Kimmo

As I sadly discovered from this post, the ShiftMate is no more

But it's such a simple bit of kit, anyone sufficiently keen could knock one up themselves in an hour or two. The only critical factor is the ratio of the pulley diameters.

So why don't we record the dimensions of each variety for posterity...?

I have a #3 , which I tried to measure a while back, but found I couldn't take a good measurement because my verniers didn't fit all the way down the groove, and ended up with a fudge factor of like 5%...

Thinking about it now, I could grind down the calipers, or maybe get a bit of stiff card or plastic and trim a slot to be a snug fit, and measure that. I'll get around to it soon. So that's the #3 ...

Anyone with any of the others want to help out?

Mark Kelly 

There's really no need, the ratio of diameters will be equal to the ratio of cable pulls, which is already established: Rear Shifting | CTC

Kimmo

Doh - nothing to see here

CliffordK

OUCH!!!
They seemed like a cool device.
I had been close to snagging one. I am actually having troubles with my FD adjustment, and thought increasing the range of motion slightly would help. I was actually considering making my own spool, in part because the actual ratios in the Shiftmate were never listed.

I agree that one could probably reverse engineer the tech/sizes with published data, but empirical data always helps.

One could probably measure the two circles using a string, thread, or even marking a piece of derailleur cable, then measuring.

Mark Kelly 

Actually thinking about it for a minute, I realised I was wrong: the ratio will be

Cable pull 1 / Cable pull 2 = (diameter of pulley 1 + diameter of wire) / (diameter of pulley 2 + diameter of wire)

because the cable pulls from its centre (assuming twisted strand cable).

Kimmo

Well, there's a handy tip for anyone attempting a homebrew... the thread title should stand out in search results.

jyl

I ordered a Shiftmate. When it gets here I will try to measure it. Post if you figure out a good method.

md11mx

Anybody have the inventor's name for a goggle patent search????
Cheers,
David in Alaska

CliffordK

How long ago did the Shiftmate hit the market? 20 years?
There is also the ProblemSolvers TravelAgent which is similar (with a 2:1 ratio, I think).

Fred Smedley

Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Cable Travel Adapter Cribsheet

HillRider

The Shiftmate's versatility came from being able to reverse the pulley to get two different ratios from each one. For example, I used a #3 pulley to allow a Campy 10-speed brifter to shift a Shimano 10-speed cassette using a Shimano rear derailleur. I now use the same #3 pulley turned upside down to shift a Campy 10-speed cassette and Campy rear derailleur with a Shimano 10-speed shifter.

AFAIK, Travel Agents are one orientation only. For example you can use them to allow road brake levers to operate V-brakes but not the other way around.

2_i 

For completeness there is also the da Vinci solution there for some der/shifter mixing.

Camilo

I found a stock of shiftmates at a UK seller: Search Results. They're kind of spendy, but the only source I could find.

An interesting FWIW: I bought a #1 to shift an 8 speed Shimano/Sram cassette with Campy indexed 8 speed downtube shifters and a Campy 8 speed RD.

Last night I installed the new SRAM 8 speed cassette, Campy 8 speed RD and campy Syncro 2 8 speed right/rear shifter just to see if it would work before putting on the rest of the group. I forgot to put the shiftmate on. The indexing worked perfectly on the stand without the shiftmate. It was clean and sharp both up and down the cassette. As clean and sharp as the Dura Ace indexed shifters and RD I took off.

I'm actually going to build up the bike and ride it to see if it works over the long term. But I guess I'm saying that like a lot of things on a bike, it's worth trying.

As another alternative, if you're going that way (Shimano cassette w/ Campy shifters and RD) Weels Manufacturing has a spacer kit to convert a Shimano/Sram 8 speed cassette to Campy spacing. That was more expensive than the UK shiftmate source, but if I hadn't found a shiftmate, I probably would have gone that way. I don't know if they make similar conversion spacer kits for 9 and 10 speed.

Of course the Shiftmate lineup has a lot more options than the fairly simple thing I was trying to accomplish, but again, it might be worth trying without it.

A few weeks ago, I sent an email to Problem Solvers suggesting they contact JTek (the guy's still answering emails) and take on that product. It would be a perfect addition to their product mix. I'm also wondering why (a) it's so hard to find a simple conversion spacer kit and (b) why 7 spacers would cost $60. It seems that it should be easy and cheap to find the correct width spacers to convert cassettes. I'm surprised Problem Solvers doesn't do that.

