RFC

I am building up a 7-speed and 7-speed bar ends are very hard to find.

Thanks

RFC

hxzero

Rivendell has bar-end shifter pods that purportedly let you mount DT shifters as barcons.

RFC

Thanks. I had forgotten about that option. However, if I recall correctly, you are stuck with friction shifting.

hxzero

Rivendell also sells Ultegra barcons that they say index with 7-speed. If you really want indexing, I guess you could go that route.

RFC

Friction v. indexed is sort of a Methodist v. Lutheran debate. Personally, I think indexing is a very valuable innovation (hell, an innovation more than 20 years old).

cs1

Velo Orange sells the exact shifters: https://www.velo-orange.com/diacosibash.html You can always call and see if the have just the mounts. If not buy the whole unit swap your DT shifters and sell the shifiters. Those are actually SunTour ratcheting mechanisms built under license. They are very popular. Good luck

Tim

miamijim

There a variety of ways to skin a cat.....you didnt specificaly say you wanted bar-ends......

You can use old Shimano Rapidfire levers and mount them near the stem. These wont work as one with 'metal' bands are required:
https://cgi.ebay.com/SHIFTER-SHIMANO-...QQcmdZViewItem

Of course there's always this option:
https://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-SUNTOUR-...QQcmdZViewItem

Shimano thumb shifters work as well....these have friction option!!!
https://cgi.ebay.com/Shimano-Tourney-...QQcmdZViewItem


You could always bid on 1 of the 2 sets of 7-speed barends on Ebay.....

Grand Bois

Ultegra 8 speed bar end shifters work just fine as 7 speed shifters. Sheldon Brown said so and so do I.

curbtender

Hey dave, go fly a kite...

SteakKnifeSally

If you can find em, you could use kelly take-offs. I think someone may have listed suntour command shifters too.

RFC

Thanks guys. All good comments. Thumbshifters sound like a good idea. Now for the ignorant question.

I assume that if I want 7-speed indexed, I need to get Shimano 7-speed indexed thumbshifters, right?

unworthy1

unless you want to find all the old SunTour Accushift stuff, meaning cassette and shifters. You can make any brand RD shift the gears, but I think you need the SunTour indexing (levers) to match the SunTour cog spacing (cassette). Tho I'm sure somebody will say they've done otherwise and will now tell us how.

miamijim

Maybe, maybe not. alot of the shimano 6-speed levers can be 'overshifted' and used with 7-speed cassettes/freewheels. To play it safe make sure everything is matched. The key to thumbshifters is the used of METAL mounts. Metal mounts can be bend accordingly and fastened with longer bolts. Aluminum mounts are NOT flexible.

+1 for good advice.....

Back in my old shop days we were never able to get a satisfactory mix-n-match of components. Regardless of what one may stumble upon out there on the 'net its always best to properly match components.

squirtdad

You can use Paul's Thumbies ....to attach shifters to https://www.paulcomp.com/

cs1

Next to the barcons, which can be indexed, the Thumbies are the best solution. They come in road and MTB bar diameters, which is real nice for drop bar conversions. Good luck

Tim

dcullen

Find a set of Kelly takeoffs https://www.kellybike.com/images/takeoff_photo.jpg

Grand Bois

Thumbies are nice, but expensive. I made my own from some junk Suntour mounts. The shifters are 8 speed Ultegra and the cassette is a 7 speed. It works flawlessly.

cyclotoine

Those are phenominal, was any modification nescessary? WHat model of shifters were they?

Edit: I just searched ebay etc... and came up with not much. You could likely adapt barcons to similar steel thumbshifter mounts but the nice alloy suntours are scarce and to buy an NOS set from First Flight costs more than paul thumbies! and they don't have a friction mode.... I'll probably end up buying the paul thumbies.

Ashen

There is definitely an adaptor that allows for using DT shifters as bar ends, and retains indexing. I have it on my tandem at home. I'll take a look at the details (bought used) but I think the first owner said it was the rivendell part.

Grand Bois

You simply mount indexing downtube shifters on the Rivendell pod. You can also mount downtube indexing shifters on a Shimano bar end shifter pod. The Rivendell pods are direct copies of Shimano pods. The only real difference is that the Rivendells don't say Shimano on them.

Most any downtube shifter can be made to fit them:

Lamplight

Thumbies work great, and you can still use indexing. I have them on two of my bikes. And as someone else said, you can use 8-speed shifters as well. Just set the limit screws so that the last shift won't move the derailleur. I use 8-speed Ultegra barcon levers on Paul Thumbies with great success.

miamijim

Now that I'm thinking.....Shimano had some under the bar 'butterfly' shifters that worked great.

If you look at dirtdrops picture.....you can do the same thing with road bike bars but you must have METAL brackets. We would mount them right up tight next to the stem.

miamijim

Here they are....these will mount next to the stem.

https://cgi.ebay.com/SHIMANO-RAPID-FI...QQcmdZViewItem

https://cgi.ebay.com/Shimano-Exage-Tr...dZp1638Q2em122