The previous owner of my bike and I have successively worked to convert an early 90's mountain bike to a bombproof commuter/super heavy tourer. In its current incarnation it's got fenders, slicks, front and rear racks, drop bars, aero brake levers, a threaded-to-threadless converter, and stem shifters with a triple crankset (26-__-46? I wasn't really careful in counting the big ring and came up with 47) and six cogs on the back (14-28).

When I bought the bike off craigslist, it had a quill stem and those annoying ritchey drop-in bars that I wanted to get rid of because they drop in part was too flexy to use and I would sometimes hit it with my knees when I had my saddle way too low. That and I just thought they were ugly.

I went with a threaded-to-threadless converter so I could have more stem/bar options (and ended up getting 3 stems - 120, 130, 140 mm EA50- off jenson on clearance for less than $25, so I could try some varying lengths). The problem is I'd like to lower the bars, but the adapter has to be set almost as high as it can go for the stem shifter to work. Otherwise I loose the smallest ring up front and maybe the smallest 2-3 cogs in the back (the levers just don't have the clearance to get around the big stem. My derailleurs both just say Shimano SIS on them as far as I can see, and the shifters are the same.

Is there an inexpensive option to move the shifting elsewhere? I do have 130 mm spacing (at least in the rear), so I suppose I could get a new rear wheel and cassette if that would help, but that's starting to sound like it'd be a rather pricey proposition. I mean I do have a lot more in this bike than it's worth, but new wheels, a new cassette, and (even used) brifters would probably end up running me more than just a new (to me) bike on CL that has these things. I know flipping the stem (it's a +/- 6 degree stem) will get it a little lower, but I'd like to go a bit more than that.

Thumb shifter. Most of these have a "strap" style mounting that is flexible enough to use on a variety of bar thicknesses. The parts bin of your LBS might have an old one hanging out in the bottom.

Thumb shifters or barends will both work. If your rear wheel takes a freewheel, you could fit a 7-speed freewheel (uses the same hub spacing as 6-speed) and 7-speed indexed barends are fairly easy to find. Otherwise, almost all barends have a friction setting that will work with anything.

Frankly, I can't think of a worse location for shifters than stem shifters.

And then mount it where? Stem? Somewhere on the bar? The problem with my current setup is that the stem shifters fit around the threaded to threadless adapter ok, but the adapter widens with a lip below the stem goes on:

and it's this lip and the stem that the shifter levers can't get over. If I have the adapter set up high enough and the shifters right above the headset, they can go underneath the adapter (but just barely). When I lower the adapter, they can no longer do that. If there's a good spot to put those thumb shifters to get around the problem, I'd really be interested as I'm sort of used to them as that's what I had on my last bike (a late 80's mountain bike - schwinn woodlands from when schwinns were still a bike shop brand and mountain bikes were only 5 speeds). Are there clamp on downtube shifters that'd be a better option? Don't know if they make these or where I'd find them (probably e-bay vintage ones if any exist), but that'd be an option I'm open to as well.

I think it's a free wheel. I really don't know the difference between that and the other option (free hub?), but I thought freewheels were what 5, 6, and some 7 speeds are. I also thought 6 speeds were spaced at 126 mm, but I used my rule and measured it at 130 mm (didn't crack out the calipers, but I think that's pretty accurate as I used my 6" metal rule I had to use in QC when I had to make sure things were accurate to +/- 1/32 and then converted). I did notice it looks like the previous owner through a couple of nuts on there between the cogs and the frame, so maybe that's to make up the difference. I don't know what it originally came with. At the time I bought it he told me he'd swapped out the chainrings for a biopace set he'd had laying around as he liked the biopace better (and this was his personal bike he was finally getting rid of after he'd gotten out of flipping, but again this may just have been a story to sell his bike).

I've never tried bar ends, and have bar end mirrors on there at the moment that I kind of like but would be willing to give those up if that'd make the situation better and wouldn't cost too much. Do they still make the 7 speed bar ends (something I could find at jenson or niagara) or would I be trolling ebay for them and a 7-speed free wheel (and how do I know if it's a freewheel?). I wouldn't mind getting a bit smaller of a rear cog as I'm not much of a spinner and don't have too much difficulty hitting a top speed on the smallest rear cog, so if a 7 speed would give me more range, that'd be great.

Thumb shifters mount on the bars, usually out near the ends of the tops where your thumbs (duhhh) can easily reach them. They do not mount on the stem or quill.

