Bicycle Mechanics - Best Reasonable Way to Convert From Brifters to Trekking Bars?

My wife recently bought a used Novara Randonee. She had been riding a hybrid, so is not used to the drop bar ergonomics. I think she will want me to convert the bars to an upright position (she is already hinting).

I already have a set of Nashbar trekking bars, but would need to replace her brifters with some type of flat bar shifters/brake levers. Her Randonee has Shimano RSX components. Based on date code on derailleur, I believe it is 1996 vintage (7 speed). I kind of like the Deore DX rapid fire brake lever/shifter combos on my Trek 950.

I hate to remove the brifters, but thats where I am headed. I am not opposed to used pieces/parts, as the bike is 12 years old anyway.

And I want to keep the indexing in place on the RSX derailleurs.

What's the question? It sounds like you've got the problem sorted to me.

Though these are just brakes, not brifters, I don't see why you couldn't do something similar with brifters:

http://www.smithyorkies.com/bikey/robroy/bars.jpg

shifting would require push down or pull up in some manner which could be a bit clumsy, but certainly possible.

Heyjaffy,that's a neat setup.

Yeah, I've seen brifters mounted that way on a moustache as well. I'd try it first, before I bought more shifters. If you do get rid of the brifters, I'd happily buy them as replacements for my RSX's, when they die!

If the question is do rapid fire shifters work with road derailleurs, I think the answer is yes for the rear, and no for the front, so the front derailleur may need to be replaced as well.

Another option would be to use SRAM GripShift -you can get shifters (though I realize not everyone likes GripShift) very cheaply on Ebay (got mine for my trekking bars for around $18 including shipping). The grip shifts are usually not just 3 positions but have many indexed clicks, so you can still use them with the road front der.

Of course you'd still need to get brake levers, but if you have a spare pair around you can use those, or again, you could buy some off ebay or an online store pretty cheaply. If you are running canti brakes, you'd need the old style short pull levers (I also got mine for $10 for the pair from an LBS). I think Tektro makes dual long/short pull levers.....

Though these are just brakes, not brifters, I don't see why you couldn't do something similar with brifters:

http://www.smithyorkies.com/bikey/robroy/bars.jpg

shifting would require push down or pull up in some manner which could be a bit clumsy, but certainly possible.

For the Shimano 105 or Tiagra Brifters ... you push in the same direction (inboard or down in your setup) on both the large (brake) lever and the smaller lever ... just not at the same time. So these models would be do-able.

My SORAs on my old road bike have a thumb switch on the inboard side (down in your setup). You definitely wouldn't want this for your setup.

Give her a chance to see if she likes the drops. My wife moved from a hybrid to a road bike earlier this year and, after a couple of weeks of getting used to the new riding position, she spends most of her time riding in the drops.

I have been pushing to give it time, as I see this modification as a major step downward technology/component wise. I think part of the problem is that she has never really ridden a road bike with drops. I hate to have to change out the front DR if I go that direction.

thanks!

bill

Any 7-speed Shimano compatible shifter will work the rear derailer, the front you can just go with friction or "micro"-shift(not the manufacturer by the same name), which is a twist grip shifter or thumb shifter that isn't indexed but has small increments that allow for fine shifting adjustments.