Downtube shifting on a Centurion- 10 speed
 

Some of you might know but I recently got a Centurion Ironman and have begun the build up. The frame is clean and polished, Compact double crankset installed, ten speed wheels installed, front and rear derailleurs installed.

The rub came when I went to install the late model 10 speed Tiagra brifters. A little voice inside my head made me stop and rethink. Those original aero levers are dead sexy, way beyond the clunky Tiagra brifters. And the original downtube shifting seemed agreeable during the ride I did before teardown.

I am now leaning heavily on buying a set of the Shimano Dura Ace 10 speed downtube shifters. I understand these are indexed on the rear shifter and fully compatible with the late model Tiagra rear derailleur and friction shift front lever, also compatible with the Tiagra double front derailleur. Awesome. Sounds perfect. Am I missing anything here ?

Second, brake levers. My bike is a Suntour GPX equipped bike and the brake hoods are trash. The levers are a bit too scuffed up to please me too. So, that leads me to my second issue....What is a high quality set of new aero brake levers to search for ? I'm not looking at NOS Shimano 600 budget here but I see some newer style Shimano levers (reported to rattle on every review I read), Tektro, etc. I'm open to suggestions.

If my game plan with the late model Tiagra stuff and ten speed downtube shifters is flawed, please speak up. Same with the brake levers.

Thank you, and I welcome any input from those more experienced than I.

im very happy with cane creek scr-5's (classier) and sram s500's (moderner)

ive been interested to try TRP RRL's, heard good things also

I also have Cane Creek SCR-5s and find them nice and comfortable. They are available with gum hoods to match nicely with C&V rides, or plain black. I also have a pair of Tektro V brake levers and compared to the Cane Creek equivalent levers the quality is the same. Tektros are almost half the price, I'd probably pick them over the SCR-5s now, though I've heard they're a bit narrower. They're both made by the same company, Tektros just have different hoods.

+ lots on the Dura Ace DT shifters.

As far as brake levers, the BL400's work fine, or some used Shimano 105, or 600, or aero DiaCompe, even Exage or RX100 had some nice aero levers. I believe there were some on the FS thread not long ago, fairly good condition. The SLR's have fairly compatible hoods, other than the DA, which for some reason just had to be different. CL also has these from time to time. I prefer the Modolos pictured, but it's because I ride the drops, and this particular model has a pulley at the front of the lever body, with the cable end actually inserted about 2/3 up the lever. This extra leverage makes them easy to modulate, especially in the drops.

If you get some anodized, and want polished, you can remove the anno and polish up, labor-intensive, though. All that work makes me think of Tektro's, TRP's, Cane Creeks, and now SRAM has some in black.

Brake levers, aero routed, are still fairly plentiful and not expensive. You will like DT shifters, especially DA 10-sp.

http://i.imgur.com/Sisa4mt.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ae2xRGG.jpg