Lascauxcaveman 

I agree with the beef on brifters; they are mushy and imprecise-feeling on the actual shifting. They are pretty finicky about being adjusted just so. You bend your RD hanger (or RD itself) somewhere back in the woods, you're kinda screwed. Having said that, I like them well enough to have them on three of my bikes. The only problem I've had once I got them dialed in is getting used to being on the hoods all the time. Not my normal place.

On the main subject, I like barcons a lot. Enough to have them on, uh, three of my bikes, too. One of which actually has a bent RD hanger (also stripped, with a slightly wobbly "dropout saver" insert), but with the friction option, it's no problem. The main benefit I see with barcons is if you're used to riding in the drops, as I am, your hands are already right there, on the shifters or an inch away; very close. Never a reason to look down to shift, or move away from your hands in the most stable bike handling position. Eyes on the road, hands on the drops, steady as can be.

I'm not going to say, "Oh yeah; want barcons on all my bikes." What fun would that be? Gotta mix things up to keep it interesting.

rhm

I'm baffled. You actually like integrated shifters?

I loath them. On any ride over 70 miles or so, my fingers get too tired to shift. I don't think I'll ever use them again.

My current favorite setup is a bar end shifter, indexed or not, for the rear derailleur; Down tube shifter for the front.

Reynolds 

When you're used to them, you don't have to look down to shift, it becomes as natural as disengaging your pedal. Been using DT shifters for years and never had any problem.

nesteel 

I have an even split between DT, bar end, and integrated shifters. Like them all equally, for their intended purpose on the bike they're installed upon. Don't really get the hate for any one style in particular.

Andy_K 

I was a little worried about that, but it hasn't been a problem for me. Maybe it's my combination of short stem and short reach bars that make it work out.

Slightspeed

What's not to like about bar ends? My '64 Legnano came with them, and I've liked them ever since. My first real bike, a Schwinn Continental, came with down tube shifters, but I never really liked them. 20 years ago I picked up a Bianchi with down tubes, but indexed Exage. It was OK till a car killed the frame, with me on it. I used most of the parts on a new Nashbar frame, with Sora combination brake / shifters. (Don't like the "brifters" word for some reason). I also ride Di2, which I love, but when I built up my '73 Super Course, went back to bar ends, this time Suntour with ratchets. Funny thing, the other day, I was riding my Di2 bike and reached for the nonexistent bar ends out of habit. Too many choices.

Current score:
Bar ends: 2
Mech STI: 2
Di2: 1
N+1: Probaby Bar con.

The Golden Boy 

Hence the question- you do know you're in C&V, right?

ollo_ollo

+1 on that. My herd has nearly doubled in the past 18 months, So thought I'd do a survey: Brifters-5, Stem-1, Down Tube 7, Bar Con-2, Rotate on bar-1, SA 3 spd lever-1.

I actually like them all. Don't have trouble adapting as I switch from bike to bike. Pedals are clipless, toe clip and platform variants.

Incidentally, some mighty fine custom randonneur bikes being made up in Olympia, WA, Down Tube and Bar Con shifters still preferred by some. https://thompsoncustombicycles.com/photos/ Don

gugie 

[QUOTE=Andy_K;20028671]and, yes, I have had a brifter fail on me in the middle of nowhere and had to 3-speed it home)...
[QUOTE**

It's somewhere between "they never break" and "they break a lot". I've know of a few people who had brifters fail on them for one reason or another. In my mind, they're a high(er) risk, high reward product. When they work right, they're about perfect.

I just like being able to fix anything that breaks in the middle of nowhere. When I was riding competitively, I'd make the tradeoff in a heartbeat. Now I ride cooperatively, I just want my gear to be very durable, with a high tolerance for error.

In nearly 45 years of riding, I've never had to make the call of shame. I've used both baling wire and duct tape (literally on both counts) to finish a ride. I've gone down deraileur side and bent a hanger, broken spokes, tore tire casings, SPD cleats tear off, pedals unscrew (twice), an aluminum rack break, and various other part failures. But I was able to patch it up and ride to where I was headed. I can't imagine losing the ability to shift with a few thousand feet of climbing and dozens of miles left to go.

This is not to say I'm anti-brifter. I might build a bike with them some day, but it'll be a fast, day ride from my house bike. I just don't see a huge advantage to them.

