New replace the shifter cables. Which cable fits the Suntour Barcon shifter? Thanks.

I just use ordinary stainless steel road bike cables and modern casings. Never had a problem. In my opinion, the cables work just find with any vintage road bike although, sometimes I do have to file the diameter of the cable ends a bit to make them fit into Suntour downtube shifters. But they work perfect on my Bianchi...

BITD, the Barcons used a longer braided cable for flexibility with the naked cable housing.

If I were setting a bike up now, I’d use lined “index” housing with appropriate end caps and stainless cable. The end caps would be tricky- IIRC, the shifter end needs to step down like a fitting for a “divers helmet” stop. If the frame’s large I might start with a tandem-length cable to allow smooth housing bends.

It might depend on which model of barcon.
The original ones have only a small shallow seat for the cable outer - 4mm dia and about 2mm deep.
They rely on the outer being held in position by whatever bar covering you use; done properly this works well enough.
So if you can't find the correct step-down ferrules it shouldn't be a big issue[1].

A useful trick I devised is to get a thin plastic tube, just larger than your outer, and wrap *that* - with the outer within.
I found the local hobby shop sold length of music wire in exactly the right size tubes.
This means you can change outers without destroying your bar wrap job.

[1] If you can't but absolutely must have proper-sized ferrules let me know, I made mine, easy to do more.

Lathes are cool, I can't imagine living without one. Next best thing is knowing a guy who has one, and knowing what kind of beer, whiskey or bike parts he likes, to bribe him with.

Today I needed just one of those doodads to step down a rim hole from shrader to presta, and making one was way faster than riding to the bike shop (who might not even stock them), or ordering one from the web and waiting for delivery. Last month I made an axle spacer to space a Bitex freehub out 5 mm wider, and some bearing-setting tools for working on Maxicar hubs. It's not rocket surgery, but it was fun.

That's how I justify it anyway.

Sorry, I should have posted a photo of the shifters. The bike is a Fuji TS IV and the cables are frayed and dirty. The housings at the drops look to have been replaced at some point. Thanks for the replies!

Classics. I’m convinced these would survive a nuclear apocalypse.

I just use standard compressionless cable on my Accushift Barcons. If I were friction shifting I would use whatever shift cable you want. I like to file the ends down after cutting the cable so everything sits nice and snug and no one judges my workmanship if they take it apart after I die.

This is kind of a genius level move. Especially for any shallackers out there.

Exactly:

I use the compressionless shifter housing and slick cable in stainless steel. I like Jagwire. This combination is smooth enough that some of the BikeForum member run the cables all the way under the handlebar tape up to near the stem. I don't but it is a good gauge of how smoothly this combination works.


Notice in the picture above that a ferrule is needed to get a good fit into the cable end stop on the down tube. The kits from Jagwire include some small accoutrements that are handy.

Housing all the way up to near the stem is my preferred way, and I use the ancient unlined stainless housing that came with Campy and Suntour pre-index bar-ends. Smooth enough for me.



Mostly because that plays nice with a big boxy bag, but also partly for historical reasons. This is a '50s bike, and pro racers in the '50s often used bar-ends, always with the cable under the tape all the way up.

Charly Gaul, dunno what year or race but maybe the '56 Giro, which he won:

He also won the '58 TdF, but wore his national team jersey for that race. (It was contested only by national teams for a few years, I forget which years.)

Coppi and Koblet, '51 TdF, which Koblet won. Bartali also used Campy bar-end shifters that year. Taped all the way up of course.

Fun Fact: In the 1951 TdF, there were only 6 Campy parallelogram derailers in the whole race, and they all used bar-ends. The DT shifters were shown in the 1951 catalog but not seen on any pro bikes until later. So at least for Campy, bar-ends pre-date downtube shifters.

I'm in between. I run the cable housing under the bar tape until right where the tape has to go around the brake lever. That is a natural opening for the housing and it works perfectly.
I've also run the housing to the end of the tape, as Bulgie suggests. That works great as well. If it matters I also use Jagwire housing.

In the photo you can see how I have taped the housing just under the brake levers on Pepto the Peugeot PX. Sorry the bag is in the way, but you can see how the cables run to the stop on the down tube.