Originally Posted by
mountaindave
Thanks for clarifying. I have contemplated many friction options, but for my wife I need it to be "click and forget" when she's commuting in traffic (yeah, it's Montana, don't laugh at what we think is traffic
).
I really do appreciate all options suggested. I have bid on some used Paul's Thumbies - we'll see what happens. I just didn't want to get a solid aluminum band clamp then be disappointed because I couldn't slide it around the bends of the drop bars. I have 8s bar ends in the stash to go with the mounts.
I wanted to have her bike done this weekend. Right now with my crazy beard, moustache, hair and this project, my wife is calling me Cranky the Pirate...
ok dave...indexing needed.... so I will try again to make you the perky pirate
again not cheap but how about velo orange thumshifter mounts $65 and ultegra 8 sp bar end $72
velo orange thumbshifter mounts..... hinged and fit road bars
VO Thumb Shifter Mounts - Shifters - Shifting - Components
Thumb shifter mounts allow you to mount down tube and bar end shifters on your handlebars. Thumbies put your shifter within easy reach while avoiding the complexity of brifters. This allows for a comfortable setup for city bikes, MTBs, porteurs. They can even be used on even drop bars.
They fit standard road, MTB, and city handlebars (22.2mm and 23.8mm grip area). VO shifter mounts feature a hinged mount so you do not need to remove your bar tape or grips or brake levers to install them.
They fit Dia-Compe Downtube Shifters, Dia-Compe Bar End Shifters, Shimano 10/9/8 speed Bar End shifters, and many others.
Sold as a pair. Shifters not included.
Note: Not compatible with Microshift shifters or Dia-Compe 11s road/10s dynasys shifters.
and ultegra 8 speed bar ends
https://www.rivbike.com/collections/...-8-speed-17098
Shimano's Ultegra bar-end shifters index good enough with 6, 7, or 8 speed Sram or Shimano cassettes and work with a friction mode, too----so if the "good enough" isn't good enough, throw it into friction, cowboy, and ride away.
Then if later on you graduate to friction only forever and you don't even want the indexing option (sort of like shooting a film camera without a light meter, but way, way easier)---and you want to get the smoothests, best friction in the Universe, just get our Silver downtube shifters and bolt them on to the Shimano shifter pods that are already stuck in your handlebars. No need to buy any additional hardware. Great for touring, commuting, anything, and they also convert to thumb-shifters when you mount them onto Paul's Thumbies.
Includes cables, housing, and downtube cable stops but if you're gonna use these shifters with an Albatross bar and your bike is 58cm or bigger then you'll probably need our extra long shifter cables and housing.
Here is an instructional video of Mark mounting a 9 speed Shimano Bar end to bar-end pods. It also includes how to install bar-end pods.