chivespa1

I'm formulating my next bicycle in my head/on paper to try and figure out what components I will need. I would like to use either a 7 or an 8 speed internally geared hub for this bike but I would like it to have the shifter either on the headset or the top-tube. I want to use moustache bars because they are my favorite and I like having them relatively free of cables, etc. with the exception of the brake hoods. Looking at the various internal hubs it appears they all come with either a twist-grip setup or something big and clunky like that instead of the old 3 speed style trigger (I'm thinking Sturmey-Archer here) that you could mount just about anywhere.

So, with all of that in mind. Do any of you know if there is something that would fit my desired setup? Thanks so much!

LWaB

Nothing suitable made AFAIK.

squirtdad

I saw a picture in a thread on adapting a bike to a person with one hand.......One person had a twist grip shifter mounted on a very short bar. Your might be able to rig something like that up...but it probably wouldn't look clean unless you had something machined...like a clamp on front derailer type of clamp attached to handlebar size tubing just long enough for the twist shift.......I have no idea about cable angle requirments etc......

chivespa1

Thanks, I was kinda afraid of that. I know there are some brake/push button shifters for the Shimano Nexus hub which I could probably live with but I'm being a snob about asthetics here, and, that's why I want something that looks more old-school like the old 3 speed trigger shifters. I wonder if I could get away with using an indexed bar-end shifter? I don't know if I'd like that either though.

reverborama

I think the only shifter for a Nexus-8 is a twist-grip. I have one and it works great. Maybe you could stick the shifter on the end of the moustache bar. It wouldn't look too different from this: https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/bianc...os8/index.html

LWaB

Non-indexed won't work.

Dan Burkhart 

Sachs made a trigger shifter for their super 7 hubs in the late 90s. I had one of these, but I gave it away to a guy I did a build for. I put it on a new Sram S7 and it works fine. You may be able to find one on Ebay. The shifter, cable and clickbox come as a unit.
I believe the early Nexus 7 used a 7 position trigger as well.
Dan Burkhart
www.boomerbicycle.ca

chivespa1

Cool, thanks. I'll keep my eyes open for one of those. If I find a 7 or 8 speed trigger shifter will it work with any 7 or 8 speed internal gear hub or are the shifter boxes made to only function with a particularly mated hub? (like nexus trigger shifter will only work with nexus hub, not sturmy archer or whatever)

TO11MTM

I wouldn't try it... Not unless you have a reliable way to check that the pulls between each gear are IDENTICAL. This is for the same reason most reccomend against using a friction shifter with a multispeed hub, it's too easy if you have them just a little out of adjustment for the hub to work 'pretty decent' while it's internally being destroyed.

Dan Burkhart 

No, they are not interchangeable. The Sachs has a totally different mechanism at the hub than either Shimano or SA. If you are using a Sachs/Sram hub, you must use a compatible shifter/clickbox unit.
Dan Burkhart
www.boomerbicycle.ca

Rick Smith

There might be a better thread to post this in but anyhow:

I feel like I must using my gear shifter incorrectly because the 8 speed internal hub always feels like it gets into gear after a few pedals and with a loud KLUNK. For instance, I'll switch it into 4th (using the thumb push lever gear shifter), and it'll switch to another gear (supposedly 4th), but then will switch again after a few hard pedal pushes, and it makes me cringe because it always sounds like something is falling into place... but in a bad way.

...I'm terrible at describing what's happening here, of course.

Any ideas?

donnamb 

Maybe, but I'm lousy with the nomenclature... You know 4th is the direct drive, right? Put it in 4th and turn your bike upside down. Look for the cassette joint pulley and cassette joint bracket - they are on the chain side of the hub. There are these yellow lines on them. If you're in 4th and they are not lined up straight, this might be your problem. You have to adjust the shifting cable. If the yellow lines are lined up straight, let us hope someone with more mechanical know-how than I do reads this thread soon.