Denali Road bike shifter swap options?

[gsus]

I just picked up a Denali road bike for cheap, to commute with out much worry. The bike fits all of my needs... except one- I greatly dislike grip shifters.

What alternatives do I have for shifter options for this bike? I want to keep the cost down to a minimum.

I'll likely be getting new drop bars, like the ones on my current road bike, since the current ones look rather funky and the drop is lower than I'm used to.

Please advise.

Thanks!

[Jeff Wills]

For a road bike, bar-end shifters are extremely reliable and relatively cheap. They'll run 50 to 100 dollars, depending on which you need. You'll also need new brake levers, plus cables for everything.

Considering the bike sold for $170 when new: http://www.walmart.com/ip/GMC-Denali...Large/12080282 , I think that you should ride this bike into the ground and then get another bike.

[xenologer]

brifters (integrated brake+shifter control) cost more than the bike itself, thus are out of the question
bar end shifters, around 70$ or so, so not worth it for this bike

there are only 2 shifter 'upgrades' that make sense for this situation:
A050 stem shifters:
http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-Handle.../dp/B001L5Y1GC
Thumb shifters:
http://www.amazon.com/Sunrace-Speed-.../dp/B0032FY15K

In either case; I def recommend different handlebars; you'll see why when you remove the old gripshifters -they sawed the bars in half under the stem to slide the shifters on
I sure wouldn't trust those bars....

[Kimmo]

they sawed the bars in half under the stem to slide the shifters on

Dude, what?!

I don't believe it.

[xenologer]

Dude, what?!

I don't believe it.

I thought the Quality of this bike was common knowledge...
it uses a drop handlebar, with grip shifters mounted onto the flat section near the stem
Since there is no way to slide a grip shifter past the curved drop sections; the bars are cut into 2 pieces at the stem, gripshifters slid on
then a sleeve is bolted over the cut to reassemble the bars
scary isnt it?

not my page, but this guy has a photo where you can see the gripshifters and stem area;
http://bigbruce.hubpages.com/hub/GMC...-Balanced-Look
note the silver aluminum sleeve/shim under the stem clamp

[Kimmo]

The distraction of having to reach down several inches to shift gears, compromises the rider's safety. Since Kent uses the Shimano Revo SIS L2/R7, ingeniously integrated

Pffff...

I love how more of the sleeve is hanging out the left side of the stem.

[dabac]

Dude, what?!

I don't believe it.

Oh, sure. I saw a bike like that, even posted a pic of it somewhere, in relation to one of the ever-occurring flat-to-drop threads.

I wouldn't be too concerned about the actual design concept. As long as bar and sleeve are manufactured and sold together, clamping cylindrical parts together is a perfectly doable engineering task.
Now, whether I'd trust such a low-end bike to have the financial margin to incorporate such a critical design with the appropriate quality, that's another question entirely...

[gsus]

Thanks for the input... not looking for anything fancy on this bike. I'll look into the Shimano A050 Shifters.

[IthaDan]

I thought the Quality of this bike was common knowledge...
it uses a drop handlebar, with grip shifters mounted onto the flat section near the stem
Since there is no way to slide a grip shifter past the curved drop sections; the bars are cut into 2 pieces at the stem, gripshifters slid on
then a sleeve is bolted over the cut to reassemble the bars
scary isnt it?

not my page, but this guy has a photo where you can see the gripshifters and stem area;
http://bigbruce.hubpages.com/hub/GMC...-Balanced-Look
note the silver aluminum sleeve/shim under the stem clamp

I always wondered how they got the gripshift to take the bend.

[bobotech]

I built a project frankenbike over the weekend. I found in my parts boxes an older stem shifter that mounted in between the locking nut and adjusting nut on a quill style stem, it wasn't one of the more common quill mount stem shifters.

This is what my shifter looked like:

If you don't mind friction shifting, it works just fine.

What I did was put it in between a spacer and the threadless stem then tightened down the locking bolt on the top of the threadless stem. The friction stem shifter fit just fine in there and tightened down just nicely.

If your Denali has a real threadless setup, this kludge could work even if its not the prettiest. If it were me, I would prefer the old school friction shifters over grip shifters any day.

[bobotech]

Here are couple of pictures of my setup. The frankenbike has a threadless adapter but the concept is the same.

2012-06-11 12.36.08.jpg2012-06-11 12.36.01.jpg2012-06-11 12.36.24.jpg

[fietsbob]

I just picked up a Denali road bike for cheap,

they were not so great when new ..
I'd say some low cost friction thumb shifters. falcon or whatever brand they are.
put them right in the place where you pull off the grip shifters,
in the top center of the bars ..

the lack of click shifting will make up for the ragged quality of the rest of the parts .

as you adjust to it with every gear change.

big benefit, if a junkie steals your bike , they will not get anything for it.
and you did not put out much.

[gsus]

So I just placed an order for a set of Shimano Sy20a Stem Mounted 7 Speed Shift Levers:

big benefit, if a junkie steals your bike , they will not get anything for it.
and you did not put out much.

This is precisely why I picked up this bike... I can be worry free in hoping that some dooper knows that this bike is not worth much!

[Jeff Wills]

So I just placed an order for a set of Shimano Sy20a Stem Mounted 7 Speed Shift Levers:

Those should work perfectly with that bike.

[dinzdale]

I'll add my voice to this conversation. My father-in-law just gave me his Denali for free. It's in pretty good condition, considering the quality of the beast. I really just have to replace the chain and the rear cogs to make it rideable.

I have an extra stem out in the garage along with some real drop bars (not sawed in half), so I'm just looking to get rid of the crappy gripshifts and I'll be ready to go.

Free bike, zero-cost stem, zero-cost drops, new chain. Any further opinions on the Sy20a shifters? Any reason why I shouldn't go with the A050?

This will most likely be a side-grade from my current commuter, an old Raleigh Grand-Prix. I'm used to thumb shifters, but indexed shifting sounds like a nice change of scenery.