Hey Guys, I am a tiny bit stumped here. So I am have just arrived back home from College and I brought my bike home with me. felt like adding some stuff onto it. I wanted to add on a pair of Aero bars and some water bottle holders, when i thought about converting my downtube shifters to Bar end shifters. The groupo on the bike (Takara Elitist) is a Shimano 600, Not Arabesque. I realized that most of the downtube shifters on the market are for 10-speeds or less, as mine is 12-speed. I have never really installed any parts on my bike nor Have I seriously messed with changing or reworking any parts, But i figured now would be a good time as any. However I am having some trouble understanding the research. A bunch of people say that Buying a bar end pod mount is a good option and plop on my downtube shifters, some say that it doesn't matter because what speed the bar end shifters are because the bike is using friction shifting, and I read that the gauge of my gear cable is important too? I'm not sure which is true or if i misread some stuff. So if anyone has suggestion/advice that would be awesome. Also, could anyone direct me to a place where I can grab the parts that I need at an affordable price or am i better off going to a bike shop?

Thanks, Much Appreciated!

Shimano 600 is old, which means that 12-speed is 2x6. Today, 10-speed would mean that it has ten sprockets at the rear.

Can be.

Quite right. With friction shifting, pretty much anything goes.

Shimano and Campy shifters use different "heads", the anchor button at the end of the cable. Shifter cables and brake cables are different gauges. Flat bar brake levers may use different "heads" than drop bar levers.Those would be the main differences I can think of.

IME, not many bike shops would carry small stuff like DT cable stops and bar-end shifter pods. I'd use ebay or maybe saint John's cycles for small stuff like that. But there'll be a few options.

12speed
so I'm assuming there are 2 chainrings, and 6 cogs
Are your current downtube shifters indexed?**
modern bar end shifter's wont be available for 6 speed indexing, so if you are set on keeping indexing**, remounting your old DT shifters into a pod mount would work.
To do that you will need....

your old DT shifters
the pod itself: https://www.rivbike.com/product-p/sh13.htm
spacers to adapt your DT levers onto it: https://www.rivbike.com/product-p/sh21.htm
cable stops, that mount where your DT levers used to go: https://www.rivbike.com/product-p/cad3.htm
and some new cables and housing
looks like that'll run in the neighborhood of 70$, not bad

if you dont care about indexing, then you can possibly do this cheaper on ebay using an old suntour friction barcon or a used shimano bar end set in friction mode (have to get lucky on price tho, competetive).
still need the cable stops and housing either way.

Lols, I was just looking at that site before I went to bed last night. Yea they seemed convenient and reasonably priced. I grabbed a silver bar end shifter and cable stops from them. I figure I can get cables and housing from any local bike shop. Thanks for the help guys! Would there be anything else that I am missing?

Did you also get the Spacers to mount the levers onto the pod?
Most dt shifters will have a curved back so they fit flush against the frame tube, you need a flat back to fit onto the bar end pod though.
see second link above

I dunno, maybe some new bar tape to go over the new cable routing?
newbaums cloth tape, and a can of shellac?

Hey guys, i just got some time to finally do this conversion and i have a small question: Are the cable stops supposed to secure the housing tightly when everything is screwed tight? or is it just supposed hold the housing in place, and when everything is wired together, it will just stay in just fine?

I assumed that the cable stops would just lock on tight to the housing when i screw it tight, but that wasnt the case. And I thought that i bought the wrong size, since the width of my housing is 4mm

cable stops are just little cups that the ends of housing sit in. it is the tension of the cable inside the housing that keeps things from popping out.

not clear what you mean by your cable stop screwing onto the housing...
you may be looking at a barrel adjuster; these are used for fine tuning cable position for indexed shifting.

Did you put ferrules on the ends of the housing?

i bought these: https://www.rivbike.com/product-p/cad3.htm Theyre labelled as Cable stops, But i think they are barrel adjusters. I thought that when you tightened the barrel adjusters, it would hold the housing firmly in place. I'm gonna assume these can work as cable stops just fine. and yes, I did put on ferrules.

Yea they're both, its an adjustable housing stop that goes on the shift lever boss..

did you flatten, square off, the end of the housing , after you cut it to length?