Touring - Shifters: What do you want on your touring bike?

I have a vintage bike with friction down-tube shifters and a modern bike with Shimano STI integrated "brifters".

Most new touring bikes feature bar-end shifters.

Is this the preferred location and type of shifter for loaded touring?

Michael

One for the minority................ STI:D


Edit:

Hey!!! Wait just a gal darn minute.. You trying to tell me I'm not in the minority? What is the world coming to ;)

STI with a downtube friction shifter for the rear derailleur as a backup

Friction stem shifters... uh on the stem :) with hacked bullhorns

I'm a commuter, but I have a tour bike with down tube shifters and a folding bike with drop bars and bar end shifters, and both are fine, but the bar ends are just a tad easier to reach. Someone pointed out in another thread that both of these are simpler with fewer parts and thus perhaps more reliable on a long ride than brifters.

Just finished installing stem mounted friction shifters on my ride. Vintage NOS Shimano fingertip shifters. I had them on the touring bike I had 25 yrs. ago. Loved them then, still do now.
They work every bit as good as I remember.
I had an interesting time mounting them, they were never designed to go on a1-1/8 stem.

I prefer just your plain ol' ordinary thumb shifters. Those things never break!

I prefer just your plain ol' ordinary thumb shifters. Those things never break!

Agreed. I have bar-end shifters mounted on Paul's thumbies which makes a new set of thumbshifters.

I have two touring bikes: a recent model with brifters; and a 1985 Miyata 1000 with down tube shifters. I ride both. As much as I still like my vintage bike, shifting gears is much more awkward.

Like on a MTB? I have never seen these before. How come nobody seems to use them except on MTB? What is the drawback? I was planning on adding in-line brakes on the flat whenever I decide between a Cross Check and a Long Haul Trucker. Thumbies could work with the second set of brakes . . . hmmm

Shimano combined 8 speed shifters and "V" brakes on flat bars, pics on our page.
Everything we need close together and reliable.

Bar-ends on Paul Thumbies so I voted thumb shifters, except I use drop bars.

I don't like STI because I get lazy about moving my hands, so my wrists get sore, and once they're sore it's hard to work the soreness out. I haven't tried bar end shifters in years, though I suspect I'd like them pretty well, but didn't vote for them because I haven't tried them-- I'll probably get one of those J-tek shifters one of these days.

Anyway, I voted "other" because I like drop bars with the shifter higher up, which is hard to do. I have my touring bike set up with a Nexus 8-sp hub, so the twist shifter is on a flat bar; I have bar ends to give me the drops, and the brake levers on there. It's not attractive enough to be an ideal solution, but I can ride 140+ miles without wrist pain, so there must be something good about it.

Down tube shifters are too inconvenient. I like my STI.. I could not ride any other way.. Tourer friends say you'll have issues with STI's endurance issues.. Nah.. I'll take the risk. If I am going on a really big tour. I'll maintain or replace them in preparation for the tour. Does not mean I have to replace my touring bike's shifters with high end models.

STI. Luxury, once tasted, becomes necessity.

MTB bar top indexed thumbies would be my second choice.

STI. Luxury, once tasted, becomes necessity.

So true, but I love the friction mode of my bar ends. It allows me so much flexibility in trimming the derailuers, especially the front. My first road bike had stem shifters, but when I started racing it was down tube friction. Then STI was introduced for down tubes. It was nice, but needed constant adjustment and the front derailuer rubbed occasionally because you couldn't fine tune it. Then Brifters came and my newest set are heaven. I might choose them over my bar ends if they allowed me a large handle bar bag and the adjustability and simplicity of barends and friction.

STI is more popular than expected!

So true, but I love the friction mode of my bar ends. It allows me so much flexibility in trimming the derailuers, especially the front. My first road bike had stem shifters, but when I started racing it was down tube friction. Then STI was introduced for down tubes. It was nice, but needed constant adjustment and the front derailuer rubbed occasionally because you couldn't fine tune it. Then Brifters came and my newest set are heaven. I might choose them over my bar ends if they allowed me a large handle bar bag and the adjustability and simplicity of barends and friction.

You can do this with STI shifters as well. but not the back.

Just rebuilt my tourer. Replaced friction DT shifters with campy brifters. Talked myself into this decision out of concern for safety advantage of always keeping my hands at the controls (brakes).

Used campy to save some money. Veloce ultrashift was $136 shipped from Ribble in the UK (thanks to DaveSSS for the tip). Best I could do in Shimano was ~350 for 105.

You can use the newest 10spd campy ergo shifters with an XT 9 spd derailer, 11/34 cassette, mtn triple 22,34,44 crank and a #2 Jtek Eng. shift adaptor. Good drivetrain for touring.

Shifts perfectly, except you have an unused shifter position at the end of range on r shifter.

I'm using a rapid rise derailer too, mostly to keep from losing my mind when I switch bikes (others have rapid rise). Rapid rise gives more intuitive shifting - I recommend it if you haven't made this change yet.

I may carry some silver shifters (dt friction) as an emergency spare, since they weigh only 80g.

Considering that shimano barcons or indexed dt shifters now cost $100, and tektro brake levers are another $25, $170 for campy ergo brifters and a jtek adaptor seems quite reasonable.