Converting from Drop to Trekking bars
 

I am researching changing my drop bars on my surly long haul trucker to butterfly/ trekking bars. In understand to mount the bar end shifters I will need a Paul Thumbie mount. The bar end shifters on the bike are BSM10 10 speed, my question is do they pull apart so they can be successfully attached to the Paul Thumbie?. I am assuming that you only use the handle part of the mechanism?. I do not want to jump in and then find out I am up for a new set of shifters as the Paul Thumbies are expensive as it is. Appreciate any help thanks.

Its like converting to flat bars, different brake levers, shift levers ('Thumbies' with your bar end shifters)
and re cabling, maybe a new stem too.

VO has a cheaper thumbie (TW-China sourced)

the square interface is actually a carry over from Italian downtube shifter bosses.




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I have butterfly handlebars on an LHT. Since I've built on a frame and settled for Shimano XT, I haven't had any issue with shifters and brake levers.

I am fairly happy but would like to draw your attention to the bike's geometry. Even with a longer stem (Thomson elite 135mm), I often wish that the handlebars be further away, by 30mm or so.

You can buy Microshift 10-speed thumb shifters for the price of the Paul Thumbies.
Then you can sell your bar-ends.
Microshift SL-M10 Shimano 10-Speed MTB Thumb Shifters | eBay

I have a bike with butterfly/trekking bars and my hands LOVE them. I use MTB shifters and brake handles with no problem.

Don in Austin

I put trekking bars on my mountain bike after I developed arthritis in one of my wrists. I was able to use the same brake levers and shifters. There are many more positions to put my hands, which suits the arthritis just fine.

I also bought a set for my road bike which has drop bars. I've assembled the other things I need for the conversion: 9-speed XTR trigger shifters (to replace the Ultegra STI shifters) and Paul brake levers. I haven't made the switch yet because the drop bars don't bother my wrist as much as I thought they would. Maybe I'll build up an old steel bike and use them.
Steve

Yeah the lever part just unscrews with an allen wrench.

Take care to keep the little washers etc. in the correct order and orientation when you take the shifter apart. Many of them have one right way and several wrong ways to assemble them.

Thanks I will have a look, Who do you mean by VO?

Yes thanks for that I have thought about that point, I am fairly short at 170cm so it should not be to much of an issue to set up bike. I have ordered an adjustable stem.

Good point thanks.

Thank you all above I really appreciate the feedback and benefit of your collective knowledge.

Velo Orange
 

I looked up the site Velo Orange and found the Thumbies on there, however I am a little confused as it states that they are not compatible with micro shifters?. I understand my existing shifters are Micro.

Just eyeballing the pictures of the VO Thumbies, it looks like the boss where the barrel adjuster mounts sits very close to the body of the friction shifter (i.e. the round part that the cable winds on to as you move the lever). It's possible that there's not enough clearance to mount certain brands depending on how they're designed. This could especially be a problem for any 11s road or 10/11s Dyna-Sys compatible shifters. These usually require a larger diameter "barrel" in order to pull more cable per click of the lever (this is actually one of the good things about Dyna-Sys and 11s road standards). I have the equivalent of BS-M10's (10 speed Dyna-Sys compatible) on my Gevenalle shift/brake levers, and the round barrel part is noticeably fatter than both my old 9 speed Shimano barcons, as well as some 9 speed Microshifts I recently acquired. It's plausible that they would not fit on those thumbies without modification. Or maybe they'll fit, but the cable exit angle will be weird or something. You could try filing them down a bit but there's not much metal on that cable stop, and for the price they're charging, I wouldn't risk it.

Microshift is a brand, a division of Sun Race, corporation, Taiwan.

Sweeks build looks backwards to my eye, I've set up the open end and controls to the back, neared me.

The forward bend, is used when I confront a headwind, bending my elbows a bit gets me, bent over as if in the drops.


One of my 2 trekking bar fitted bikes.. http://www.cyclofiend.com/working/20...clark1008.html

[Other one a Bike Friday Pocket Llama...]







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On this particular bike, I'd be sitting bolt upright to use the controls. I looked at many images on the web and settled on this configuration, which works well for me and my wrist. :o
Steve

That's the way I'd put them. Controls out front for riding flats and downhills. Then grab the back, controlless section for climbing, since there's probably less need for brakes while climbing.

I have some streets in town... with -weight shifted, butt low behind the saddle - steep down hills, here,

so brakes , on the nearside, are actually further away when I'm nearly fully straightening my arms.

Get off and push, steep to get up, hill, to visit, friends.. the town built over.





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Thanks very much for your reply, certainly saved me unnecessary pain and dollars:)

VO is Velo Orange they have nice stuff