There are horses for courses.

gugie 

I have @Slightspeed's problem. I switch from one bike to another, it sometimes reach around for a shifter that ain't there.

ollo_ollo

That used to happen back in my commuter days whenever I rode a bike with a different set-up from the daily. Now, I rotate through all of them and enjoy the variety. Don

79pmooney

I've never had barcons and never really wanted them. I guess it is because I like riding the drops so much with my hands into the bends. I don't like having to move up to shift and I don't think I would like moving back much more. But the very natural swing of my arm to down tube shifters has always felt right. I have wondered if barcons would come into their own on a loaded touring bike at slow speeds.

Brifters? Not there yet. In fact not even close. Maybe someday when down tube shifters stop working.

Ben

twodownzero

I can't speak from experience, but it sounds like you need to take it a step further and go to electronic shifters. Nothing is easier to shift.

For the rest of you: I love C&V bikes as much as anyone. I just think they're so much better some modern upgrades. I also don't think that everything that is newer is necessarily better. In many ways, there have been relatively few real innovations in bicycles in a long, long time. Many things other people think are actually innovations, I don't.

But integrated shifters aren't in that camp, at all. They are a huge, huge game changer. That's why almost every bike on the market with drop bars--even very cheap entry level bikes--are using them.

I was at Sears today and I realized that we're living in such great times that some people don't realize just how great it is. A woman got angry and walked out of the store because the clerk couldn't help her immediately. I had waited my turn in line to get my warranty replacement torx drivers and I was shocked at the behavior I saw from the lady who walked out, but now that I think about it, I understand. I have fond childhood memories of the "Wish book" and all the amazing things Sears once was. Now it's just a shell of its former greatness. As much as I try to make Sears be what it once was while I'm there, it's just not. The same is true of a lot of 19th and 20th Century technology. We all remember when that's all there was, so we fail to see what would be wrong with using an IBM PC XT for everything like I did 25 years ago. The only way to really appreciate how great modern stuff has become is to try to boot up an old 486 and try to get on the internet. If you don't believe me and you happen to have one, try it sometime.

All new stuff isn't better, but having shifting and braking at one's fingertips while on the bike isn't something I'd ever be without in the 21st Century, and this is coming from a guy who rides 100+ miles a day sometimes on a 36 pound steel bike. But if my attitude about this subject surprises you or seems irrational, that's fine. It's a big world with plenty of room for more preferences. But you will not convince me that bar ends or downtube shifters are better for me. No worries, though. I'll ride with all of you just the same.

KonAaron Snake 

[QUOTE=gugie;20029266]I love brifters...especially ergos...and have them on the bikes I use most often, but they're just not as durable/reliable. It's just silly to claim they are.

It doesn't mean they break all of the time, but I HAVE broken STI's in a crash. They DO get gummed up. They have springs that wear out. In a zombie apocalypse, you'd take the bike with DT shifters or barcons.

gugie 

I think the defensive nature of all the comments you're reading is because you came out of the gate early in this thread and claimed that everything else was extinct, and insinuated that brifters didn't have any downside.

Most of the comments don't read as anti-brifter. Yours came off as anti-everything but brifter.

You wrote: "Bar end shifters, stem shifters, and downtube shifters are extinct. It's mind boggling to me that people are even still riding bicycles so equipped in the 21st Century." You're essentially calling anybody that doesn't prefer riding brifters an idiot or a luddite.

Consider the appropriateness of that statement.

HTupolev

What do you consider to be hugely game-changing about them?

Compared with bar-ends, the main perk I see with brifters is that shifting out of the saddle is considerably easier. That's handy at critical moments in very sprited riding, particularly sprints. For steadier endurance riding I wouldn't say it matters much at all.

The secondary perk is that you can more easily drop gears while braking into a stop. However, I don't think this is a very big deal; it's very easy to drop tons of gears at once with simple lever shifters, and you can nearly always find a safe window while slowing down to make the arm movement to do it. The worst-case scenario here is usually not a big deal, you either have to start from a too-high gear or spin your drivetrain to shift while stopped.

For what it's worth, I do think that brifters are one of the biggest changes that bicycles experienced in the modernization of the 80s and 90s, and usually preferable overall. I don't get why it would be "mind-boggling" that some people still use the older shifters, however.

neamatoad

Gracious. Nothing incites such passionate, borderline irrational, responses like questioning someone's personal preferences...

