Originally Posted by
Vonruden
This has become my favorite thread. Here is my first drop bar MTB project. So far I have a Brooks saddle, Shimano RX canty's, derailleurs and recently order Origin8 Gary Bars 2's and NOS Gen 1 Dura Ace bar end shifters. I'm worried that the bar ends wont be compatible?? More to come shortly.
Vonruden, you won't have any compatibility issue with those 1st gen. D.A. bar end shifters as long as you stay with the same cog specs for SIS. You could get more gearing in the back if you run them on friction as opposed to the indexed SIS setting. I just went through all this with an '86 "Deerhead" XT (6 speed) rear derailleur and a set of 8 speed brifters. I wanted to run the 13-32 6 speed freewheel that came with the "Deerhead" group, it hit most shifts at the extremes but jumped around with the 3/4 cog shifting. I installed a 7 speed Sachs freewheel and that was even worse than the previous I ordered a 13-32 8 speed freewheel, that nailed it! I needed to keep the index shifting with the brifters but I've done this many times before with bar end shifters and friction shifting, I've gotten away with an 8 speed set up using a 6 speed bar end shifter. You'll have to be patient and continue to push the set up to find the limits. I don't see why you couldn't get 8 or 9 speed shifting with the 1st gen D.A. bar ends on "friction" as long as you run a capable rear derailleur with the limit screws adjusted properly.
Good luck... have fun with promising frame... and keep us posted!
-D-