Grip shift to Brifters.....can I do this?
 

Good morning all,
My son has a hand-me-down bike that has the Grip-shift system installed. I would like to know if I can convert this to a brifter system? The Grip-shift is an indexed shifting system, so I'm thinking it should not be a problem. Any comments will be helpful.

Later,

What are all the components brands, how many gears, and about another 5 or 6 questions need to be answered before your questiion can be answered. Changing to brifters often requires marching the complete drive train to the brifters. Often it is not plug and play. Roger

Good point Roger, more information needed on my part. Thanks!

Later,

Actually changing between Grip Shift and brifters (flat bar ones) is done all the time at many shops as a repair or new bike swap out. We do a number a year. First you need to understand which shifting family the bike uses (Shimano VS SRAM) then which brake lever cable pull ratio (linear pull/disk or canti/caliper). Then get the proper new parts that match and a set og grips and do the job right the first time. If you don't understand this then go to the LBS you trust to have them either sell you the correct parts and/or also do the install. This is a simple swap out for any one experienced. Andy.

Thanks Andy! His is a road bike, if that makes a difference.

Later,

A road bike with grip shifters? The only road bike I can think of that came installed with grip shifters is a Wal Mart bike, in which case it might not make sense to upgrade to brifters as the cost will be orders of magnitude higher than the value of the bike.

They're not common, but I think I remember there being a few road bikes equipped with grip shifters at the ends of the bar. Early '90s, maybe? And they've been used on tri bikes' aero bars, too.

As for the bike that started this thread, though, we could certainly use more info. Number of cogs front and rear would be handy to know. Even something as simple as brand, model, and rough age would help us give more educated guesses.

Some time in the late '80s, a few manufacturers, including Cannondale, offered road bikes with Gripshift shifters mounted at the ends of the handlebar, representing an early attempt to break Shimano's newly established domination of the market. That only lasted for a season or so.

Yep. Has to be a Denali.

If you're pretty lucky you could find some 1999-ish 3x7 Shimano RSX shifters for $40 or so. Or you could get new Microshift 3x7 for $80

https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...0&category=162

Unfortunately I think you'd have to switch to a road triple front derailleur to get the front shifting right.

Maybe $25 for a road triple derailleur. You need to figure out the diameter of the seattube before shopping for those. going bigger than the seattube can be OK if you get a good shim.

Could be a Denali, but not necessarily. See my post (#8) above.

Yeah, I reckon it could be a classic with 1st generation road Gripshifts. If that's the case it's likely a 2x6.

Are the Gripshifts near the stem or are they on the ends of the handlebars?

The shifters are on the bar ends. I know he has a 53/39 chainring setup, and I believe the bike is a Raleigh. The bike belonged to my brother, so I'll have to ask him if he retro fitted the gripshift. Thanks for all of the feedback guys. I want to get my son back on the bike for health reasons, and if he's not comfortable with the gripshift, it will be harder to do.

Later,

Those are a couple of helpful pieces to the puzzle. With a little more info, like the number of cogs on the rear wheel and what brand/model the derailleurs are, we can probably tell you exactly what you need.

So far, you haven't given us anything that tells us this won't work. It can probably be done -- it's just a matter of what specific parts you'll need: Just shifters? Shifters and derailleurs? Shifters, derailleurs, and freewheel/cassette?

As my first post said. The proper specs must be understood to get the right replacement parts. This step isn't yet done. Andy

I would look for a complete used bike that is already set up with matching components. Save money and time in the long run.