I like to enjoy every bike for what it is; no sense in having a collection of a dozen or so bikes that all ride the same

Andy_K 

Wow, you really are retro.

styggno1

I like all kinds of shifters. They all have their merits. I am in need of gears and that makes shifters a good thing where ever they are placed...

Non indexing BES 7 speed on the tourer.



10 speed indexing BES on the credit card tourer.



And the elctronic CV alternative - which is very convenient - Mavic ZAP for a TT bike.




Brifters for the out of saddle sprinting for the line bike.



Indexing DT shifters for the lazy retro days



Friction DT for anytime and everywhere



I am just happy there are gears. How to change them is a matter of what suits the purpose.

Cougrrcj

I have put SunTour ratcheting friction barcons on ALL of my road/touring bikes. I've been using them for over 40 years now, and NEVER had a problem with them.

Index shifting? Bah! Too many incompatibilities between brands and number and/or spacing of cogs. Maybe they've become more standardized of late, but the 'problems' with the first systems back in the mid '80s turned me off. Besides, I only have six-speed freewheels on the rear of all of my rides anyway.

Brifters? The bicycle 'fit' I use is not compatible to ride on the hoods, so that whole thing is a non-starter. I ride on the top of the bars, on the 'shoulders' where they start to bend forward, or in the drops - I like to vary my hand position due to road or traffic conditions. I prefer a more stretched-out fit of a 'too-big' frame as opposed to feeling cramped on a smaller frame.

I'll be using my SunTour friction-shift barcons until I die!

nlerner

I've always liked index shifting:

52telecaster

back in 1998 i bought a bianchi sanremo with 8 speed campy brifters. its was really terrific. i now use bar ends exclusively. this probably makes me way stupid.

wrk101

On the touring bike discussion, durability is real if you are into vintage bikes. I recently moved from a 1984 touring bike to a "newer" model, a 1989 touring bike.

When I come across mid 1990s STI levers (Shimano branded), 90% are dead. I'd put the useful life of STI levers at around ten years, maybe fifteen, depending on storage condition and amount of use. Then you have the issue of lever hoods, of course the older ones are way out of production. Thanks Shimano....

Sure, I could swap them out with some craptastic new Tourney or similar level shifters at a reasonable cost. But the better ones are not cheap, and the good 8 or 9 speed are no longer made. Meanwhile, I can still buy brand new Shimano Ultegra level bar end shifters, which is what I put on my 1989 touring bike. Its also what I have on my 1988 Cimarron LE drop bar conversion.

Also, I personally MUCH prefer friction front shifting. Campy Ergos are OK with their multiple clicks for trimming. Shimano, not so hot.

rccardr 

To get back to the OP's original posting, only bar end shifters really satisfy the 'correct application, period correct' mantra.

While NR downtube shifters on a band would work, they are neither period correct nor (without a holding tab) the correct application. Yes, a dab of Shoo Goo on the bottom of the down tube would keep them from slipping and yes, a layer of clear packing tape would ameliorate any paint damage, but the unused cable stops on the head tube would annoy the heck out of me.

STI shifters are all well and good & the correct application if you like them, but none are period correct. Dura Ace 7403 is the closest you'll come, and those were introduced at least two years later than your frame was made. They also require a matching rear and possibly front derailleur, although (again, if it were me) a full group would be a better choice for a frame that nice. That would use the cable stops and save the paint, only at the expense -aside from the $- of being acceptable to the snobbier among us.

The frame was set up for bar ends, can't be denied. Not a huge fan of the ones on there, and others have recommended ones that would be more attractive.

Bottom line is, you have an oddball frame that sits at the very end of friction downtube/friction bar end groups and the very beginning of indexed SIS like Dura Ace, Shimano 6208 and Suntour Alpha. If none of those appeal to you, might be a good idea to sell it off, buy that cross bike you want, and enjoy the other vintage rides in your fleet.

jimmuller 

I'm impressed that this thread generated four pages in just 24 hours. Impressive.

Re the original question, I have tried barcons on only one bike but I was not impressed. Actually, I was dis-impressed (de-impressed? depressed? unimpressed isn't the right word) for several reasons. It would seem to make no sense to put shifters there unless you will be riding the drops most of the time, which some of us do and some of us don't. It puts the shifting action out on a lever arm that affects the steering. The lever position does not seem to fall into the hand in a way that can be controlled with subtle dexterity. Inotherwords, it made things harder for me without offering any real benefit.

But I won't argue with anyone who finds them wonderful.