Originally Posted by
Duane Behrens
Lots of folks advising me to ditch the bike's original stem shifters in favor of downtube mounts. It looks like an easy change, so I may give it a try. During my ride yesterday, I practiced moving my hand down to the downtube rather than over to the headset. I can see how it would actually be an easier move. It feels a bit cumbersome to navigate stem-mounted shifters; the elbow is bent, and the leverage needed for a quick shift just isn't there. So yeah, I'm thinking about that.
If you tend to ride on the flats, I'd stick with the stem mounted shifters. You already have the interruptor brakes to boot. If you tend to ride in the drops, down tube shifters are easier to reach.
My first real road bike (a Peugeot from the early 80s) had stem shifters and interruptors, and it was quite a shock when I bought another road bike in 1992 and I had to reach way down to the down tube!