Originally Posted by
micgre8162
I'm not a fan of the bar end shifters, but I can learn to live with them if I can sort it out so that I'm not hitting them unintentionally. I really don't like how awkward it feels to shift. I normally ride with my hands either on the hoods or in the center. When I drop my hand to shift, I don't have very good control over the bike. It's not an intuitive action.
The bike is new. I just bought it a few weeks ago.
https://www.rei.com/product/875004/n...onee-bike-2016. I have the medium size. I was planning on taking it back to REI and getting help from their bike folks. Otherwise, when I'm not shifting I like how the bike rides. I'm not suffering back, knee, or wrist pain anymore like I was on my old bike. I still feel like my butt is falling off the back of the seat though. Maybe I need to go to the large frame instead of the medium.
Edit:
I just spoke with REI and they're going to help me out. I believe the solution is to exchange the Randonee for another bike, possibly a Strada. They're about the same price. I'm going to take the Randonee back either tomorrow or Saturday and look at the Strada 5D (or 3D).
I had a 2010(?) Randonee and loved it. I swapped out the bars for the Nitto Noodle. The bike was on the small size for me and had quite a bit of seat post sticking out. This bike did not have bar ends, but there was the occasion where toe overlap was inconvenient.
I purchased another bike last year, Jamis Aurora Elite, and it came with Dura Ace 10 speed bar ends - front is friction and rear is indexed. The drivetrain was fine for a triple on a road bike, but nothing close to being set up for touring. Additionally, after much deliberation went with the 55 vs a 53 (my Randonee was a 54 it was the last year before they went to Small/Medium/Large). So far I have swapped out the cranks and cassette on the Aurora from a 10-30 to 10-34 with went with a 9 speed Deore M591 SGS, which will function fine with the 10 speed indexed bar end. Now I have the touring gears I need and also can get up the hills around where I live much, much easier.
I really like the bar ends and don't have any problems with them. As someone stated you can get "Thumbies" to move the shifters elsewhere on your bars. It sounds like you might be better off with a larger frame size since your knees are hitting the bar ends. Check out how Rivendell Bikes recommends sizing for their bikes. Based on what Grant Peterson says they usually end up putting people on a larger frame than what they had in the past.
REI has great customer service and I'm sure they will help you sort things out.