Road Cycling - Gear shifters

Hi all,
I'm very new to road biking and have recently purchased a Trek XO1 with a combination of Dura Ace and Ultegra components, which is far too fancy for a first timer but i still love it (the below image is just a random one of the internet by the way and not actually my bike).
There is one strange thing (well i think it's strange), the gear shifters/levers are on the bottom of the handlebars (red circles), and i would really like and expect them to be on the top (where the blue circles are). I was just wondering if i have to but a new set of handlebars to do this or do i buy something to fit to the existing handlebars or what? Haven't really got a clue about this and if anyone has any suggestions it would really be appreciated. I'm assuming this isn't normal on a road bike and i find it a little more hassle than the standard shifters i have seen.
Thanks again for any replies.

What you have isn't really what you're showing. Actually what you're showing is sort of what you want if I am to understand you correctly. The picture shows STI shifters. These are combined brake and shift levers. What you have are bar-con shifters and normal brake levers. The gear shifting on Shimano road STI shifters are actually part of the brake levers. They can be activated from the hoods (the area of the blue circles) as well as the drops (lower bends). There is one Shimano group (Sora) that has shifters with thumbshifters on the hoods but the problem with those is that you can really only shift from the hoods. I don't know of anyone with fingers long enough to shift Sora from the drops. Shifters mounted at the end of the drops (orange circles) like you have are called bar-con shifters. If you want STI shifters, you don't need to replace your handlebars. You will need to however replace your brake levers with STI unit, remove the bar-cons and reroute your shift cables up to the STI shifters. Of course you will have to rewrap your handlebars as well. Before you make a decision, I would first try and ride a bike equipped with STI to see if that's really what you want.

That's a high dollar upgrade. An Ultegra shifter set is likely to cost you $150.00 to maybe $250.00 depending on where you buy them and what kind of deal you can negotiate. Dura-Ace, which is quite a bit nicer, will cost around 50% more.

Thanks alot Khuon, i learned about 10 new terms just reading your reply!
Thanks alot


What you have isn't really what you're showing. Actually what you're showing is sort of what you want if I am to understand you correctly. The picture shows STI shifters. These are combined brake and shift levers. What you have are bar-con shifters and normal brake levers. The gear shifting on Shimano road STI shifters are actually part of the brake levers. They can be activated from the hoods (the area of the blue circles) as well as the drops (lower bends). There is one Shimano group (Sora) that has shifters with thumbshifters on the hoods but the problem with those is that you can really only shift from the hoods. I don't know of anyone with fingers long enough to shift Sora from the drops. Shifters mounted at the end of the drops (orange circles) like you have are called bar-con shifters. If you want STI shifters, you don't need to replace your handlebars. You will need to however replace your brake levers with STI unit, remove the bar-cons and reroute your shift cables up to the STI shifters. Of course you will have to rewrap your handlebars as well. Before you make a decision, I would first try and ride a bike equipped with STI to see if that's really what you want.

I believe the XO1 is a cyclocross bike and therefore they are spec'd with bar end shifters, perhaps?..... which is understandable. I wouldn't want to drag my STI levers through mud...
Anyway, they are easily convertable to STI but they're not cheap. You would want an Ultegra at the very least as your bike is equipped with at least that level of componentry.

I believe the XO1 is a cyclocross bike and therefore they are spec'd with bar end shifters, perhaps?..... which is understandable. I wouldn't want to drag my STI levers through mud...
Anyway, they are easily convertable to STI but they're not cheap. You would want an Ultegra at the very least as your bike is equipped with at least that level of componentry.

Yeah, the Trek X01 is a cyclocross bike.