z90

I live in a hilly area, and shift frequently. I love my barcons. Shifting across the entire cassette is actually easier with barcons, especially once you're used to them. The position of the lever gives you tactile feedback to tell you where you are on the cassette. The only time I like my STI's significantly more is when I am sucking wind trying to keep up with a group on a hard climb, because then I can shift from the tops, even while standing. This doesn't really matter when riding solo.

fietsbob

IGH wins there! shifts at a dead stop.

as to hills.. Read the terrain,
if you need the 'granny' chainring, go to it at the bottom of the climb,
With chain on one of the middle cogs, then shift lower from there .

Upshift to middle chainring, at the crest of the hill,
when force on chain can be reduced.
left bar end lets you move the FD incrementally for clearing dragging off the chain.
vs 3 ka-thunks with STI shifting..


happens a lot, it appears.

2 bikes , old <C> 1012.3 friction only Bar end shifters ,
2 with Sun-tour's ratchet-friction shifters, 1 with ratchet thumb shifters.
(2 R'off grip shifters)

pdlamb

+1

It is, in the end, a matter of personal taste. Almost like toe overlap with front wheels; most people can deal with no problem, but those who can't are vociferous about their dislike.

dynodonn 

Since I ride in a crowded stop and go urban environment, not having my hands close to the brake levers, and the inability to make lightening fast shifts on the fly with both hands fully grasping the grips is a no go for me.

gerv 

I didn't know that either. I don't think I'd be interested in bar end shifters if they didn't let you use friction... I just hate shifters that only work with a certain RD. Too limiting.

z90

I ride in an urban area, too. I've never found bar-ends limiting. To each their own, I guess.

ThermionicScott 

+1 to "overthinking this." I've never actually tried bar-ends, but they sound like a great way to put good, reliable shifters within reach.

At the risk of sounding like a retro-grouch , I wonder if STIs have increased people's fear of being in the "wrong" gear at critical times, since they can so easily shift into the optimal gear most of the time. My prescription, of course, would be to add a fixed-gear or single-speed to your stable -- then you'll quickly figure out what to do when you're in the "wrong" gear.

mrosenlof

I like bar-end shifters a lot. I have them on two bikes, one with drops, one with upright bars (the nitto "albatross", or maybe that's just Rivendell's name) they're maybe a little more straightforward on the upright bars, but they're plenty handy on the end of drops.

thenomad

Bar end shifters work as advertised.

hairnet

Barcons are excellent. A good place between down tube shifters and brifters. Currently I'm riding/ commuting with Suntour ratcheting barcons, good stuff.

jr59

Both work well.

Both take some getting use to.

IGH work well too.

bluenote157

barcons are near bombproof... if you wreck, you are less likely to damage $300+ worth of STIs. If your setup gets out of whack, you can turn it into friction mode. I believe a lot of tourers use this for the very reason.. lighter and if they malfunction, they are less likely to get stuck in a gear that they don't want to be in...which is totally plausible with STIs.

On a similar note.. I met an older guy who used to do crits with barcons. He would cut about two inches from the base of his bars so that they were more accessible. He said (pre-sti)..this was better than downtubes because he could get the jump on the competition so that they don't see when he dumps a bunch of gears. I don't think you can dump a bunch of gears with STIs?? Maybe 3 or 4 at a time but not the entire cassette???

If you are the type that is always shifting and trying to find that precise cadence from stop to start and vice versa...maybe you need to stick with STIs.

I have them on my moustache bars and love them. I have the suntour/diacompe silver ones with shimano pods..

Stealthammer

I don't know where you ride, but dumping 3 or 4 cogs (or effectively 5-10 teeth) is more than enough for me anywhere I ride, and if I need to dump a full ten gears coming out of a corner, I need to be thinking a bit farther ahead.....

Or I guess I could just shift down 4 gears twice.....

stevel610 

Bar ends rock.

cyccommute 

STI requires zero maintenance so I don't see that as an advantage of the barend over STI. As for the ability to go to friction mode, adjusting the cable takes about as much time as changing from index to friction. In my experience, adjusting the cables will fix 99% of all the shifting issues with index shifting independent of the type of shifter you happen to use.

cyccommute 

STI isn't all that delicate. I have crashed onto them...and ground off the nose of the tops...without issue. I've also seen them after being run into a garage and they still work. Now if you crashed and got run over by a truck, you might destroy them but I think you might have other worries at that point.

And, as I pointed out above, if your drivetrain malfunctions, it's more a case of a bad mechanic than of bad mechanicals.

AdamDZ

Timely question as I'm building up a Disc Trucker and I've been thinking whether I should stick to my Modolo Yuma trekking butterfly bar and MTB shifters or get a drop bar with bar end shifters. But considering all that ha been said I think I'll stick to the trekking bar and MTB shifters. I really like the shifters to be close to my brake levers so I can brake and shift and so I won't have to move my hands when climbing. The trekking bar also offers many hands position, perhaps more useful than a dropbar.

Wolfwerx

I'm sorry, but "outdated and useless" is wrong. If you don't like them, then just say that.
Everybody's tastes are different, I actually really like my barcons on my commuter/touring bike. I don't find that I need to shift with the same speed as on my "fast" bikes.

AdamDZ

Yeah, they're a lot more reliable and serviceable than briefters. Most serious touring cyclists who venture into remote areas wouldn't use anything but bar end shifters.

tarwheel 

I've got bar-end shifters on one bike, STIs on two bikes, and downtube shifters on another bike. They all work fine and what you use depends on your budget and shifting patterns. If you like to shift a lot and always want to be in just the right gear, STIs are the best alternative. However, barcons are not much harder to use, much less expensive and reliable. DT shifters are the hardest to use, the least expensive and probably most reliable.

BTW, the right shifter with my Dura-Ace barcons recently broke after only about two years of use. It was covered under warranty and is now being repaired, but the problem surprised me because one of the supposed advantages you hear about barcons is their reliability and durability. Maybe I just got a bum shifter. Despite that problem, if the STIs break on my other bikes I will probably replace them with DA bar-ends because they are so much less expensive and function just fine for my needs. I have also had a Dura-Ace STI right shifter break after only two years of use (also replaced under warranty), so you can have problems with just about anything.

Stealthammer

Pretty much did say that when I said that I thought they were "outdated and useless", and that was in direct response to the thread's title of "Your thoughts about bar end shifters please...", but maybe you thought that I was offering someone else's opinion I guess, but no, that is actually how I feel about them....


Ride Safe!

cyccommute 

Have you ever tried to 'service' either barend shifters (which used to be called brifters) or STI? Neither is especially 'serviceable'. You can't take the shifter part of a barend apart and expect to fix it. Neither can you take the internals of an STI shifter apart and expect to fix it.

As for touring cyclists, I amazed...as a touring cyclist...that tourists go so far as to use nylon tents or pneumatic tires As a group, tourists tend to be the grouchiest of the retrogrouches.

AdamDZ

I did only once and they definitely came apart completely. I don't recall what model they were. They were friction shifters.

squirtdad

I put some 9 speed durace on my road bike, expecting to love them. (hey I have thumb friction on my utiliyt/commuter)

The set up was totally simple. The indexed shifting worked great.

I didn't like them.

After forever of using down tube shifters, i felt more out of balance reaching down to the bar end to shift than I did reaching for the downtube.

I also kept hitting the right shifter with my knee at stops and then starting out with the drive train trying to shift........ nearly fell several times.

I found NOS ultegre 9 spd sti and havn't looked back.

Stealthammer

Yeah, me too. I also felt very uncomfortable when trying to shift both front and rear derailleur at the same time with barends, but with downtube shifters I could usually do this very easily using just one hand, but having both hand hanging off the back of the drops at the same time with barends felt a bit spooky to me.