Modern trigger shifter with a 1988 105 rear der.
 

Greeetings!!!

I bought a vintage Cilo road bike for my wife and want to convert it into something she will use. She is afraid of the downtube shifters that currently work great on the bike. Bar end shifters are also not to her liking. What she does like is Grip/Throttle shifters. I will not use those. I am thinking of making the bike into a 1x7 (or 6 or 8) and am wondering if I swap out the drops for a flat bar, can I use a modern trigger shifter for the old rear der? Thanks in advance for your help.

Ryan in DC

Yes, as long as it's Shimano, it will be sure to work. If it is a brake/shifter combo, make sure the brake pull corresponds to the kind of brake you have. I assume you have caliper, so you want something that is not linear pull. Alternatively, these work great, and you can keep the drop bars/levers:

http://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...22-2-23-8.html

My son's current hybrid uses SRAM gripshift MRX 6spd with an old 1989-90 Exage Country drivetrain (Uniglide!). Shifts great. I've also put on some inexpensive Shimano TX30 thumb shifters on a 7spd SunRace HG compatible Freewheel conversion with old 600EX RD and that works too.