Why stem shifters?
 

Sorry if this has been discussed, I searched but I couldn't find what I was looking for.

Why did lower end bikes come with stem shifters? I know that they are cheap, but why not just use clamp-on downtube shifters. With clamp-on DT shifters, there would be less cable housing, shorter cables, less braze-ons, and the price of the shifters would be about the same. Was it just marketing, to get people to buy higher-end bikes? Does anyone have any insight on this?

My guess is that with the shifters on the stem, your average "occasional" cyclist wouldn't have to reach far from the handlebars to shift gears. Reaching low for downtube shifters, while probably not a problem for avid cyclists, was probably awkward for the "occasional" cyclist.

It was marketing. During the early 1970s bicycle boom many people were transitioning from upright handlebars to the trendier dropped bars. Stem shifters (and brake safety levers) allowed people to ride on top of the bars in a position similar to that offered by upright handlebars.

For a novice, the shifting process of a derailleur was quite complex, involving multiple new operations, Though it seems quite natural to us, it provides a lot of anxiety for newcomers. Eliminating the need to ride on the drops and bend down, to reach a gear shift lever simply made the transition easier and a bit safer, in that stem shifters still offered enough upwards peripheral vision to see the road ahead of you, even if you were looking at the shifters.

The Europeans, who grew up on derailleurs and dropped bars were late to catch onto the stem shifter option, which was originally found primarily on Japanese built models. It was another clever way to tailor the models to the American marketplace, to gain acceptance. I'm sure manufacturers would have preferred to offer down tube shifters, as they are slightly less expensive, but stem shifters clearly appealed to the buyers of entry level models, who were typically inexperienced with derailleurs.

I think it was an answer for the "recreational rider", someone who wasnt going to spend a lot of time in the drops but wanted the racier geometry in their bike..IMO...

Unfortunately, manufacturers seemed to have associated stem shifters with questionable components like "Turkey leg" brake levers. They seem to have been trying to cover a grey area between what people called "racing" type bikes and upright bikes. My first Peugeot (PH10S) came with stem shifters and I couldn't connect the drop bar function to those shifters at all and they were the first to go on the bike, in favor of Simplex clamp-on DT shifters. Stem shifters just seem to be less accesible when shifting from a drop bar because you end up trying to bend your arms akwardly to get leverage when you are on the hoods or the drops, whereas the DT shifters seem to fall naturally in hand from those positions. Stem shifters do work OK with upright bikes with non drop bars though, but I'd rather have shifters near the end of the bars instead on an upright for maximum control.
I guess brifters really made all these other shifting system truly old school and non-efficient in comparison........but why did they have to make them look like big warts on similarly ugly ergo handlebars of today???........yechhy!
JMOs!

Chombi

My first bike had stem shifters and they were more convenient for a beginner than down tube, especially for people like me with your classic T-Rex build. No self respecting racer of the day would be seen dead with them though, DT said style and speed like no stem shifter could :-)

As much as I hate brifters too I finally gave in and bought a set of Ultegra SL shifters for my new bike. They are ugly but I really hate losing 30ft every corner or downhill on group rides and having to catch up again. My classic bike though still has DT shifters and aero levers on Cinelli bars and stem. That's the look, and always will be.

Funny how the gap of several generations can be noticed with stem shifters...
I just finished a girl's 26x1 3/8" wheeled bike for my petite wife. Converted the drop bars, suicide levers, etc. to swept back bars, MTB levers, better brakes, and a nice Suntour friction stem shifter I had in the parts bin. Neither my wife nor my two stepsons knew what the contraption was mounted to the stem! I had to show them how to operate it. They thought it was unsafe to need to move their hands so far from the grips. All they knew of were MTB thumbies and trigger shifters.
I agree stem shifters got a bad rep back when we were 'young'. Image of uncool compared to DT shifters. But now, I see their utility. Especially with conversions to upright bars, leisure bikes, and very tall frames. I even found some NOS ratcheting models, plus a Suntour Accushift 6-spd version. I plan to use this one on a Cannondale MTB to touring bike with drop bars conversion. I am not afraid to admit to embracing them now. Brifters...now that's another story, too Fugly! :D

I looked down at people who had stem shifters, since they came only on cheap bikes. But they're plenty practical. There's nothing wrong with them.

I'm building a bike for my 10 YO and am using stem shifters mostly because she has known nothing but indexed thumb or twist shifters. Partly because I could pick up stem mounted indexed cheaper than clamp on DT. It'll be her first drop bar bike and when, or if, she gets comfortable with shifting, I'll convert it to clamp on DT index units. that is if she takes to the drops, otherwise I'll be converting to upright bars.

