hello here,

well I am bulding my second bike from a NOS Daccordi Colombus EL frame I bought recently and I'd like to install stem shifters better than sti or bar end or thumbies..

It looks like I can't find any good quality stem shifters, only 6 or 7 speed $10 stem shifters.

I am wrong or is it someway to install downtube shifters on a (nitto technomic) stem?

thank you

frederic

Stem shifters I'm not sure about but DT shifters it's possible. Shimano make them in 8 and 10 speed. I am using SL-R400 8 speed shifters mounted on Campagnolo Friction shifter bosses from the early 80s (perfect fit). Shimano also have DA 7900 10 speed DT shifters. I am very happy with mine, the shifts are very precise and fast. You do still have to take your hands off the bars but you can drop three or four gears at a time and it retains the look of a classic bike.

Unless you can jury-rig something, I think you will have to use friction shifters if you want to mount them on the stem and go 9 speed.

Is it possible that one of those crap sets of cheap stem shifters will have posts that are compatible with decent DT shift levers?

Or, and this won't be cheap, have a frame builder braze you up a custom stem with shifter posts and cable stops.

Sorry to hijack a thread, but do they make indexed 6-speed DT shifters?

Frederic,

I tried this once, just out of curiosity I put a 9 speed wheel onto an old bike with Suntour friction stem shifters with the normal 7 speed drivetrain (cranks, derailers, and chain) in place. I only pedaled it while on the stand, running through the rear gears from top to bottom (with a minor adjustment on the limits) and it covered the gear range, although the chain (7-8 speed) seemed to have a hard time settling in on the cogs and jumped back and forth a bit. I think with a 9 speed chain and the right derailer pulleys it would work fine with normal stem shifters (as long as your derailer can cover the additional dish in the wheel). It definitely wouldn't work with indexed shifters.

CMC

YES they do; Shimano are the easiest to find used. SunTour are more scarce as they were only out for a few years and widely used for at most three of those years. Either brands need index shifter levers and an index specific derailer. Any SIS Shimano starting in '85, '86 but only widely used '87 on. Suntour gets tricky, less reason to reach for it and you'll need to really pay attention, it wasn't strictly by year or price and the nomenclature can confuse.

This also may pertain to the OP who should dismiss the idea of stem shifters altogether.
Those were an entry level bike feature; didn't work all that well, were unsightly and don't belong on a Columbus EL frame, you gotta do better than that fellow. It sounds like you're joking.
It's like putting cruiser bars on the bike. No reason at all to not put DT shifters on it.

+1 on that. DT shifters are definitely the way to go unless you're built like a T-Rex (I'm heading in that direction but I still prefer DT). My first bike had stem shifters but that was a 1976 Malvern Star Superstar SL with Shimano Eagle II derailleurs. Weighed about 100 lbs without lights or pump and could crash through walls without decelerating noticably (and it had suicide levers too).