What's the advantage?

I just went to Surlyville and was checking out the compete bikes, at least the LHT and CC. Both come with bar end shifters rather than the normal roadie brifters. I'm used to my campy veloce stuff, and not sure I would like to go back, but I'm open to the idea if it has real advantages.

I have a set of Suntour Barcons that I like, but I don't think there is any real advantage. It is more about personal preference and with Surly a bit of a fashion statement/anti establishmnet kind of thing. I really like thier stuff and I like bar ends but I can't see any real advantage. If anything the additional cable length with the bar ends may make the shifting feel a bit slower. I had that experince when I used a bike that had down tube shifters vs. the Barcons I was useding everyday. YMMV

Main advantage is price. I like them better if you usually ride in the drops. Brifters are better for riding on the hoods.

According to a few riders I have chatted with, ease of maintenance is also a factor.

Price, durability, ability to go friction if your indexing is off, can be easily changed in the field...but mostly, price.

i started using barends when i raced crits,this was before brifters came out,got to really love the barends and still have them on three road bikes,but i do ride in the drops alot

+1 on ease of maintenance and field-serviceability. In friction mode you can build your drivetrain out of mis-matched components, and it makes replacement parts dead easy to install and tune. Indexed shifting (while nice) often requires specific derailleurs, clusters, etc., to operate well. Replacing worn out or broken components can mean having to buy a whole new drivetrain if the specific parts become difficult to find as the years go by.

My Crosscheck came with Bar end shifters and I thought I would replace with brifters.. After a month on the bike I actually like them.. I would still prefer brifters but the bar ends are solid..

I prefer bar-ends set to friction mode myself in the city. The ability to shift through multiple gears in one sweep of the shift lever is a nice feature for stop-n-go traffic. I can "crank it up to 400 watts" all the way to a few feet of the red light, shift all the way into the low gear, and stop at an appropriate gear to blow through the green light with

With an indexed shifter, I'd have go click, pedal, wait for the derailleur to move, click, pedal, wait, click, pedal, wait and hope that I get into a low gear comfortable for me to start off the green with. On the other hand, brifters are located in a more convenient place, and indexing is more useful on rides taking place on long stretches of uninterrupted roads. I just plain hate indexing for traffic, though.

With Campy Brofters you can sweep the chain across several cogs quite effectiveley.
The advantages of bar-ends are mainly for more adventurous tourists. Originally they were the alternative to downtube shifter for tourists, tandemists and CX riders:
You can build up any transmission system you like, no need to stick to systems.
You can replace any transmission part after damage: field replacements are generally the steel Shimano SIS variety. Rear mechs esp can be damaged by airport handling and minor crashes.
Simple, reliable, rebuildable construction. If your bike ever takes a swim in a muddy puddle, fine grit will enter the shifters.
You can use long-pull drop-bar brake levers to work more effectively with V and cantilever style brakes.

The downsides are the long cable run, the interference at the knees and possible damage to shifters in a slide.

Durability over brifters, the advantage of being able to shift to friction mode. I have used Suntour Barcons for over 25 years and still like them. I have one bike with brifters and I am not so sure it won't get switched to bar ends before I am done with it.

Aaron

Count me as another one who prefers bar-end shifters. For racers, their major drawback is that it's possible to shift with your knees when you stand on pedals and rock the bike. But tourers don't stand a lot and hardly rock the bike (load would do strange things), so that's not a problem.

One aspect I like is that I set up my bars on the high side – tops about level with saddle– and I ride mostly from the drops. From there, I can shift with either the palm of my hand or my little finger. No need to move the hands, which is especially good on the tandem + trailercycle.


Apart from comfort, here are a few real advantages I have seen in the last 5 years:

– When I needed to change the 8 speed cassette on my tourer, I made my own custom 9-speed cassette. I continued to use the 8-speed shifters, friction mode, until I needed those 8-speed shifters on another bike two years later. At that point, I bought 9-speed shifters.

– My single tourer has 44-34-22 chainrings (i.e. mountain-size). No problem with bar-end shifters. I can use all cogs without any front derailleur noise, because I just need to fine-tune the front derailleur adjustment if necessary (impossible with STI).

– My tandem tourer has 48-38-28-18 chainrings. Setting up the quad was a bit of a challenge, but it works because the front shifter isn't indexed.

– At an intersection or when riding roller coasters, it's easy to shift all the way from gears one to nine.

– A quick look at the shifters allows me to know what gear I'm in. It's impossible to do with STI, unless one buys the Flight Deck (more $). I know one could always look behind at the cogs, but it's almost impossible to do at night or on the tandem.

– And in term of looks, my shifter cables are concealed all the way along the handlebars. Much nicer than dangling cables!

I use bar ends simply because I got a very good deal on them and upgraded from the low-end brifters that came on my road/tourer. For a racer, the biggest advantage may be the ability to shift easily from a majority of hand positions, especially while in a tight pack of bikes. I don't race, and don't generally enjoy riding too close to other people, so this is not a concern for me. Ease of maintenance may be inherent in the fact that it's a slightly older technology. That's not to say brifters are unreliable--I haven't heard anyone say that they are.

I too ride on the drops more than many people, especially on shorter rides around town. Bar ends are conveniently located from that position. I do also like the "clean lines" formed by using bar ends, as opposed to dangling cables, but I'm wary of that logic, as it inevitably leads to fixed gears, complete with sawed-off rack eyelets and messenger bags

because barcons RULE THE ROOST!

just wanted to give a shout out to the barcon. Hammer down, simple, reliable, let you build up a bike 5-10 speed in back using any cassette or freewheel.

excellent for traffic jamming and dropping folks off the stops.

fillthecup, fat bike nut, michael gagnon pretty much covered it above.

I joined the Dark Side not too long ago and got brifters. Irritatingly ergonomically perfect, but that's just my opinion.

Bar-ends are durable, and simple, and cheap. The function well, but if you ride on the tops/hoods alot, you may find them irritating. The extra cable pull is just a factor to get used to...once you do you don't really notice anymore.

A comment on the price; remember that while the Bar-cons are relatively cheap, you still have to buy brake levers. A high quality set of brake levers, plus a high quality bar-end shifter set altogether don't add up necessarily to a set of brifters...but they're not always THAT much cheaper either. (I'm too lazy to reference some actual figures right now...been up too long today. I just remember being surprised by the dollar comparison when I was doing some changes to my bike.)

Same with Shimano brifters. I love them in traffic. When coming to a stop, you just make 1 or 2 sweeps and you're ready to jack-rabbit the start. I don't see myself setting up any barcons anytime soon, but agree with all of the advantages cited here. YMMV.

Really? Do people do that? I just go click-click-click-click-click-click all at once. I've very rarely had an issue getting into a low gear by a light even if I was cruising in a high one... The only times were things like panic stops or when I totally wasn't paying attention, having a different shifter wouldn't have mattered much.

I tried the click-click-click thing with one of my indexed bikes and the rear derailleur got jammed on a cog that was...let's just say that I had to walk up that hill, shall we?