himespau 

I guess in that regard the Kellys are nice because I can shift from the tops (where I have a set of cross style interupter brake levers for essentially a second cockpit setup) with my fingertips almost as easily as I can from the hoods. Not using a different muscle group, but having 2 positions on the bars where I have complete control of everything as far as shifting and braking is concerned is nice (not that I do any centuries or doubles, metric or otherwise). They are a bit hard to shift in the drops from though.

Michael Angelo 

I'm 6'3", I really dislike DT shifters. I would rather have barends.

wintermute

Don't you mean the 100 and 200 km kilometerstones?

I'm 6'0" but ride around a 62cm frame. Just got back into the downtube game after a 20 year hiatus and it's going to take some getting used to - missing my barcons. But that being said - I like the simplicity of it - less cables running everywhere.

rhm

Ah, yes, good point, that.

Well, let me try squirming out of that by being pedantic... if the kilo- part of kilometer is Greek for a thousand, while mile is derived from the Latin word for a thousand (paces), then I suppose "milestone" could refer to any kind of stone that marks out a thousand somethings ... but then again ... oh, whatever!

SteveSGP

I'm 6'6" and my 64cm bike has down tubes and I thought they were fine when it was my prime bike.

However, My 68cm bike has bar ends and I love them! The 68cm is now my prime bike and the 64cm is being rebuilt as my backup and it will have bar end shifters when it's done.

JunkYardBike

I've ridden one century and plenty of 60+ milers and I've never experienced this problem with brifters or ergos. I've also done a century and lots of 60+ milers with downtube shifters, and have not really found it more difficult than brifters or ergos.

Honestly, it just becomes automatic, and I would happily use either setup for a long ride. After a certain point, I just stop thinking about it.

jbkirby

I am 6'1", and ride 100+ miles per week with nothing but vintage Campagnolo friction downtube shifters and have no trouble with them whatsoever. Frankly, it's what you get used to. I imagine that if I became accustomed to indexed bar-end shifting, I would say that is the only way to go, but I enjoy riding a bike that requires some level of skill to shift.

robtown

+1

I'm 6'1" and ride 60+ cm frames. I usually have 1 bike with DT shifters, 1 bike with brifters, and at least 7 with bar end shifters.

atoms

I'm 6'4" and I do not like DT shifters. In Chicago, one gear is almost enough, and three is overkill so I'm building a franken bike town bike (frankentown?) from an 88 Le Tour frame, a donor (trashed le tour of similar vintage), parts from the parts bins and the local coop and a three speed rear wheel (my first wheel build thank you!). It is surprisingly fast and light.

As soon as I get a rack (my LBS ordered one for me) it will be my daily rider. I'm not in any way fond of the twist shifter that came with the Sturmey Archer hub, but it beats reaching down to the down tube by a long shot.

JReade

That's a lotta cable on the shifter!

6'5" and I have one bike with bar ends. I recently scrapped the suntours for shimano indexed, love it.

Other bikes are dt, and I don't mind. My "fast" bike is dt friction, and I have no problem logging miles.

bigbossman 

No, no..... you're doing it wrong. They're more comfortable, so that makes them less desirable.

JunkYardBike

You're quoting me out of context. I don't find either easier or more comfortable. DT shifters don't make my fingertips bleed or cause my shoulders to dislocate when I reach down. Both DT shifters and ergos seem to do what they're designed to do: shift gears.

davehbuffalo

6' 2" - I like DTs just fine if that's what I'm riding. I like that I can shift either lever with one hand.

illwafer

6'4" and love DT shifters. every shift i make is deliberate.

of course, if you are running north road bars or something they probably aren't a good match.

cyclist2000

I didn't have a problem with DT shifters on my older bikes but I really like my brifters. I don't like the cost of the brifters. I have bar ends on my TT bike but I seem to like bar end shifters but I haven't used these very much.

AZORCH

6'2" weighing in here.

