Which Bar End Shifters?
 

I have replaced my thumb shifters 2x now on my 2014 Soma San Marco. Each time the right or rear derailleur at about 1500 miles each. I have decided to go to bar ends expecting them to last longer (my '95 Trek 520 & '91 Nishiki Saga have lasted for thousands of miles). This is a 9 speed with a triple front. All I can find are Microshift or Shimano and the Shimano seems to have unfavourable reviews. Question: 2 types of Microshift models seem to be identical but for the price -- a09 and t09. Is there a difference? Is one an old model? Thanks in advance!

BS-A09 / BS-T09 ? microSHIFT ? Cycling Transmission Manufacturer

The T09 can be put on friction for the rear, while the A09 is index only.

There's nothing wrong with Shimano bar ends. But I would feel free to use the Microshift product.

I've got some of these and they are great, still going strong after many years and hard miles.
No experience with the microshift units.

Thanks for the help. I like ChainReaction, have ordered from them in the past. The t09 is not far off ChainReactions Shimano price so i'm now leaning towards Shimano. A good winter project now......

I have Microshift 10-speed shift levers on my Gevanelle shifters and they have given excellent service. That said, where did you hear that Shimano barend shifters have unfavorable reviews? I've never heard anything like that and my experience with them is that they are very reliable and super durable.

Shimano reviews
 

The reviews were on amazon. After your post I went back to look again and the dates of the 1 and 2 stars were 2014 and older. Perhaps there has been some improvement since? For what it's worth the Shimano has moved to the top of my choices,such as they are......

NEVER trust reviews on Amazon. You don't know who posted them (the names are meaningless), you don't know the poster's level of competence and you don't know if the poster has an ulterior motive.

Good advice for any site on the web. However, if 30 out of 50 reviews are bad ones... ... caveat emptor.

What kind of thumbshifters have you been using?

I have had some Shimano barends dating from well before 2014 and never had any problems.

That said, I don't consider Amazon's reviews as definitive and the two or three poor reviews all sound like they were written by the same customer. Did you notice the Amazon reviews of the Microshift bar ends were even lower and, again, my experience with them has been nothing but positive.

In my experience, Shimano bar ends are pretty near bombproof, regardless of number of indexed speeds. I have some nine speed ones that have been used for a long time, and they shift as well today as they did when new.

35 years on my Sun Tour Ratchet-friction bar end shifters still work..

Arbitrarily, Ultegra was the 8 speed, Dura Ace was the 9 speed.. OP said they had 9 speed..
they look the same.. and, other than the # of clicks from the rear one, they are..

OP what is breaking on your shifters?

Like HillRider, I have been using Gevenalle-rebranded microshift levers (9sp for me) for quite a while (5yr daily commuting, over 10K mi), and they have given me no issues.

In the 1980's I loved friction Suntours. The last few years I've been riding MicroShift 3x9's and they're great with 105 F/R derailleurs. Friction (trim) front, indexed only rear. No adjustment at the shifter so you'll likely need in-line barrel adjusters. The Gevenalles look fine too and will likely be on my next frankenbike.

I have two vintage bikes, one with Campy friction bar ends, and another with Suntour ratcheting friction bar ends. I prefer the Suntours, though the Campys are over 50 years old (I got the bike new in '64). I got the Suntours used on Ebay, and they are in great shape, not sure how old they are. Here's my Suntours.

Until the late 1980's friction was the only shifting available and SunTour's "Power Ratchet" were the king of the hill for both downtube and barend shifters. And, yes, I know about Simplex "Retrofriction" shifters.

As to the Microshift indexing barend shifters, there is no need for in-line cable adjusters. For the front (friction) shifter just pulling the cable snug by hand and tightening the clamp bolt will give a full range of movement. For the rear, most rear derailleurs will have their own barrel adjuster to set the shifting.

Also, most bikes will either have downtube shifter bosses that can be fitted with adjustable cable stops or have adjustable cable stops welded/brazed/glued to the downtube or headtube.

I use both Microshift and Shimano bar end shifters. For 9 speed, I prefer Shimano Dura-Ace to Microshift. It's very subjective, but to me the shifting is just a little smoother (I found this to be true in both index and friction modes on the rear derailleur).

As an aside, for 10 speed, I only use the Microshift bar ends, their one-of-a-kind (near as I can tell) model that is matched to Shimano 10 speed MTB rear derailleurs with the clutch mechanism. These work very well, and they feel better to me than Microshift's 9 speed variant.

My 9-speed Dura-Ace shifter broke up after three months of use.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8504/8...30e35b0976.jpg


Here's a similar story, and a good description of what happened. BentRider Online Forums - View Single Post - Broken plastic ring on shamino 9 speed bar end shifter

Curious if you ride a 'bent (i.e. recumbent) or a diamond frame? I remember that thread from my own research on bar-end shifters, and the consensus view was that the problem seemed to be mainly for 'bent riders because they have a tendency to shift much, much more frequently than diamond frame riders.

I can only echo what rccardr said above: I'm currently using a set from ~2007 that I've moved to 3 different bikes (all diamond frame).

One of the respondents on that thread did have advice on how to avoid breaking the plastic ring which may or may not have helped you (or others; given the staying power of that thread, though, I'm guessing it didn't help many) which is to tighten the center screw as tight as possible and keep it tight if it starts to loosen:

BentRider Online Forums - View Single Post - Broken plastic ring on shamino 9 speed bar end shifter

Hunh.
That is fascinating about the way the detents are so close to the end notches. Clearly not optimum, and I can see why things could get nasty if the mounting screw loosens.

I think it's also interesting to note that Shimano has three different indexing methodologies (half column like 7400 6 speed, six tab like 6208, and detent ring, like the illustrated bar ends) and that some of them -9 speed is a good example- are even different between down tube shifters and bar end shifters. 9 speed down tube shifters use the 6 tab system, but the bar ends use the detent ring system.

Oh well , friction shifting means you have to stay involved with the bike, more.. switch that DA 9 speed to friction mode..
I dont think it needs that detent ring to work in friction mode..
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8504/8...30e35b0976.jpg
Realize as the speeds count goes Up the detents have to be closer together.. because the cog spacing is tighter..





.......

Over the years I've used Campy, Shimano, Suntour and MicroShift(currently), all worked fine. I used brifters for 8-10yrs but switched back to bar ends about 5yrs ago. I'm building up another dropbar bike and will use Suntour ratchet friction that I got at my bike co-op recently very inexpensively. Lastly, I always run the bar ends in friction mode no matter the brand, just a retro trait I prefer.

Back to the op's question, I would get the Microshifts.

Brian

Wow.

(a) I would hope Shimano would stand behind its products and provide a new replacement, or at least a baggie with a dozen of those plastic detent rings.

(b) That part is a perfect candidate for 3D printing

Detent ring is metal, but when it breaks into pieces it penetrates through the plastic cover ring.

CRC sent me a new shifter under warranty.