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Old 01-13-26 | 01:20 PM
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Old Bar End Shifters

Hello, I have a mismatched pair of bar end shifters that I took off of my old 3x8 Marin that had been converted to drop bars. They worked well there. I now have a new/used 3x9 bike that I'd like to convert to drop bars. I believe that they are just friction. I will attach pictures. One is Raleigh, and the other is Suntour. They each say the same company name on both sides of their lever. Will the right lever work on a 9 speed? Thank you!




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Old 01-13-26 | 01:34 PM
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They are both SunTour shifters despite the Raleigh rubber cover. In my experience those old Suntour levers are great but do not pull enough cable to work with a nine speed cassette. Maybe someone else here has made them work, though - i am certain we will hear if so!

EDIT to dad tht I was always trying the Suntour shifters with a Campagnolo cassette. Maybe that explains why I was not able to get the shifters to work, as they apparently do for Shimano cassettes
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Old 01-13-26 | 02:02 PM
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I’m wondering if you can put something in the cable channel to make it slightly larger in circumference and get a bit more cable pull?
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Old 01-13-26 | 07:12 PM
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Thank you so much for your input. Can you recommend a reasonable pair of bar end shifters for a 3x9 set-up? I do not need indexed shifting. I'm used to friction, and it's less to break.
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Old 01-13-26 | 07:36 PM
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Originally Posted by ehallerm@gmail.
Thank you so much for your input. Can you recommend a reasonable pair of bar end shifters for a 3x9 set-up? I do not need indexed shifting. I'm used to friction, and it's less to break.
Microshift are nice. And not too expensive. Sometimes you can find them on ebay and they have a friction mode I think.
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Old 01-13-26 | 07:41 PM
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https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw...Condition=3000

A lot of good choices in the $30-50 range.
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Old 01-13-26 | 11:16 PM
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Originally Posted by ehallerm@gmail.
Hello, I have a mismatched pair of bar end shifters that I took off of my old 3x8 Marin that had been converted to drop bars. They worked well there. I now have a new/used 3x9 bike that I'd like to convert to drop bars. I believe that they are just friction. I will attach pictures. One is Raleigh, and the other is Suntour. They each say the same company name on both sides of their lever. Will the right lever work on a 9 speed? Thank you!
I have them on my daily driver before the one I ride now, they were put on for last Eroica in Cambria CA 2023, had to go analog and left it that way.

They work great in all conditions, Campy 9 speed triple, same SunTour bar cons, fantastic.






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Old 01-13-26 | 11:43 PM
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I had Suntour bar end shifters with a 9 speed cassette on a bike for a while and it worked fine, but it might have just been luck that the intervals were perfect--I doubt there is much room for error. I certainly didn't do anything clever to make it work, it was just a bin build that I threw together.
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Old 01-14-26 | 03:54 AM
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Originally Posted by albrt
I had Suntour bar end shifters with a 9 speed cassette on a bike for a while and it worked fine, but it might have just been luck that the intervals were perfect--I doubt there is much room for error.
"Intervals" don't matter for friction shifting (which is what those shifters do).
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Old 01-14-26 | 06:50 AM
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If you set everything just right it may work.

As jdawg mentioned, Mircoshift, and also Shimano both make ones that will certainly work. I have experience with the Shimano bar end shifters. They work either as friction or indexed with the turn of a d-ring.
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Old 01-14-26 | 08:07 AM
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As I posted in the other thread, I’ve used these up to 10 speed with no issues, using Suntour and Shimano derailleurs.
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Old 01-14-26 | 08:36 AM
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Originally Posted by oneclick
"Intervals" don't matter for friction shifting (which is what those shifters do).
Sorry, bad use of terminology on my part, I wasn't thinking about index (because I never think about index), I was thinking about the total amount of cable pull versus the total interval from 1-9.
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Old 01-14-26 | 08:56 AM
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Also of note - 8-10 speed cassettes all have the same overall width, so shifter throw shouldn’t be an issue unless you’re using a SRAM 1:1 or more modern Shimano derailleur that requires more pull.
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Old 01-14-26 | 09:16 AM
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I use Suntour bar ends like this on 5 of my bikes that use 9-speed cassettes. Not a problem at all. They work just fine.
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Old 01-14-26 | 09:41 AM
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Another option is the Dia-Compe ENE shifters, which can pull enough cable for ten speed cassettes. At Velo Orange: https://velo-orange.com/products/dia...r-end-shifters
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Old 01-14-26 | 12:52 PM
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Another successful 9 speed/Suntour barcon user here. PX-10 with an Ultegra rear derailleur. Shifts great.


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