CliffordK

Ahhh,
So Jtek is a UK company.
And the website now links to the SJSCycles website.

I wonder if they're just changing the distribution rather than completely getting rid of the product line.

I think I'll try to contact them and see what is up.

fietsbob

Maybe you can buy the CNC Milling machines and the control Programs . if they want to get out of the manufacturing ..

CliffordK

It is apparently a UK company. While there is a lot of international shipping, I think I would be better off sourcing equipment locally unless one could get an excellent deal on it (or there was something very custom). Not all companies do their own machining. For example SWAG Offroad sells Harbor Freight Compatible tubing roller dies, but they outsource all the production locally. Say, one sells a half dozen items a day, it hardly pays to have multi-thousand dollar equipment sitting around.

I do have a mill and lathe, but haven't gone CNC yet. The product design looks fairly straightforward, and could probably be done by hand depending on the volume, but with sufficient volume automation would be nice. The design would be easy once one figures out the ratios, which were posted earlier in this thread.

I went ahead and sent a note to JTek, we'll see if I get a reply back.

fietsbob

You got their factory Physical address? or just Noting a seller like SJS Cycles who bought some and has a remaining Inventory?

SRAM Investors Bought The German Sachs Production Machinery And shipped the whole thing to Taipei.

HillRider

Well, if Jtek was acquired by a UK company it's nice to know their products will still be made. I don't care who makes them it as long as someone does.

CliffordK

When you go their the website:
Jtek Engineering | Quality cycling components

It has changed a lot in the last few weeks.

There is a note on the website:
Jtek products are available here

Which takes one directly to SJSCycles.

So, SJSCycles has either bought out the remaining inventory, is reselling new product as the primary vendor, or is manufacturing the product (which might be easy if JTek had outsourced production).

Oh, actually, the website does say:
So, it sounds like they may in fact be planning to continue production.

Which is why the prices seem to have jumped from $39.99 to £39.99

fietsbob

So the $39 barely gets you £27,1 today. Its the Euro that is getting Cheaper .

https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/...rom=USD&To=GBP

CliffordK

I will say, I'm a bit late to the indexed shifting (other than MTBs). I may continue to use friction shift levers on some bikes, although I am running out of cable pull with my old Campy levers.

I have mostly built a bike with Campy 9s levers --> Shimano Cassette, and chose to go with New Campy shifters + Old Campy RD which should give me about the right overall pull.

I would like to increase the cable pull on my FD on the Litespeed, and a Shiftmate would be easy to install to replace the top to bottom pull cable reversing pulley that is already on the bike, but I'm not quite sure which one I need.

I think if the product had been priced at $10 to $15, I would have already bought a couple for various projects. At over $50, I find myself looking for other solutions.

CliffordK

I'm not quite sure...

On the international exchange, the pounds to dollars is about 1.5 to 1.
However, I'm wondering if the actual purchasing power is closer to 1 to 1.

So, say if a dozen eggs costs $2 in the USA, it might cost £2 in the UK.

In the case of JTek, they may have added an extra layer of production and distribution when moving to the UK.

Camilo

No, Jtek is/was a company in (Hugo?) Minnesota. That link to the UK company (which is the one where I found my shift mate) is new. It was just a dead link a couple of weeks ago. I sure hope that the UK company is somehow taking over.

I emailed with Jtek a month or so ago (I had an email address from a correspondence a year or so ago) hoping they might have some old stock on hand .... at the time the web link was totally dead. The guy answered me and said they were out of the business and didn't have any stock. He didn't suggest SJS cycles, I found that on my own.

Last month I paid 31.66 pounds + 8 pounds shipping = 39.66 pounds, which came out to be about $61.00 on my credit card bill.

Interesting developments, hopefully for the good!

fietsbob

Dont forget UK Domestic VAT it was 20% at last note .. though that is scrubbed off on Exports .


one of my Fellow passenger cyclists on the Newcastle to Norway Ferry got his paperwork stamped at the ferry slip..
Then You mail it to The British Taxing authorities.. for a Rebate check...


If he was to return, with the Bike, I doubt he re declared the Value.

CliffordK

Here is the note from SJSCycles: