website, you cannot fit bar-end shifters onto your bars. Not the same diametre. Check here (http://harriscyclery.net/itemdetails.cfm?ID=411)

You can usually fit bar end gear levers into steel 'flat-type' bars but not into aluminium versions.

You can usually fit bar end gear levers into steel 'flat-type' bars but not into aluminium versions.

That's the case here - the inside diameter of the steel mountain bars is about the same as the inside diameter of aluminum road bars, despite the fact that the outside diameters are different. The shifters fit fine, but the earlier post is correct - the cable is really tight against the grip end cap. I might try to grind off a flat or groove on the grip to provide some clearance - I don't need too much.

Instead of grinding down the end cap, I ordered a set of Paul's Thumbies. I figure they will give me the same advantages that I mentioned in my OP, but without the hassle of cable routing around the grips.

The Paul Thumbies came in on Monday (Airbomb takes forever to ship), and I used the new setup (ergon grips, Thumbies and bar end shifters) yesterday. One word: Awesome!

The grips are very comfortable (which I knew already), but what really surprised me was the precision and ease of shifting. Up until now, I've been using low end rapid fire and grip shifters, and bar end shifters are much better.

Russ, can you post an image of your set up with the paul thumbies. I just got a LHT, and it's my first foray into the world of bar ends... on the way home from the shop, I kept knocking the shifters around with my knee when I got out of the saddle at a stop light or stop sign.

Russ, can you post an image of your set up with the paul thumbies. I just got a LHT, and it's my first foray into the world of bar ends... on the way home from the shop, I kept knocking the shifters around with my knee when I got out of the saddle at a stop light or stop sign.

Having had the bar-end of my bars make an impressive bruise on my thigh when I came off due to rail tracks, I did dread the thought of how it would have been with bar-end shifters installed.

Russ, can you post an image of your set up with the paul thumbies. I just got a LHT, and it's my first foray into the world of bar ends... on the way home from the shop, I kept knocking the shifters around with my knee when I got out of the saddle at a stop light or stop sign.

Sorry, no closeup, but you can see how they're mounted in these photos. They work great, with the possible exception that in some gears, the lever overlaps the grips slightly.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=437215&highlight=russ