sailorbenjamin

Not really C+V but I sorta like the concept. You guys ever use these? They'd go on my Super Course, it's got Northroads bars.
I guess the hard part is finding them in silver (no black plastic on that bike) and not rigged for V brakes. Are there good ones and bad ones or are they like twist grips, thumbs down all around?
I tried a pair from an old MTB I've got kicking around but the gear indicator window part interfered with the curve of the bars. That and they were black.

sailorbenjamin

Thinking back, I had one for a while that was just the rapid fire shifter with no brake or indicator window. It was black but it was small and tucked up behind the brake lever so it didn't bother me much. Trouble was it was broken.

Grand Bois

You're talking about index shifters, so obviously you have to match the number of speeds to your cassette. The earlier versions are for cantilevers only. Not all of them have those silly indicator windows. Mine are a 7 speed Deore level version that allow you to downshift by either pushing or pulling on the bottom lever. They are on my MB-2 and they work great. I don't know if they made them in silver, but I doubt it. Mine were NOS from eBay and were not expensive. I haven't tried them on north roads, but I suspect that they would be a poor fit. They're designed for flat bars. my bars are bullmoose.

WNG

Not recalling any in silver that were canti compatible. Most were black, from the plastic-levered GS200 and Exage to aluminum Alivio and Deore.
I have some NOS silver 7 and 8 speed integrated models meant for hybrid/comfort bike models, but these are for V-brakes. ST-EF28.

Shimano did make ST-EF50 and EF60 models in black and silver. Also two versions, 2-finger V-brake, and a 4-finger version. Not sure if the 4-finger was meant for cantilevers. The technical PDF for it doesn't state 'for V brakes'.

Airburst

I am, we had a bike in the co-op the other day with them. I'd say mid '90s, 7-speed Shimano. I think they were Acera, I can't be sure.

non-fixie 

I use these Acera's on some of my bikes. They come in 7 and 8 speed versions, both in black and silver, and are about € 35 a pair. They're great for converting a road bike to city use. Mrs non-fixie likes them too:

sailorbenjamin

Thanks for the input. I've sorta had this on my mind for a while. Now there's this guy with some Altus EZ-Fires on CL for $40;
https://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/bik/2797089237.html
Looks like the indicator window is on the outside and might fit the bend of my bars, but he's an hour drive from here. I wonder how long it would take me to smash those outside windows.

Chris_in_Miami

There are some MTB shifters that are not integrated with the brakes levers, the real trick with Northroads bars is finding an orientation that's not too cumbersome to use. I think thumb shifters are going to be your best bet.

Stylisticly speaking, grip shifters aren't going to win you a date with the hipster of your choice, but they actually work quite well and are unobtrusive. I liked the set I had on this Univega and they were easy to shift despite the funky swept bars:

Jeff Wills

If you want to move a little upmarket, look for the R440 "flat-bar" shifters. They're silver, and interchangeable with Shimano mountain shifters. They're shifters only, so you'll have to find brake levers, but I have them on my all-polished-silver recumbent and they look great.

https://aebike.com/product/shimano-r4...d4402-qc30.htm

non-fixie 

€ 40 is MSRP for those I believe, you should be able to do better or closer.

frpax

I ran these for about a year. I just switched to a drop bar & bar end shifters on the bike, though.

dddd

Note that the R440's and similar road-specific, flat-bar shifters will only work with Shimano's road-specific front derailers.
The cable pull is different because the actuation ratios of road and mtn front SIS derailers are different.

Glennfordx4

If you look around you can get 7 & 8 speed rapid fire shifters in both black and silver both with or with out the brake levers, I seem to find/have mismatched pairs of both in my bins. Black is just the more common color but silver is made. I think you would have no problems with the plain shifters without the windows & w/out the levers working on a set of north road style bars but as someone else stated there is a difference in pull between MTB FD's & road FD's so you would have to match them up with the shifters you choose.
As much as I don't like the looks of grip shifters there are some good ones out there that work really good and is what is used on bikes that run a North Road style bar nowadays.

Jeff Wills

Incorrect. The road "flat bar" front derailleurs use the same cable pull as the "mountain" front derailleurs. I have two bikes in my garage- one mine, one my wife's- that use identical derailleur setups. Hers has Deore LX shifter pods, mine has R440 pods. The operation is identical.

mcgreivey

I have extra 7- and 8-speed rapidfire shifters lying around--but black, not silver.

dddd

That's news to me, but good to know.
The special front derailer for flat-bar road use is, I guess then, essentially an MTB derailer but with a road-style cage for bigger rings(?).
It makes sense from the standpoint of the mtb shifters having perhaps a different spool diameter and/or lever throw than road-STI shifters.
I had recalled once not being able to get MTB shifters to work with a road crankset, but maybe it was an XC-Pro derailer that I was using. It wouldn't index right.
Why then does Shimano offer a dedicated shifter R440/443 instead of using the Deore shifter?

Jeff Wills

Yes, the "flat-bar" front derailleur uses the "mountain" cable pull with a "road"-shaped cage. This is useful for whackdoodle bikes like my recumbents:
https://home.comcast.net/~jeff_wills/jeff-grr/index.htm
https://home.comcast.net/~jeff_wills/diane-grr/index.htm

Shimano offers "flat-bar" shifters because "hybrids" are a different from "mountain" bikes. This means Shimano sells more parts. Shimano likes selling more parts, especially when they don't have to retool (much) to make them.

dddd

You could have as well said "Shimano likes selling more gruppos", since they want all the parts on one bike like-branded and the same style(?). It looks like a slow but steady market for the "flat-bar" gruppos, and even Campy has been making that style shifter for a few years now.

I checked out your GoldRush 'bents, and if you think YOUR rear fender mounting looks hokey, then you haven't seen my rain bike.

I wondered how's the steering on those, what with the grips behind the steering axis.
Intuitive steering I suppose, in that tossing the grips to the inside of a turn would automatically induce countersteering, much like some motorcycles with older-style (not "sportbike") ergonomics. Should keep beginners out of trouble if they go into the twisty roads carrying too much speed.
Then again, the weight distribution of these 'bents is quite different in terms of how body weight is distributed, and the saddle's position acts to some degree as a sort of pivot-point. It's been 10 years since I tried them out at Interbike.