Rly?

That's one of the advantages to barends over downtube shifters to me: Having both hands on the handlebars while shifting, versus fishing around with one hand around the downtube while controlling the bike with the other.

Love my barcons. Use em for cross racing and touring.

It doesn't take hardly any practice to use them effectively.

One more for the "love" column. I converted my Fantom CX from Sora brifters to old D/A bar-ends. Shifts like deep-fried butter in all conditions with no adjustments.

I guess that like Squirtdad said, after years of using downtube shifters I had pretty much adapted to using them one-handed, but steering the bike with both hands on the very back of the drops was really a strange feeling. Try it sometime and you will see what I mean..... :eek:

I have a bar-end shifter on my winter bike which is equipped with an IGH. I just finished the bike before last winter. i've used STIs for several years and Campy Ergo shifters for the last few. The first road bike I used regularly on my commute had down tube shifters.

My thoughts:

I wouldn't worry too much about having to take your hand off the bars to shift. There are times when I'm on a rough patch when I'd rather keep both hands on the bars. In those limited situations I simply elect not to shift temporarily, or do so more carefully. I tend not to shift a lot in those circumstances anyway.

In practice, it's not a big deal. There are brifter type shifters for IGHs but they're about $200. I was able to get separate brake levers and the Jtek shifter for about $120. It's not worth the extra money for me to have brifters on that bike but I do prefer them in general.

To be fair, STIs aren't the only type of brifter and not all brifters share their downsides. Many Campy Ergo shifters allow you to shift several cogs at time in both directions, - not just 3 or 4 like STIs. Campy shifters are also mechanically simpler than STIs and are completely rebuildable. You can also mix Campy shifters with Shimano derailleurs and cassettes using a Jtek "Shiftmate". Used or old stock Campy shifters can often be had for less than the same vintage Shimano shifters but you do need to be careful to avoid certain models in certain years if you want the best Campy features.

I put bar ends on my commuter because I wanted something different. For a commuter I think they are fine and easy to use with no issues of being able to plan ahead and shift prior to an anticipated hill.

In terms of road riding and climbing hills I much prefer STI shifters.

Different animal, altogether. Modern indexed barend shifters aren't the same as your grandpa's shifters. The modern units are like all Shimano units...if they stop working, get new ones. Not that shifter failure is all that common an event. I've only every had one fail on me and I've had close to 25 bikes with index shifters.

I took apart a Shimano 6500 STI shifter that wasn't working recently. It definitely came apart too. Getting it back together, on the other hand, might have been an issue except that I was taking it apart to make it a dedicated brake lever. ;)

As the saying goes you mileage may vary..... I ride all over my handle bars, in the drops the least, so for me shifting meant moving from one part of the bar to the another and this just felt awkward to me. I was expecting to love barcons..... but it just didn't work that way for me. cie la shift

I can agree with megalowatt's conclusion about barcons and brifters. My next bike will have barcons as it will be my dedicated commuting and rambling bike where the point will be riding to get there but not as fast as possible but as comfortable as possible. When I use barcons I typically ride more with my hands on the flats and in a more upright riding position that I find more comfortable at slower speeds. For Commuting and Rambling (touring) I'll be carrying a load in all types of weather conditions that tends to mean that I travel at slower speeds.

I'll also keep my current bike with brifters for group rides and randonees where I want to maximize my average speed. For these rides I prefer the more aggressive aero position of riding on the hoods and deep in the drops.

Therefore, for upright drop bar position give me barcons and for aero drop bar position give me brifters.

I love mine! Never thought, "geez, why is shifting so difficult with these bar-ends??" Then again, I've never had brifters. Maybe I'll try them someday but for now the stock brifters are perfectly adequate and I just love how shifting feels. I've also heard that they are less prone to technical difficulties than brifters, not sure how much truth there is in that...

Someone on BF said a while ago that we shift too much, that we have too many choices of gears. So I tried to shift less for a week and realized that yea, I didn't need to shift as often as I was shifting. Simply standing up and pedaling can often do the trick...now there are still those times when I wanna get it into overdrive going down a steep hill or I really need my granny gear, but for those in between elevation changes, just standing is often enough. And it makes it more enjoyable, too, to just ride and not worry so much about shifting up and down every 60 seconds.

I've got them on my LHT. I'm probably in the "don't shift very frequently" camp, because I really didn't notice much of a learning curve. As someone who uses all three, I'd say bar ends are more similar to brifters than they are to downtube shifters.

One advantage that I don't think anybody's mentioned: You can shift with your fist instead of your fingers. This makes shifting while wearing mittens or thick gloves much easier.

To each their own? I have 8 speed Shimano bar ends on my Miyata. I like 'em. Never tried STI but would like to.

With John and Jane Wolfpack on my ass, I'll be damned if I'm going leave it in a tall gear when leaving a signal light, plus my knees are in great shape after all these years of riding and using all the gears that I needed. Also, my commute terrain elevation varies considerably as well, as does my cargo load weights.

Added, with my stop and go commute, my chain mileage is very low, standing rather than shifting would only shorten it even more.

That is one of those idiotic claims that are extremely short-sighted and entirely a matter of personal preference, and making such a blanket statement about every rider and every ride is just plain ridiculous. Depending on which bike I'm riding and what type of ride I am doing, I will often be shifting pretty much constantly, or I may not shift very much at all, but the point is, for someone to tell me that I am shifting too much or that I don't need so many available gearing choices is just stupid. He can ride his bike his way, and I will ride my bikes my way.

My road bikes are all setup with computers that I use to monitor both my speed and cadence, and I most often am using my HRM as well. With brifters I can easily maintain a very steady cadence, a very steady heart rate, and a very steady speed within a very narrow target range, simply by shifting often. This allows me to better optimize my performance and the intensity of my workout when I am doing an LSD or riding at a steady pace. Other times when I am doing intervals or working out on hills, and I will shift much less often because I am mainly concentrating on maintaining my heart rate and power output, and I am not real concerned with maintaining a specific cadence or speed.

The same goes when I am mountain biking, only I tend to shift less off-road because rather than maintaining a specific cadence or speed, I am concentrating on maintaining my momentum and my heart rate. If I am doing a long steady climb, my heart rate determines my pace and I may not shift very often at all, but when I am singletracking over irregular trails with lots of short, quick moves or climbs, I may shift quite often to maintain my momentum.

In either case though, having plenty of choices of gear selections allows me to adjust my riding style more granularly, and if I don't need every gear on every ride I just don't use them.

You guys make shifting sound really difficult! With either bar-ends or brifters, if I want to shift, I shift. We are talking about moving your hand about four inches to tweak a lever. You'd think we were flying F-15's in combat, instead of commuting to work :lol:

I have thousands of miles touring and commuting with bar end shifters. I got pretty adept with them and never really disliked them, unless I was literally climbing mountains with them and wanting to shift easily when I was really, really tired.

Then in 2010, I got a sweet deal on some 105 STI shifters. I won't be going back to bar ends, unless some odd bar/brake combination forces the issue. STI FTW

Shift happens.

I shift a lot, because I like to stay in a comfortable and efficient cadence zone. Mashing pedals is inefficient and bad for your legs. Sure, we don't need 30 gears (you actually don't get 30 gears, but that's a different story) and 8 might be enough for most city commuters. But for other forms of cycling gears are necessary and learning how to use them effectively is very beneficial.

I really like my bar-end shifter, but I'm running bullhorns, not drops--so they are right there at my thumb.

I don't call my route to work and back an urban combat commute for nothing.;)

Shifting is not difficult, but I do like having both of my hands right next to the brake levers as much as possible and not 4 inches or so away every time I have to shift gears, and I shift a considerable amount of times on my commute.

I've been using bar end shifters for the last couple months. I love the simplicity and ability to feather my shifts. The lack of indexing on the front derailer is awesome, to say the least.

But....... I spend most of time on the hoods, and reaching down constantly to shift is a major hassle. I end of mashing the pedals a lot, just because I don't feel like reaching down to shift into a more appropriate gear. It totally throws off my rhythm.

I'm planning on moving by bar ends to a Retroshift setup as soon as I can afford it. The Retroshift looks perfect to me.

http://retroshift.com/

http://retroshift.com/wp-content/upl...os-2-Small.jpg

I like bar ends. I like brifters. Both have their merits.

Last year I converted my old Panasonic from stem shifting to bar end shifting. That was the best money I've spent on a bike. For my tastes, bar ends are vastly superior to stem shifters. After converting I was shifting without even thinking about it inside a couple of miles.

Personally I've never had an issue with bar ends where I wasn't able to get shifted into a lower gear when quickly slowing to a stop. Likewise I've never had a problem getting to the shifters while climbing. I also don't think I have any sort of super-human balance or coordination.

I think this statements says a lot about the bar end contingent. It's like comparing pneumatic tires to solid tires in a discussion about suspension. :D

I had not seen those. Neato.