cs1

I was putting together a commuter and wanted to us Ergo levers on it. Has anyone successfully used either Ergo or STI levers on a Bullhorn or Moustache bar?

Tim

sydney

No, and i'd just use barends,rather than waste my time with ergo/sti on such a rig.

cs1

Thanks for the reply. I have an extra set of barends that I might use. Does Shimano still make a 7 speed barend shifter? Or do I need a friction set up?

Tim

sydney

You can find 7 speed shimano barends on ebay, or just use 7 speed shimano dountubes and the barend adapter pods sold by www.rivbike.com Suntour barend friction or power ratchets are on ebay and work good too.

operator

Grab a set of aerolevers while you're at it for those bullhorns.

Stubacca

steveknight had a setup with barends and regular road levers - clickety click.

royalflash did a conversion a while back too, again using barends with thumbies and TT levers clickety click. Since the barend shifters and the aero levers are both fighting to slide into the end of the bar, I think the thumbies are pretty much required.

I can't find the post, but I know there's at least one member here who set up his bike with bullhorns and sti levers - looked pretty cool, and he said it was actually quite good to use.

sch

Unless you have a dirt cheap source, twist or lever shifters are generally a lot cheaper than road type STI for flat or mustache bars. Pricing on STI shifters is getting outrageous. 9spds Ultegras are up 40-60% from 4-5yrs ago, where 8spd equivalents are about the same price or cheaper than 4-5yrs ago. Steve

cs1

I can't believe how expensive Shimano stuff has gotten. Considering the exchange rate with Japan is way better than with Europe Campy equipment is much more reasonable. Have you priced the new Shimano 10 speed STI Shifters? Dura Ace is way more expensive than carbon Record brifters, and they're all plastic.

Tim

roadfix

Actually, if you already have a set of spare STI's, they work great on moustache bars. Ergo's don't work well with these bars due to the location of the thumb levers. But I'd go with barends if I were starting from scatch. That's what I've got on my commuter/light tourer.

sch

I just found out that my lowest mileage (about 2kmi) STI Ultegra shifter has lost one of the detents and skips the 13t cog on the 12-27 cassette every time. Hadn't looked at prices for awhile and had the same stunned reaction. Unless Shimano has changed something, I expect an STI to last no longer than 10-12kmi, and occasionally, as I just found, less. At $330 or so for 10spd Ultegra and $450 for D-Ace that raises the cost of riding to $0.03-0.05/mi just for shifters assuming a 10kmi life span. At $450 it almost makes sense to change groupos wholesale to Campy. A new rear hub and cassette and perhaps RD on top of the shifters is not a huge cost compared to the shifter change. My record with STI now is one of two 8spds failed, and 1 of 3 9spds failed. My other two 9sds are getting close to 10kmi now after 5yrs. 8spd STI is now limited to Tiagra/Sora class, and I wonder how long 9spd shifters will remain available.
Steve

cs1

I know what you mean Steve. I just rebuilt an old set of Chorus 8 speed Ergo levers. I don't think I spent more than $30 for springs maybe less. New hoods were $40 at the LBS. That was way less than $100 and I'll get another 10,000 miles or so. The cost of new style Campy is comparable for a rebuild. Shimano has gotten way too expensive for the average guy.

Tim

Gonzo Bob

I used STI on the end of bullhorns on my tri-bike for about a year but I switched it over to bar-end shifters on the aerobars and bar-end brake levers on the bullhorns. The STI brake levers bottomed out on the bullhorns. Plus the shifting was tricky since the amount of throw required for a shift depended on where your hand was positioned on the lever - more of an issue shifting the rear.