Doing exactly the same thing with my kid's bike...

Commuters love stem shifters.

Stem shifters, turkey levers.
So you can talk on the cell phone while you ride.

Convenience, without a doubt. Having the shift levers close to the safety brake levers gave the novice cyclists a better feeling of controlling the bike. Taking your hands off of the brake levers to reach down to the down tube shift levers could cause an unnevering sense to a novice cyclist. My ten year old son has a Trek mountain bike and loves that the brake levers and the grip shifters are right next to each other.

I kept the stem shifters on a Raleigh mixte I have when I went to upright bars. IMO, unless you're in the drops, they're just as easy as thumb shifters...

Schwinn searched for 30 years (late 30s to late 60s) to find a way to get adults back on bicycles in the USA. It was daunting, and hard to imagine today: they had to entice non-riders to begin the journey to being first riders and then enthusiasts - but, remember, their target market of nonriders also didn't have any rider friends to show them the way. Schwinn needed well built but still inexpensive bikes that were user-friendly but still sporty enough to be enjoyable to ride. By the mid-1960s they were selling around 100,000 models a year with a frame made from rolled sheet metal with a traditional Ashtabula crank and hung with a European "derailleur" drivetrain and caliper brakes. In the late 1960's Schwinn engineer Frank Brilando added to this platform novice friendly shifter and brake controls.

Three years later they were building a million and a half "ten speeds" a year and their dealers' showroom floors were bare.

Does convenient placement of the shifter seem like a trivial detail? Today, manufacturers can hardly give away a new road bike that doesn't have brifters (easily the most expensive component on the machine), so you tell me!

tcs

Interesting that nobody ever mentions top tube shifter mounts. My very first "10-speed" around 1970 had the shifters mounted on the top tube. It was a typical small frame department store brand bike with 26" wheels, clearly intended for a young boy as I was at the time. I think I eventually moved them to the downtube and rerouted the cables but it's all a bit fuzzy now.

I agree with those who say that stem shifters have no place on a drop-bar bike (although it's a loooong way down to the downtube shifters on my road bike), but on an upright-bar bike I think they're quite sensible. The seating position on a bike with north road-style bars (upright, and the grips are further back towards the seat) makes downtube shifters inconvenient, at least.

That said, convenience has its limits. I'd rather have downtube shifters than brifters (on a drop-bar bike) any day. Not because brifters are inconvenient -- they're not -- but because I've seen too many break.

+1. The geometry of my Raleigh Marathon evolved to support my commting. This included putting on a more upright stem (although leaving the drop bars on) so that even when I'm in the drops I still have a pretty decent view of traffic. I sometimes ride ride in the drops, sometimes up top. The stem shifters are just where I want them.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...91427-00-1.jpg

Meh. That's snobbery talking. I had a drop bar bike with DT shifters for over 20 years and shifting never felt natural to me, especially when I was in the drops.

Mmm, stem shifters!

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_GmYBBzTzcVQ/SR...rSport5_22.jpg

Neal

Not snobbery at all -- I just can't imagine how that would be comfortable. Riding in the drops and reaching up to shift seems sort of unnatural to me.

Let's just put it this way and leave it at that: Different strokes for different folks. In my case, I just can't imagine how that would be comfortable. Riding in the drops and reaching down to shift seems sort of unnatural to me.

My Nishiki came with those shifters, and I was convinced I was going to hate them. As a 15 year old, they were not cool, at least to me. I wound up liking them, they worked well for the kind of transportation riding I was doing at that age.

I bought a used '86 Schwinn Passage full-blown touring bike that had been originally purchased new for a bicycle tour. The bike had been modified "downward" (going in reverse here) with stem shifters and add-on safety levers. "Back in the day" I looked on these things with same disdain I would have had for a 26" "balloon tire" cruiser turned into a "Stingray" with training wheels and streamers coming down from the hand grips (actually, this might be "cool"now...back then it would have gotten you beaten up by "ruffians" ;)). The shop that set it up, however, did a great job, and the safety levers (Shimano levers on Dia-Compe brakes) move very smoothly without "play" in them. I now find the safety levers and stem shifters to be "comfortably placed" for my purposes with this bike. Guess it depends on the bike and it's purpose in the stable...and this one's purpose is touring.

I have my 77 Nishiki International set up as a Townie... the stem shifters are fully appropriate for the way I use the bike:

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8...ernational.jpg

Another possible benefit for stem shifters on less expensive bikes was faster (cheaper..) factory installation, just sliding them on the stem already put together, cables and all. Clamp on or bolt on downtube shifters would take a little longer, but it adds up.

I don't know if that was ever a motivating factor in specifying stem shifters, but it certainly could have been.