I'm converting my 1985 12 speed Batavus Competition road bike to an upright city bike. I purchased it new, and have all the original components. It is 531 Reynolds frame, Mavic wheels, Sake bars, Dia-comp brakes and levers, Suntour 7000 derailleurs and indexed Suntour shifters. The bike is a deep metallic red with yellow lettering, and is in pristine condition.

I've installed a honey colored Velo Orange leather springer seat #5 , 18" tires (the biggest that would fit with good clearance), adjustable stem, Urban handlebars, and have relocated the down-tube shifters to the handlebars using a generic twist-grip friction shifters. I'm pleased with most of the modifications; but would like to change out the Urban handlebars for a set of Portuer bars and leather grips (again available from Velo), and ex-change the friction twist-grip shifters for a more "throw-back" looking bar-end or thumb shifters (hopefully utilizing my original Suntour shifters).

These twist-grip shifters were the only type that we could find that would work with the Suntour derailleurs; and to change gears from one to the next, it is necessary to turn the twist-grip shifters for several clicks, and they just don't have the look I'm going after.

Can anyone advise if the bar-end or thumb shifters (index or friction) could be used with this set-up? This is my first post and when I figure out how to attach images, I will send some photos.


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