Edit: I just saw your latest posting. 7-speed bar ends are no longer made but should be available NOS or used a lot of places.

You probably do have a freewheel hub so your choices are limited. There are 7-speed freewheels available but few gearing choices. The newer design is a freehub that takes replacable cassettes and offers a wider range of cog sizes.

If your spacing is 130 mm, that's not surprising as it was an interim MTB spacing when road bikes were still 126 mm and before MTB's went to 135 mm.

At this point, I recommend taking the bike to an LBS or Bike Co-Op and getting someone who recognizes exactly what you have to fill in the blanks.

Yeah, I know I should go to an lbs, but I'm one of these guys who has a dad who could fix everything, but grew up in the age of disposable everything and never learned myself, so I like tinkering around with my hands. A co-op would be ideal if I knew of one handy, instead I ask strangers on the internet for free advice and screw things up myself until I have it fixed eventually (because I don't want to be that guy who bugs the mechanics at the lbs for advice and then doesn't pay them for it. Probably more expensive in terms of my time and parts my way, but I think I'm learning stuff this way, which makes me feel good. Good to know that the 130 mm spacing does make sense.

I read several places that I could get the shimano 8 speed bar ends to shift 7 speeds, is that right? Or is that only when you're working with the 7,8,9 cassettes and the spacing would be different. I ask because I see you can get bar ends from from niagara through amazon for like $50-60 and didn't see any 7 speeds in a quick search of ebay. I also saw this 9 speed freewheel

on jenson. Would that make it easier to use more modern stuff or would it not fit on my setup? Given that it's the only one that appears to be made and it's so cheap, I'm imagining it's not very high quality, but what do I know.

Again, thanks random internet dudes for being my sounding boards while I try to teach myself a bit of bicycle maintenance. I'll have to read Sheldon's site a bit more to make sure that I do indeed have a freewheel and make sure what kind of tool I'll need to remove it. Probably what I should have done in the first place.

That's the first 9-speed freewheel I've ever seen. It will require a 130 mm spaced hub and 9-speed shifters and chain. I advise against it for the reasons below.

Be aware that 7-speeds were the last generation of common freewheels as the hubs were vulnerable to axle breakage above that. A freewheel hub has the driveside bearings inboard of the freewheel and the axle sticks out unsupported the rest of the way. An 8 or 9-speed freewheel was wider than a 7-speed and resulted in a longer length of unsupported axle and frequent breakage.

Most freehubs have their driveside bearing at the end of the freehub body and right up against the dropout so they are much stronger and trouble free.

The cheapest change for you would be to get thumb or barend friction or 7-speed indexed shifters and stick with your current freewheel rear wheel with perhaps a 7-speed freewheel and new chain. Beyond that, the upgrades get far more involved and expensive.

https://www.kellybike.com/2nd_xtra_takeoff.html

You get those and conventional shifters and be good to go.

Nicely used bar end shifters (friction) can be picked up for $20.00 - $25.00 and will work with your 6, a 7, and an 8 if you decide to upgrade the rear wheel.

If you have the bars set relatively flat or with a little rise the bar ends will be within easy reach or you could mount thumbies on the bar tops which is a little less convenient.

Set up on my bike..

I'm a long term user of the combination of 6 speed freewheels
and sun tour power ratchet Bar end shifters.

If you purchase a Phil Wood freewheel Hub, that solves the 'Achilles heel'
of freewheel hubs , their axles will not bend..

many freewheels use a spline connector made 'standard' by being Shimano ,
Prior freewheels have a variety of interfaces , and tools .

buy the tool when you buy a new freewheel, take the wheel to the LBS to remove the old one.
then you dont need to get a remover for the old one to use it once.

8 and 9 speed freewheels exist but require special hubs to prevent axle bending and breakage... we offer a 9 speed freewheel hub that has an outboard cartridge bearing to add extra support to a hub that already has double drive side bearings.

Phil Wood also offers a hub designed for freewheels that overcomes this deficiency in standard hubs that are an evolution from the days when bikes had 4 speeds and 120 mm spacing... the freewheels got wider and the axles got longer but the basic freewheel hub design has never changed.

If you switched to a 7 speed freewheel or freehub wheel and could find 7 speed Rapidfire trigger shifters the mounts on the shifters can be opened up with a bit of work using a half round file or some other means to allow them to fit over the bends and up close to the center swell transition points. It wouldn't leave any room for interrupter brake levers but it's not a bad place to mount some shifters. I've got an old touring bike that I set up this way back when used brifters seemed to cost the earth and new ones would have been more than the bike they were to go on was worth. The system works so well I've never changed it in over 10 years now.

