My current set up seems to allow to stay on the drops and remain comfortable. I think a pair of friction barcons would be ideal for me because taking one hand off to shift in my present physical condition is a little too wibbly wobbly. Currently looking at two sets on Ebay. Which would you recommend?



Don't know much about barcons but I'm on a five speed freewheel and a low budget. New ones seem to be crazy expensive.

I would say go with the Sountour Power shifters they are way better shifter's than the Campy ones. This subject has been discussed at length here on the forums and the consensus seems to be the Suntour bar ends are some of the very best friction every made.

Suntour is considerably better to use than the Campy offerings, in my opinion, and I have used both on several different bicycles. Campy, however, pleases the eye and the ego.

Do the suntour shifters have a ratcheting action, while the campy shifters are pure friction? It might affect the performance.

Not that familiar with C&V Suntour barcon's, but I know that if it has the racheting friction function, it should be good.
I heard that the Campy barcon's are not really as good as most people think they might be, considering the high prices they go for, saying that, you might just also consider Simplex barcons, which does have a good reputation out there, and do come a bit cheaper than the Campy barcons. Best yet is if you can find the Retrofriction version of the Simplex barcons as it will give you the proven benefits of that shifting system, but those do not come cheap, I suspect quite a bit more than the Campy version, which do not have the Retrofriction feature.
In the end, it sounds like the Suntour version(s) would be the safest choice, performance and price-wise.......

The Suntour ones work better and usually go cheaper.

Wow, thanks for the quick replies everyone. Here is another Suntour pair for lots less but they look pretty bungled up:

Someone else is bidding on the campy shifters so I'll let them have them.

Keep in mind you are looking at bidding prices, the final price is not guaranteed. It could and probably will go up. I doubt those will stay at $20.

Quite bungled, stay away. I think $40 is a typical price for a decent working set.

Make sure that the set you get is complete. Often times the lock nut is lost. I have made replacements, but prefer original. When installing these days, I always use Loctite on the nuts. And...

In answer to a previous question - they do have the ratchet function and it is a pleasure to use.

As for banged up, no biggie. These were pretty scuffed but a file and a bit of wet/dry sand paper, followed by some polishing, cleaned em right up, even removing the Suntour pantograph...

Thanks. I have very little experience with Ebay, like zero. For the shifters I'm interested in it appears I'm the only bidder and the "auction" ends tonight shortly after midnight. What are my chances?

Those are missing the locknuts. And I'm not sure what drive train you have, but Shimano made some nice 7, 8, 9, or 10 speed indexed SIS bar end shifters. I personally prefer the Suntours, but that's another route.
-John

$45 sounds about like the expected price, so I'd give you a 50/50 chance of winning the auction.

E-Bay uses a "proxy" bid system. So, say you bid $100 on the item. If there are no more bidders, then you'll get it at the opening bid, $45. On the other hand, if someone bid $60, you'd still get the item (at about $62, or one bid increment higher).

Some bidders will bid multiple times. For that reason, there are a lot of bidders that will wait till the last moment and bid, effectively preventing other bidders from increasing their bid.

Anyway, don't be surprised if you go to bed with a winning bid at 12:30, and wake up the next morning having been outbid.

Fortunately, there are always more items on E-Bay. Miss one, and get the next.

Suntour bar ends seem to get a lot of love and when I've checked, they're priced accordingly, i.e. $50+.

If you're willing to go with brand new Shimano, these are $54: Shimano SL-BS64 8SPD Barend Shifters > S > Shimano | Jenson USA

They can be used in friction, which you would use for your 5-speed. They can also be used as indexed for 8-speed.

Good luck, have fun!

I'd go with SunTour. I have a couple of sets and like them very much.

I believe the shifters I have bid on have the locknuts if they are the slotted nuts opposite the phillips head screws shown here:

Suntour Bar End Friction Shifters Touring Bike Road Raleigh Schwinn Trek | eBay

If someone else gets these I might order those new shimanos tomorrow. For some reason BF is not letting me quote any of you right now, I must have broken the internet! So I will just say thank you all for the very informative replies!

The Suntours are better and worth waiting for. Really.

Thanks, and I'll try to be patient!

Rivendell has Shimano 8 speed bar end shifters for $68 (they work indexed or friction). That includes the cables and down tube stops. While I prefer Sun Tour, the Shimanos are quite a deal - and a while back they were on sale for $55.

I FC+1

although I will be in the market for a set of Campy ones myself soon. To complete a full campy randonneur build.

Pretty sure those are the same as what Jenson has for $54 and free shipping. However, Rivendell has these pods for $38 (plus shipping, $9 I think) if you have some vintage down tube shift levers that will fit: Silver Bar End Shifter Pods Mounts (Pair) - 17068

I use the Rivendell pods with some old suntour levers and think they work great. I've never used the vintage suntour bar ends and don't know what (other than the vintage aspect) would make them better than the Rivendell pods, or Shimano.

The length of the shift lever- the Barcons have a little stubby lever like the old Mighty thumbshifter. If you ever bump your shifters, you'd like the shorter levers.

Use eSnipe. Just about everybody else using ebay does so if you don't you will likely lose.

Those look complete and as randyjawa mentioned, they should clean up well with a bit of TLC. Good luck and if you don't get these, there will be more soon...

Well,it seems I was the only one on the internet looking for barcons last night. I guess I was the only bidder unless I owe a debt of gratitude to all of you for not outbidding Should have them next week hopefully. The seller has a 100% rating if that means much. I'll post pics of the finished product in the gas pipe thread but it may be awhile because its my daily rider and N+1 has not afflicted me yet. Maybe in the fall. Thanks again.