hamiltonian

I bought a Bridgestone 600 today, and now I have to decide what I want to do with it. I have lots of other bikes, but no proper road bike. I told the guy I bought it from that I might replace the drivetrain with 105, since I don't like DT friction shifters. He said that I could get replacement DT indexed shifters. Is this true? I'd likely prefer a (Rivendell) barcon conversion, which I've already read about somewhere.

Basically I'd like to know my options. If I can be happy with the bike without needing to replace too much, that would be nice.

Homebrew01

Yes, you can get indexed down tube shifters, but you need a compatible cassette and rear derailleur as well.

HillRider

Indexed downtube shifters are/were available in every "speed" from 6 through 10. Some varieties are obsolete and getting hard to find but can be had. How many cogs does your currrent freewheel or cassette have?

RubberLegs

I have Shimano indexed 7 on my 87 Bridgestone 550, they work great. (FD is NOT indexed)

hamiltonian

It's a 12-speed—six cogs. Suntour Cyclone derailers.

Here's the catalog entry on it.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/bridgest...stone-600.html

hamiltonian

That's encouraging. What all needed changing?

zacster

Here is what I did with a Campy NR 6 speed setup with downtube shifters, on 3 bikes now. I've put a 10 speed wheel with cassette on, requiring a slight spread of the frame, and a 10 speed chain, but kept the shifters and derailleurs. All modern 10 speed road cassettes have ramps on the cogs, and also the cogs are spaced very close together. This makes shifting very smooth, and does not require the indexing. A light touch is all that is needed to shift. Since the cogs are close together I find that I'm not between gears very often. The shifts are also very quiet, there's no click like you hear on current bikes, nor is there a clunk of the chain. It all works very well and I ride one of the 2 bikes I setup that were mine regularly. The other bike is too big, and the third wasn't mine.

You can try this and see if it works for you, if not the wheels/cassette/chain could be used for the 105 upgrade.

rekmeyata

Will you be doing loaded touring? If so bar ends allow for better bike control when loaded then DT shifters.

hamiltonian

That's an interesting solution, especially since it gives me the option of the 105. (I admit that I always wanted a bike with 105.) I guess that anything I do that requires a modern cassette will mean spreading the frame at the rear dropouts. That makes me nervous, but I guess it's been done often enough with good results.

hamiltonian

No, this bike is short in the chainstay, and I fear heel-strike on panniers—plus the gearing is awful for a load. I think that bar ends are a good option, though.

fietsbob

which part, the location or the fact it is not indexed?

You got a generous budget for this?
you could relocate the downtube levers to the handlebars
at a pretty low cost.

indexing is, significantly, more parts to buy..

hamiltonian

I'm a bachelor with a hobby—I can afford to get as stupid as I want, I guess. (For example, this is bike number eight.) I'd still like to know the minimum changes I'd need to do to make me happy with this bike. It's nice to make informed decisions.

So if I followed zacster's advice on the new wheelset/cassette to get a short throw between gears, and then put friction shifters on the bars, that could maybe work well enough. What exactly do you mean by relocating the DT shifters to the handlebars, though? What shifters exactly?

Sixty Fiver

The derailleurs do not get much better... they are valuable enough that you may find someone willing to trade these for indexed dt shifters and a more compatible derailleur although some have had luck getting the Cyclone to index with a Shimano freewheel.

The wheelset on the bike is very nice, the Gyromaster hubs are very well made and the Araya 20A rims are also of very good quality.

Sixty Fiver

For bar ends and a new wheel... an 8 speed cassette with Shimano 8 speed indexed bar ends is a sweet set up that will not break the bank.

hamiltonian

You've made me sort of not want to mess with something classic and good. That's okay. Maybe in the end I'll choose not to.

This bike is in pretty good shape. The worst I found in my inspection is about a mil of play in the rear hub. Well, I need a Brooks Flyer and new bar tape. Aside from that, perhaps I should just ride it a while before I make any big decisions.

