canklecat

I put some MicroShift 2x7 brifters (dual control shifters, per the manufacturer's terminology) on the Trekenstein 5900 a couplafew weeks ago. Easy installation, works great. Costs around $80 new.

Coolest thing about brifters is being able to shift while standing. I tend to stand to stomp uphills and to accelerate from stops, and brifters let me shift up and down as needed without sitting to shift downtube shifters. And the Microshift left/FD shifter is also indexed, with a trimmer click for both chainring to eliminate chain rub.

I had to tweak the barrel adjusters last night to compensate for slight cable stretch since installing them 2-3 weeks ago. I noticed a few shifting glitches during a club ride Tuesday and didn't want to annoy other riders, so I fixed that Friday night. Quick and easy, worked great on my 33 mile roller coaster ride Saturday with lots of shifts for the many short, steep climbs and downhills.

The bike came with nice Dura Ace downtube shifters, which I was perfectly happy with. But a friend had those MicroShift brifters stashed away and had no use for 'em. He bought 'em by mistake, thinking they were 8 or 9 speed. By the time he realized the mistake it was too late to return or exchange them.

Both the Dura Ace downtube and MicroShift brifters worked perfectly with the Trekenstein's 1990s Deore LX long cage RD, Shimano 600 FD, and Shimano 7-speed freewheel.

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(Note for thread topic relevance: texaspandj was right -- the Trekenstein 5900 rides pretty much like an Ironman, just 5 lbs or so lighter. BB is a wee bit stiffer. Helps my times on some climbs. Otherwise, can't say I notice a big difference from the Ironman. And the Ironman is more comfortable on rough roads.)