I've got both. I find that when I'm riding my bikes with DT shifters I get used to them all over again (as I have for thirty years) and it's all natural. When I spend a few days with bar ends, I get used to them; the switch back to DT feels weird at first, but then the cycle starts all over again. I will say that some DT shifters are just unfortunately placed, but for the most part they're fine. I can see how taller bikes might have badly positioned shifters though.

3alarmer 

6'2" and I genuinely think that your position on the bike, the length of your arms,
and your overall coordination has more to do with this than your height.

Sketch it out roughly for yourself if you do not believe me.

That said, HTFU or buy some brifters and join the rest of the brifter trash
that use them and would not have it any other way.

You can have clean and simple, or you can have convenient and
"I never have to take my hands off the brakes...which frightens me."

So far, you can't have both.

cehowardGS

Only speaking for myself, I love the downtube shifters, and I am 6"3'. All my bikes in my signature are all 60 to 63cm, and they all have downtube shifter except the 1996 Classic. Not only that, the downtube shifters look cool. There is no SUBSITUTE for COOL!!

bikingshearer 

Uh, I politely disagree. If you don't train yourself to move your hands, you will have some variation of the "numb hands" syndrome. Folks were talking about "numb hands," its short-term discomfort and its potential for long-term harm, the need to move hands around, and the like, long before brifters were a gleam in anyone's eye or the phrases "carpal tunnel syndrome" or "repetitive stress injury" had ever been uttered. The problem is as old as cycling and the solutions are about a day less old - move your hands around on the bars regularly (being able to do this is one of the main reasons drop bars came to be and have remained popular), wear padded gloves, shake your hands out every so often.

Brifters are not about being able to have your hands on the brakes all the time - they are about having shifters easily accessible and not having to take your hands off the bars to shift. And as I said before, there are times when being able to shift without having to take a hand off the bars is a very good thing. Barcons are only slightly less effective at allowing this, but enough to be noticeable.

sced

With slick cables and housings you can route barcon cables through or around the bars under the tape. I'm 6'1" and don't mind DT shifters at all. Both of my classics have them.

jan nikolajsen 

6'3" here.

My visual-motoric control (or something along those lines) is rather slow and painfully uncoordinated. I was the kid that never could get a hang on skate boarding or, horror, team sports involving the precise placement of slippery balls using either hands or feet. As such I feel a crash is imminent each time I prepare to let go of the bars and fumble around for those little levers way down there on my typical 63-64 cm frame.

So, if it's friction it's bar-ends. Index means Ergo levers.

noglider 

I'm not tall, only 5 foot 9-1/2 (176 cm). My beater bike has downtube shifters, and just today, I was thinking I'll retire them. I can use them fine, but it's slow for me to reach down and get the gear I want, and I'm going to replace them with something closer to my hands. Enough. I'll be done with downtube shifters.

fender1

4'7" 350lbs+ here. Down tube shifters get in the way of my bento bag, which holds 31 soft tacos. I don't like em.

Poguemahone

I'm six-one or two or something (I don't care anymore. I was once six-four, which was a lie promulgated for athletic reasons by unscrupulous higher ups). I have long legs and wingspan, both of which belong on someone taller, and I love downtube shifters, as long as they're Simplex retrofrictions. Campy sucks eggs. I don't mind brifters that much, but retrofrictions truly kick !@#$.

On a related note, it would be nice if the autocensor made naughty words look like !@#$ instead of the dull, pedestrian ***** currently in use. To whom do I direct my suggestion?

thestoutdog

Bwahahaha! I'm 6'4", 310 lbs here and have stem mounted shifters on my huge Raleigh SGP and kind of like them as long as my knees stay away from them; on the other hand, my Raleigh Kodiak (~same size) has DT and it is quite a stretch and I don't like that either. I'd love to get my hands on some bar-ends to try out so I can answer the rest of the OP's question.