That's an option as good as any other, really. Maybe I'm not too old to get used to friction shifters.

I'm still open to more suggestions, though.

hamiltonian

What Shimano model stuff exactly, and how hard is it to find? Can I use the Suntour derailers with it? This is the kind of thing I was hoping for when I posted the thread, and all details are appreciated.

On the one hand, I'd like to retain the original character of the bike and not waste anything on it that's good, but on the other hand, I'd like it to run as smoothly and crisply as possible, because I like the frame and I want to put lots of miles on it.

bradtx

hamiltonian, Repair and replace the wear itims and ride it for awhile as is to sort the fit. DT shifters are a bit of a right of passage and you may even like them in the end. A friction shifted 6S rear isn't too difficult to work with and non indexed bar end shifters are easier to access.

Brad

RubberLegs

Oops, just checked my Bridgestone, it is a set of Suntour 3000 Alphas. I know that they made a Cyclone version of the Alpha (thus it was indexed) but don't know if the indexing works on the older one. If you can find someone locally who has the Suntour Alpha DT shifters and just swap one over to try it on your rig, that would answer the question of if it works or not. Might have to change out the freewheel too. It does get complicated. As my Bridgestone came complete, working sweetly, I never had to mess with it.

zacster

When I've done my conversions, I've put Ultegra cassettes on Velomax/Easton wheels, and the higher end Easton wheels at that. It took my old steel, custom built for me, Davidson from 1981, and turned it into a modern feel bike. The much lighter weight somewhat aero wheels really made a huge difference. The icing on the cake was the shifting. I wasn't out to make a Frankenbike, it just turned out that way when I found out how nice the shifting was. And one other thing, and I can't say how this came about, is that the bike rides dead silent. I've never been on such a quiet bike. There is no chain noise, no freehub noise when coasting, no crank noise. The only thing that makes a little noise are my shoes. My very expensive carbon fiber bike isn't nearly as quiet.

dsbrantjr

Moving your shifters to the bars:

Something like these: https://www.rivbike.com/product-p/sh15.htm
Or these:https://www.rivbike.com/product-p/sh8.htm
Or https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...22-2-23-8.html
Retroshift is interesting but will entail replaceing your brake levers: https://retroshift.com/

HillRider

The cheapest way to get indexing I can think of is to replace the 6-speed freewheel with a 7-speed Shimano freewheel, find used or NOS Shimano 7-speed dt indexed shifters and any Shimano rear derailleur (except pre-9-speed Dura Ace or rhe newest Dyna Sys 10-speed MTB models). That combination will index perfectly.

The Retroshifts work very well. I have them on a Surly Cross Check operating an 8-speed Shimano cassette and triple crank. However, they aren't a real cheap conversion and you will still need to supply compatible shifters, a cassette/freewheel and a rear derailleur.

zacster

A few pix of my setup w/ downtube shifters.

fietsbob

same levers, on , Pauls Thumbies, or the bar end mounting 'pod',
or the retroshift, modified brake lever,
or Kelley Take Off, that mounts the DT lever just inside of the brake lever. accessible from there.

all can be made to work without the whole index synchronization
of same Closed Group of parts.

Going with the SunTour power ratchet bar end
has worked fine 30 years, IMHO. my touring drop bar bike &
mustache bar fitted bike..

but the index stuff is where the OEM sales went,
& customers had to follow.

keeps the engineers employed..

rekmeyata

They do make panniers racks that set further back and higher up, along with using smaller and different designed bags, even tilting the bags to avoid the heel, and shorter crankarm length. But start with the rack first, then panniers, then crankarm if necessary as a last resort. Banjo Brother bags are designed with a slight cut to angle the bottom of the front of the bag rearward so the heel won't strike the bag instead of just cut straight down, I'm sure there are others that do that as well. And most bags allow for the bags to slide on a rack further back.

fietsbob

True, Tubus Logo, [and a Bontrager aluminum one] + a pannier with adjustable upper hooks

Ortlieb an example, the hooks in slots, moved fwd, so bag moves back.