Bar end shifters
 

will 8sp bar end shifters work on a 7sp. I would like to upgrade my freewheel from a 6sp to a 7sp and use and index system. thanks for sugestions

I think that it depends on who you ask and upon how picky you are.

Shimano 7-speed and 8-speed shifting are a "skosh" different. Many people have reported that they are close enough to interchange. Personally, however, I've never been able to get the indexing to work to my satisfaction when mixing and matching 7 & 8 speed parts.

If you start with the RD directly lined up in the middle (4th) cog, you will be off 0.6mm (shifted too far) on both the 1st and 7th. Can you live with that?

Have you actually done it?

0.6mm is a meaningless measurement. What's significant to me is how much "chatter" I get or how often I have to double shift or double shift and shift back one to get the gear combination that I want. That kind of thing absolutely drives me nuts too.

I commute on rainy days on that exact setup. You just adjust your "L" limit (on the RD) to prevent the shift to the missing 8th cog and, voila, you have a 7spd indexed barcon. By adjusting that limit screw it prevents that last index of "pull" on the cable. Indexes with no problems.

I am running a 105 RD, Ultegra 8spd bar end shifters and, HG-70 cassette, with a 105 double FD and crank. Since the FD is friction, you can fine tune any gear combo to eliminate any rubbing.

Someone justed posted on this subject recently. They suggested using 8 sp spacers on your 7 sp cassette. I was wondering if you could just take an 8 sp cassette and drop a cog. Either way would give you a 7 sp cassette with 8 sp spacing. Should work fine with the 8 sp barcons. Why didn't Shimano just make replaceable gears in their barcons like Campy. I upgraded my 8 sp barcons to 9 for $10


Tim

I think it'll work fine.
 

I asked this same question to Sheldon Brown years ago. He said the Shimano 8-speed barend would work fine on a 7-speed rear. I bought some and have had no problems. There is information on this on Sheldon's website.

thanks, Sounds like a good plan.