I am really starting to get into fixing up this 34 yo road bike..I have purchased a few NOS Campy parts and now everything that was on it is starting to look like crap. I am thinking I may want to dump the bar end shifters and try and find a nice set of downtube shifters and maybe find a nice condition set of side pull Campy brakes.

Any input on bar ends vs down tubes?? Center pull vs side pull??

Anyone have any of the above?

After owning and fixing BMW motorcycles (GSA's mainly) the money required to fix up a bicycle seems like a great deal.

Thanks

Mike

I only like bar end shifters on my touring bikes.
All my road bikes have downtube shifters. I don't think I've yet seen an Italian bike with bar end shifters, but not that it can't be done.
Something about Marinoni/Campy and Suntour bar-ends doesn't quite mix....
I like BMW's also. I currently have an 05' R1150GS Advenure.

I typically ride large frames with extra tall stems. With my set ups, the distance from the bars down to the downtube makes it downtube shifters rather unwieldy. I'm converting my bikes to bar end shifters.

That said, shifter location is rather personal. Some people prefer downtube. Some prefer downtube for certain bikes. I don't think anyone can tell you what you ought to do with your bike.

Center pull brakes are known to have a bit better braking power, though arent as easy or at least quick to set up compared to the sidepulls. All the real race bikes used sidepulls however with the exception of peugeot, at least till they switched to sidepulls anyways. Did campagnolo even make centerpulls? Think the ititalian bikes with centerpulls used universals.

downtubes vs bar ends.. well what do you prefer, thats all there is to that question. Downtube shifters are a few ounces lighter if thats worth anything to you. I'd be happy to take your bar end shifters off your hands however if you like the downtube shifting.

+1 Personal choice. The good news is that your bar ends have good value to them if you end up wanting to sell them.

+1 Bicycles are cheap to play with compared to motorcycles. Although two out of three of my motorcycles are Hondas, which are pretty cheap to keep up. But a set of tires alone is $300..

Bar-end shifters are a bit easier to deal with since they're mounted on the handlebars. In terms of aesthetics and function, I prefer downtube shifters, but bar-ends make more sense on my touring bike.

If we're talking about centerpulls vs. single-pivot sidepulls, centerpulls are, with very few exceptions, far superior in braking performance. I don't find them particularly hard to set up, except for MAFAC brakes, which are evil (but work just as well once you get the #$&! smooth-post pads installed correctly). Modern dual-pivot sidepulls, of course, pretty much blow centerpulls out of the water. Not in terms of maximum power, since a properly set-up centerpull with Kool-Stop pads and the right lever can lock up the front wheel, but the modulation on a dual-pivot sidepull is much superior.

I'm surprised that you think motorcycles are cheaper to fix than bikes. Bikes are about as cheap as it gets.

I do prefer to ride with bar end shifters but some of the real beautiful vintage rides I have seen on this forum seem to have down tubes and look more classic because of it. Sidepulls seem to complete the classic look. I know I'm gonna end up with more than one bike here.

Not to drift the thread too much but..I do have an '04 GSA and spend as much time as possible in western NC (also a KLR650) and western Colorado.

1. Depends on the vintage of the race bike. There was a time that centerpull brakes were widely accepted in the peleton. Several varieties seem to have been used, although in my pictures it seems like the MAFACs were very common.

2. No. Campagnolo did not make centerpulls, although early Dura Ace did.

3. Fausto sometimes used bar end shifters (or sometimes, one bar end and one downtube). That makes 'em good.

Funny, but I'm in the process of converting the downtube shifters on my Fuji S12-S (1981) to bar ends for the same reasons stated by IceNine (post #3). It is just too far a reach for me, and creates a distraction. Now I've never actually ridden with bar ends, so it will be a new experience. If it doesn't work for me, I'll consider stems, or go back to the downtubes.

I figure that the next bikes up in the Fuji line from mine, the S12 LTD and the America both came with bar ends, so it is period equipment correct. We wouldn't want to break any styling taboos!

Small reminder for when you go to remove the SunTour bar ends - they use what amounts to left hand threads - so righty loosy, lefty tighty. It is an oddball arrangement with a bolt driven in from within the handlebars, and a hex head receiver drilled into the end of the threaded shaft facing you.

Yeah, I ran across the same thing, only with me it's Triumphs. I still use the 'it's a lot cheaper' argument to spend a ridiculous amount of money.

Why are stem shifters so abhorred? Does everyone here hate them for the same reasons or is it a "only for cheap bikes thing" ? I don't get it cause I find them easy to use and at least for me I never have to fumble around to find them!

I've used both bar end shifters and down tube shifters.

ALL my bikes have down tube shifters, unless they are click shift. In a friction shifting system, precision is king and bar ends are less precise than a down tube set up.

Yeah, stem shifters usually indicate lower end to mid level stuff. My personal gripe with stem shifters is that if you ride in the drops they are almost impossible to use, at least I have had trouble. Other than that, I don't like the mess of clutter they create on the stem. I like stem shifters on bikes like Schwinn Suburbans though, they seem to be the most useful for upright riding.

Matt

Other options include Kelly Take Offs and Pauls Thumbies - both look like clever solutions, if ´inauthentic´

I dont care as long as its friction. Once you get used to downtube shifters, you will always miss them when they are not around

The other thing about stem shifters is they are conveniently pointed up and at you in case of a crash. As someone who crashed about a year ago and had my forehead hit the handle bars on the rebound, well stem shifters would most likely have impacted somewhere on my face.

Both types of shifters are fine. I put Ultegra 8-spd barends in friction mode on my wife's 86 Bianchi with a 7-spd freewheel and she likes them much better than the downtube shifters they replaced. They also look sharp. She says it gives her more of a cockpit feel and lets her keep her eyes on the road. I have a 61cm frame with the post and stem up high and use downtube shifters, and must say that sometimes I am hunting for them down there somewhere, but I like the classic look.

My '79 Raleigh has all campy stuff - it's got side pulls and down tube shifters, and they work great. Honestly, I can lift the back tire braking, with narrow 23c tubulars.

Deltas and Elucid

I've had bikes with just about any version of these things on them at one time or another. It's just a matter of opinion, of course...

I disliked bar end shifters. There's more cable clutter, for one thing, and it always seemed awkward to me to have the shifters so far away from the centreline of the bike. It seemed more natural to just reach straight down for the shifters. I much prefer mechanical simplicity, especially on any bike that looks or is Italian. Italian and "touring bike" are two concepts that just don't mix. The Italians have always considered road riding and touring to be the same thing, with the same bicycle requirements in terms of geometry and positioning for comfortable efficiency. So, unless you plan on heavy touring, I see no point in putting touring paraphernalia on a road bike that was not intended for them in the first place.

I had Mafac centrepulls for a long time. Again, I think it's a matter of simplicity. Quality sidepulls work just the same, but with less clutter (no need for hangers, just the brakes themselves). If it's a good quality vintage road bike, looks do matter, and I like a clean, uncluttered bike.

When I was a kid and lived in England a lot of racers used bar ends. Obviously they let you shift and keep your hands on the bars when there's a lot going on.

Bar-ends are best for loaded touring bikes and cyclocross where you don't always want to take your hands off the bars to shift. The longer cable run and extra curves makes them a little less responsive than downtube levers with friction shifting at least.

For me, it's having those sticks pointed right at my 'nads that gets me.

The Euclid is a centerpull brake, but the Delta is a parallelogram-actuated brake: