MTB Shifters on Road Bar
 

Hey everyone, I got an old Trek 700 and put some road bars on it and was going to just slap some old Shimano 7 speed shifters from a mtn bike on but they were too small.. I tried opening them up some more but didn't want to go too much for fear of breaking them.. Is it possible to get them on or what should I do? I remember seeing a picture of someone who had done this on the forum before but couldn't find it.. Any help would be appreciated..

Before you even consider trying to install them, you need to make sure the indexing matches up. Have you tested shifting it yet?

Where are you thinking of mounting them? The reach is probably going to be a bit off because they're not meant for drop bars. If it were me I'd look for some cheap bullhorns of the right diameter.

I've done it, but it was with thumbshifters and was a giant PITA. Try bullhorns instead.

Pricey but well made.

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cid/QST19...etc.-11348.htm

Or you could get the dropbars off a Walmart Denali. Which should be cheap and poorly made. See Cigtech's thread on the Denali.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=237231

Good thoughts but if I'm paying that much I might as well buy the road shifters... I was looking for a cheap way to work with what I already have.. And both the shifters and RD came off of the same bike so no problems with incompatibility there. I'm planning on putting the shifters on the flat part but will see as it goes on.. I guess I'll just have to work it out.. Thanks for the responses!

Your MTB shifters probably do NOT require bars as small as 22.2 (that's BMX size). Standard MTB bar size is 25.4mm, and there are decent, inexpensive drop bars also in that size. Most notably the SR Sakae bars that were OEM on tons of bikes during the 90s. About a half-dozen of those are on ebay as this is written.

Problem is he probably won't have much fun shifting, and the reach is probably all off. He needs bullhorns.

MTB bars are 25.4 where the stem clamps on but are 22.2 where the shifters and brake levers reside.
Cigtech's thread on the GMC Denali road bike cracked me up.
To get the shifters on the bars they cut the handlebar in two, put on the shifters, and reweld the handbar!!!

You can get suntour bar-end shifters pretty cheap on ebay.