benwahl

I'm building a touring bike out of parts off of donor bikes. I have a set of thumb shifters off a mid-eightys mountain bike and remember seeing something some where about using them as bar end shifters. Does any one know where that information may be? Also, I'm thinking about going with mustache handle bars and think using the thumb shifters up top may be cool. Just looking for information about setting up those shifters on bars other than straight bars. There the single lever shifters with a lever that lets you switch between friction and indexing on the rear shifter. Oh, while I'm on the subject- I plan on using the drivetrain (all deore ) off this old scott mountain bike as well. It has an older cup and cone BB and I'm tempted to use it if I can, rebuilt one on another older bike and enjoyed being able to work on it. Is there a reason a sealed BB (new) would be a better choice for a touring bike? I like the idea of working on the BB myself if it needs adjusting. Ok- I got more questions but this post is rambling anough as it is. Thanks- Ben

dabac

Bar end shifters and down tube shifters share the same mounting interface, and there's a bracket(paul's thumbies) that lets you turn either into a thumb shifter. There's another bracket (Jag-something) that lets you turn a DT shifter into a BE shifter. Don't know if something that started out as a thumb shifter would be compatible or not.

Bar diameters, you'll have to check. There are plenty of bars that aren't straight, but still follow the MTB standard for grip area diameter, Brahma bars, trekking/butterfly bars, Nitto North Road etc. Nitto moustache OTOH is posted as "Road brake levers".

BBs are a so-so question. Cartridge BBs aren't generally seen as serviceable, but apart from the very rare lemon, they tend to do their jobs for years and years and miles and miles w/o any fuss - particularly the square taper ones. Unless you're planning to cross Mongolia or the Australian outback, a modest amount of attention will enable you to to have the BB replaced before a recently noticed bearing issue will turn into a critical failure.
OTOH, cup & cone ones also tend to be very reliable, if properly assembled and cared for.

"Sealed" is a bit of a minsnomer. I have a couple of cup & cone BBs with a rubber seal between cup and BB spindle. No reason to think that the average cartridge BB would be particularly superior in that perspective.
'Course, I also have a few cup & cone BBs with the spindle just passing through a fairly crude hole in the cup. Obviously room for some improvement there.

LesterOfPuppets

You could go with these Nitto bars that take MTB controls. They're more North Road than mustache it looks like, but it's usually easier to use North Road bars on a MTB with a stem that already offers a good reach. True mustache bars often require swapping out for a shorter stem to use the forward position comfortably. Annoyingly UC doesn't list the part number so hard to search for other pics of the same bar. Bummer is the bends look like they might be a little tighter radius than the average mustache bar.

https://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...&category=1678

A-ha. Found the model number 302AA.

Here's another view. Much less reach to the round parts than a typical mustache. Might work out nice. I would probably have to ride for weeks without bar tape before deciding on lever placement. Bummer is the bends look like they might be a little tighter radius than the average mustache bar.

Jeff Wills

Bar-end/downtube shifters have a very different mounting interface compared to '80's Deore thumbshifters. Also, Deore shifters are designed for smaller mountain-bike handlebars (22.2mm diameter) than "road" handlebars (23.8mm). However, the Deore shifters have a steel band clamp that can be bent around the larger handlebar and held in place with a longer bolt. It's a little shade-tree, but it works.

benwahl

Good to know! I'm looking at bars right now and am thinking about these :https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...0052_175533_-1
Trekking Bars over the mustache bars. I want to use the brake levers off this bike as well, but have others if they don't work.

benwahl

I think I'll just see if the BB is in good shape and fits the new frame- if not I'll get a new one. If this rain would stop I could start the build. Pretty excited about the project. Thanks for the advise.

LesterOfPuppets

Most, maybe all, Trekking bars are of a diameter to accept mountain bike controls so you're in business there.

The only limitation with those is when Gripshifts are used they can only go on the initial flat part of the bar, will not pass the bends. No concern of yours with thumbshifters, though.

Rainy days are made for bike building! Then ride it when the rain stops

Jeff Wills

What you talkin' 'bout, Les? I was just out riding around in this morning's shower. Refreshing. My bike looked like a cyclocrosser when I got back to the house.

Silly me, this is what I was doing yesterday: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ohpv/63...57627988951817
Gotta rake the leaves while the sun shines!

DCB0

I think you have it backwards... as mentioned above, there are products available to allow bar-end shifters to be mounted as top-mount thumbshifters, but not to mount thumbshifters as bar end shifters.

You might be able to open up the mounting bracket on the deore shifters (it is steel, no?) and get them mounted somewhere on whatever bars, but I don't know of any other options.

himespau 

Probably too old to be of help now as the OP was 3 weeks ago, but if you're still wanting to put your Deore shifters/levers on mustache bars and havn't already bought something, Soma makes the 3 speed mustache bar II out of aluminum where you the tubing OD is right for mtb components and sells them in the $30-40 range.

danielmozes

I have a similar problem but I do not think the solution here would work. I have the "road" bars and cannot fit a SRAM P5 internal hub gear changer to the end. Loosen the nut all the way and the thing still cannot get on there, no way. Is there an extension that I could get that would go inside the end of the handlebar and tighten like the quill stems with a separating wedge? I could then attach the gear changer to that. Does it exist?

Jeff Wills

Uhh... you'd be better off posting this as an entirely new question. A SRAM P5 shifter is a "grip shift" type, and very, very different from the "thumbshifters" described in the above thread.

However, I'll take a shortcut and point you at what you need. You have this SRAM shifter: https://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...&category=2714 , which won't fit the larger diameter "road" handlebar, no how, no way. To make it work, get a HubBub Twist Shifter Mount: https://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...s.php?id=16555 , which fits in the end of your existing handlebar (you'll probably want to shorten it) and then allows mounting of the shifter.

Shifter:

Mount:

fietsbob

An 80s thumb shifter has its own mount, for a 7/8 tube
so Trekking bar are a good match as they are also 7/8"

road bars and Nitto mustache bars are 15/16" so the fit is not good