BigFinner

Hi

I want to put my downtube shifters on my stem just like an IRD stem shift mount. https://www.rivbike.com/products/ird...-shifter-mount

However I am not real keen on paying $50 US and then almost another $50 Us in shipping to Canada and then another $50 in exchange rate! So has anyone figured out how to build one of these with a down-tube shifter mount on a stem and then somehow adding some cable end barrel adjusters?

It might be interesting to see how much ingenuity is out there.

Essentially this. Just not costing an arm and a leg.

3speedslow

Simplex had stem mounted shifters with cable adjusters back in the 70's.

Chombi1 

Interesting........
Back in the 80's many of us went to great lengths to try and move our stem shifters down to our downtubes.....I even made up stories that stem shifters are dangerous and could hurt your upper body in a crash, just to convince my younger brother to hurry up and get clamp on downtime shifters for his Peugeot P8 so he will look "respectable" enough when he rides......
Now people are putting them back up there??..........this must be Devo......

CoRide59

SunRace will set you up cheap.

https://goo.gl/1D5Ps4

Do an Ebay search on "stem shifter" and loads of stuff comes up. If nothing else, you should be able to find a decent mounting strap to mount a nicer set of levers on.

Salamandrine 

So true! D E V O

I'd think the easy way out would be to buy some old Suntour power shifters off ebay or whatever. I'm suspect they'd be available for 20 bucks or so. Easy way out is often the best.

If the OP is really determined, fabricating an adapter would be possible, but the time spent could be worth more than the cost of buying one.

Vintage_Cyclist

It's only Devo if you wear the approved bicycle helmet.

CliffordK

I would look at some of the vintage used stem shifters, if only to use the mounting block with your preferred levers. Although, I find the modern chains/freewheels/cassettes pretty forgiving for friction shifting.

Suntour?

No need for a trimming adjuster at the shifter if using friction shifting.

Lascauxcaveman 

Yeah, unless you're indexing, the cable adjustment barrels are irrelevant.

IVARR

machining work is not cheap.
fins a machine shop, get something smaller done, and try to make a friend ...

bertinjim 

Simplex stem shifters here: VINTAGE SIMPLEX STEM SHIFTERS - USED | eBay

noglider 

@BigFinner, I have a set of old SunTour stem shifters, the big, long kind. They have a ratcheting mechanism. I'll send them to you for a small amount. Email me at the address below if you're interested.

AZORCH

And if that doesn't work out, I'm pretty sure I've a couple sets hanging about as well.

m

Chombi1 

Fahrenheit531 

Heck, I threw a pair of PowerShift stem shifters into the Box o' Crap at one point. Relatively easy to come by (I paid six or eight bucks at the co-op) and solid performance. I'm gonna join the gang saying this is probably your best first option.

Road Fan

.

Wow, you could attach a headlight, a GoPro, a mirror on each side, and headphones!

John E

Yup -- short-lived evolutionary dead-end on the UO-8. I worked at Bikecology, a Peugeot/Nishiki dealership, from mid 1972 through mid 1974, and saw these come and go. They were finicky and, because of cable housing compression, never did work anywhere near as well as the downtube counterparts which preceded and followed them.

Since moving a hand inboard and upward is destabilizing, I have never liked stem shifters. (I also carry the bias, mentioned by others, that in the 1970s the good bikes had downtube levers, or occasionally barcons, whereas the cheapo bikes had stem shifters.) Have you considered barcons, instead? The non-indexed SunTour ratchet units are still my all-time favorite hands-on-the-bars shifters.

ramzilla

I wouldn't over think this. You can still find NOS Suntour stem shifters on ebay for around $20 - $30. The Suntour ratcheting power shifters were some of the best shifters ever made.

dddd

The very long ratcheting Suntour stem levers with the heavy pivot mounting box arrangement give a good solid grip, and are available with the pivot shaft either ahead of or behind the stem quill. Longer stem bikes prefer the pivot to be in front of the stem quill, much like the big Schwinn Twin-Stick "stem" levers that actually mount to the steer tube between headset nut and cone. The Schwinn levers are heavy like the Suntour levers, and are a similarly good choice.


Note relatively longer stem with corresponding forward-of-quill lever pivot location. It's a really good setup that shifts well:

Fahrenheit531 

Returning to the OP's original question, looks like the short answer is, "Nope."

63rickert

Find a steel stem. Take it to a frame builder or to a LBS that does minor frame repair. Braze on a pair of shifter bosses. If you can find an appropriate stem and don't require perfect chrome this need not cost much.

Alternatively there were 70s/80s French stems with built in shifter bosses. Not common, they do exist. Finding one with useful length and height for your purposes might be hard. Just finding one would be a matter of patience.