interesting low-end shimano shifters
 

surfing for juniors I found a bike with these shifters--

anybody ever seen them before?
might be quite useful on some townie conversions
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzY4WDEwMj...7E%7E48_72.JPG

advert is here
http://kleinanzeigen.ebay.de/anzeigen/s-anzeige/jugend-rennrad-24-zoll-/70187235

http://www.saferwholesale.com/v/road...ewShimano7.jpg

Seen some very similar on Walmart bikes, installed on road drop bars. I have a mental block on them, due to the connection with cheap, Walmart bikes. They are probably pretty useful.

Shimano actually had something like that for the Tourney and basic SIS (trademark "Shimano Index Shifting) back in the very late '80 earliest '90s.

Yeah, the a050 shifters came on small Fuji road bikes that I was looking at for my son a while back.

They're on the new dep't store Schwinn road bikes, too. Forget the model.

A-ha. Schwinn Prelude.

Wow MSRP $250-390 is quite a range. They're $329 at my local Fred Meyer's.

I've seen them on canadian tire bikes, which are the biggest source of dept. store bikes in this part of the country. They seemed to work functional on the bike I was working with them... I saw them in a catologue that said they were available in friction only, but I seem to remember the ones I was working with to be indexed... I don't really mind stem shifters and I got along with them fine when I was younger too.

I like these better than stem shifters, cuz they're on the bar rather than stem. Easier to flip both ways than stem shifters. My thumbs aren't very good at working stem shifters so I have to use my whole hand to push them down. I greatly dislike that.

I have some exage shifters that look similar.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NIB-Shimano-...#ht_1200wt_991

Available here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001L5Y1GC

These type Shimano SIS Y or V type thumbies are actually pretty common. While mostly seen on older mountain bikes they are a great option for 6/7 speed for mid to low end bar shifters for most bikes. Having worked with a lot of PITA shifters at the bike coop and on friends I kinda like these the simple ratcheting two way motion and simple cable routing replacment make them easy to set up and they work fairly good and are dependable.

These are my favorite Y-shaped MTB shifters.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2666/4...45d_z.jpg?zz=1
Suntour wishbone shifters 1990 by felixdelrio, on Flickr

$14.50 for shipping?! Outrageous!

Those were on my first road bike... a 1989 Bridgestone RB-4. I hated them only because I wanted down tube shifters so badly because that's what everyone else had.

Seems not bad for a flat bar roadie or similar type bike.
My wife likes the grip-type shifters, but wishes they had a flap sticking out to use with her thumb.

I have noticed the grip type are difficult for little hands,
I swapped both kids MTB's to rapidfire because of this
It takes some effort to twist from small rear cog to big.

Have them, my son uses them.
Work okay.
Integrated shift/brake levers are a no-go for his hand size.
I took some wet-dry sand paper to the mold parting lines, a bit rough.
One reason we ended up with the Fuji, that and no carbon.

I am planning to move to Athena EPS for him when it is available.
For that, I might end up using the time trial switch controls.

There's a Suntour mid-1990s 7 & 8 gripshifter that does just that.

My friend recently installed the A050's on a road bike. They work pretty well, although the rear is index-only.

I've seen a set on a low-end Viliano aluminum road bike that I did repairs on. I don't recall if it was a cassette or freewheel, but it was 7-speed. With adjustment and new cables, the indexing worked pretty well and the shifting was firm and positive. I found the ability to shift with the palm of the hand to be useful, particularly for someone with smaller hands. So, while I wouldn't use them myself, I wouldn't hesitate to put them on a lower end road bike for a child or a smaller woman. PG