Changing the rear wheel over to a freehub wheel would not be a bad option either. It shortens the axle overhang on the drive side which results in a more durable wheel. Although if you stick with the shorter offset required of a 6 speed wheel then it's likely not so bad unless you ride fully loaded frequently. If you're happy staying with the 6 speed freewheel setup then I'd say bar end shifters running in friction mode is the hot setup. Unless you can score one of the rare 6 speed indexing bar end shifter sets.

So the sun tour bar end shifters (power shift I think they're called) would have the same indexing and work with my shimano sis derailleurs? Or am I reading that wrong?

Suntour indexed shifters do not play well with Shimano cassettes and freewheels because of different cog spacing... in friction mode they are universally compatible and on a touring bike indexed shifting is not as essential as it is on a road bike or mtb as you can usually see the hill coming from a long ways off.

Shimano 7 speed bar ends are indexed with a selectable friction mode and my shifters are the 8 speed version... since I tale my bike off road and like to ride some challenging and rapidly changing terrain the indexed shifters work well.

Suntour friction bar cons are half ratchet and shift very smoothly and once you get used to them the shifting is as good as indexed... I use these on two of my touring bikes.

Your derailleurs are only indexed in that their design allows for indexed shifters to be used... most pre indexed derailleurs had different geometries that do not allow for good indexing although there are some exceptions that just seem to work.

+1 on the Kelly Take-Offs. I have them on a Surly Cross Check using them to mount 8-speed downtube shifters. They are certainly the next-best thing to brifters without the expense.

Good to know. I just saw a couple of the 6 sp indexed suntour ones on ebay. Probably won't do those then although they do say they can be switched to friction or I could just buy a suntour cassette and keep with the same derailleur based on what you say below.

Right now my front shifter is friction and the rear is indexed. I think I'd prefer to go totally indexed (or at least the rear) as I'm not the best about shifting in advance especially in traffic and often do it too late on hills. I'm not opposed to friction, but I think that would require me to learn better shifting habits.

I've seen the Shimano SL-BS64 ultegra bar ends several places and one says that I could use them with 7 speeds and a triple, so those might work, if the spacing really is the same and I can use them with a 7 spd (does it seem like I should?). Obviously new are more expensive than used should I find used or a nos set on ebay, but I wonder if new with instructions would be better for someone who's never messed with his shifters/derailleurs before. Still, that is a bit pricey so if I can find used, that might be better.

Good to know, I just saw the Shimano SIS written on them (is that like shimano's lowest level) and thought there was something special about the derailleurs for each brand. Guess that shows how little I know. Thanks for putting up with the stupid questions all.

Your special hub and the Phil Wood probably work well but are very expensive ways to go just to support an obsolete component like a freewheel.

Excellent quality freehubs are available that overcome all of the freewheel hub's problems at much less cost than either of these solutions.

Ok, so if I were to do that instead of bar ends, I'd have to find some 6 or 7 speed downtube shifters that I'd mount on those? Something to consider. Right now I have the cross interrupter levers on the tops, so I wonder if I'd have to remove those to have room.

Yep, same as the 6 or 7-speed barends. The Kelly's mount under the lower edge of the brake levers and don't interfer with the bar tops so your cross-levers won't be a problem.

And another of my (many) stupid questions. Road and mountain spacing is the same, so it shouldn't matter that what my gears are, or is this wrong?

Won't deny that a custom hub is a pricier option and for some of us the freewheel is not as obsolete as others think them to be... nice freewheels are still being made, are widely available, and they seem to outlast cassettes.

Also... the freewheel hubs are completely re-buildable and require very little in the way of service by virtue of their cartridge bearing design and will run tens of thousands of miles without need of anything.

I do not like disposable parts and even though a Shimano hub will give a long service life there is no way to rebuild them... I like the idea of running my hubs for life.

The rear cassette spacing is the same so road and mtb shifters will work fine... the front d is different and you cannot mix indexed road and mtb shifters here due to narrower spacing on a road crank.

Ok, so I'm probably going to have to go friction on the front no matter what I do then, right? Unless of course I'm running some sort of mysterious 46T biopace road chainring.

Its the Ratios , rather than the number of sprockets that counts , in the practical sense.
8 just added a smaller High gear cog, and the rest is adding Marketing Promotion
and making the engineer's Boat payments.
And in terms of long term durability , you only need to Buy 1 Phil Hub Per Lifetime.