These things are sweeeeeet!

Scored a pair from a friend yesterday. Was toying with them and realized that I really have no idea how they should be mounted, and what kind of results I should expect. now, the rear shifter is 2-position, 7-speed indexed and friction (-ish, there are still ghosts of the detents on the friction side) and I'm curious to know if the indexing will work with a Gen II Superbe rear mech over a SunTour Alpha (or Winner) freewheel. I've got the Winner tech bulletin, so I'm good to go with that; and I know that the 3 highest gears are spaced just a tick narrower than the rest of the cogs.

But... I also remember my efforts in getting a V-GT to work with a SRAM gripshift and a Shimano freewheel (picky, picky setup but worked reasonably well) and I'd like to spare myself that frustration if at all possible. So, I will accept any advice knowing sources want to throw my way. FWIW, I work at a LBS and have a small mountain of used parts from which to choose, so I'm well in in that regard.

Thanks in advance,
Blight

I never used them in index mode. I completely disassembled them, then mounted them piece by piece, starting with the clamp, then the next piece that has the stop for the cable housing. It can go in any of six positions, as I recall, but depending where you put the clamp it will be pretty obvious which position you need to use. Once you put the cable housing and that stop in place and the cable housing, then everything else is pretty obvious.

I am under no delusion that I set mine up "correctly," but they worked very nicely.

I had no brochure when I purchased my 7/8 speed set of "Command" shifters for my Cannondale R1000 retro-modern project bike. I am running mine with the cable housing exiting from the front and a nice loop of housing going out front in a nice arc down to downtube cable adjuster stops. The rear is set up as an 8 speed indexed rig with a Superbe Pro 8 speed cassette hub and an Accushift 8 speed cassette and an XC Pro short cage rear derailleur. The front is a cyclone 7000 double with a Dura Ace 7403 crank (with Salsa rings). The shifting is positive and precise once everything is tightened down and road tested thoroughly with many small adjustments made to dial everything in.

I wouldn't count on your Gen II Superbe rear derailleur working easily in Accushift index mode. You mention you have access to a vast inventory of old parts. I would suggest you try to spec some Suntour rear derailleur of a slightly later vintage that is Accushift approved so to speak. The XC Pro, XC Comp, XC 9000 or XC 7000, or Cyclone 7000 would all work for accurate click shifting and handle tightly or widely spaced rear freewheel depending on the cage length.

If you could post some pictures of your build as you go along it might help others to visualize what you are trying to do. Also, there are a couple of variants to the Command shifters. I know that they typically say to install them just above your brake levers but I found that mine fit the racing motif that I was trying to create better with them just below the Cane Creek aero levers I am using. I'm going out on a ride this evening with this bike and will let you know some updated opinions on the rig.

RATS!! I just sold a bike with those and never thought to do a step by step pic thing, while taking the flat bars off and putting drops back on.

if the RD does not habe an adjusting barrel I would find a newer one like masi61 suggest.

So here's my thinking:

The derailleur will move as far as it's told to. So all else being equal, what it boils down to is the parallelogram geometry of the rear mech being compatible with cable pulled and cogset spacing. I'm pretty sure the Superbe will work and if it doesn't, then I do have an XC Pro and several generations of Cyclones from which to choose; and if they don't then I can try one of my others (I have about 2 dozen rear mechs). And of course, I'm willing to try different freewheels.

I will try to keep Edison's point of view in mind: I'll be finding out what doesn't work. Watch this space for updates!!

Hey Cap'n...if for some reason the Command Shifters don't work out for you keep me in mind....

Well, okay, but don't hold your breath. I think it's personal at this point, and I will make them work or know the reason why!!!

Let us know if the Superbe works. So long as you have a fine adjuster on the down tube cable stop you should be OK. Without this fine adjust barrel, I would think it would be too much trial and error to get the indexing just right. You are right that the cable pull is determined by the shift lever but as you already alluded to, the Suntour 7 speed Winner or Alpha freewheel has a strange arrangement where the spacing on the smallest 2 cogs is different that the remaining cogs. The arc that the rear derailleur goes through with each click of the shift lever does not have to be off by more that 0.1 mm to make indexing not work. Suntour did not use Centeron pulleys so for crisp indexing it needs to do it right or you'll be stuck having to go friction.

Someone told me that you need to put them on and then just use them as you can till the cables get stretched and settle in - Then tune them like a good guitar and don't let anyone mess with them again - I don't relly know but it sounds about right...