NOS88

On my ride into work this morning I lost the ability to shift the rear dérailleur on my 8 speed triple. The ratchet mechanism in the right lever stopped working. I'm thinking of replacing it with barcon shifters. I seem to remember them as being easy to shift with thick gloves on. I know the Shimano set up I have now gets a bit clumsy with thick gloves. Any thoughts on this? Recommendations for brands? Advice on installation?

mulveyr 

The 9-speed Dura-Ace barcons are pretty much the default for commercial touring bikes, and I have no complaints at all about the ones on mine. :-) The earlier ones were able to be used with 8-speed cassettes by some fiddling with where the cable connects to the pinch bolt on the derailler, but I'm not sure if current production versions can also do that.

BluesDawg

You can probably still find new or lightly used Shimano 8 speed bar end shifters on eBay. I find shifting with bar end shifters to be very natural. In fact, I find indexing to be unnecessary with them. The best bar end shifters imho are the old Suntour ratcheting friction shifters. A close second would be the Silver bar ends that Rivendell sells made from a copy of Suntour downtube shifters and a copy of the Shimano bar end bracket. My third choice would be Shimano bar end shifters of any speed set to friction mode. But if you want indexing, Shimano is the way to go.

adamrice 

Shimano STI levers have a tendency to do that when they get gummed up. There are guys out there who can service them—I sent my wife's off to Andy Zeigler <andyzeigler@gmail.com> and he seems to have done a good job.

That said, there are just a lot more ways an STI lever can go wrong. Barcons in general are simple and work.

NOS88

I thought of that, but these are Shimano Sora level shifters (not the best by a long shot) and they've been used very hard including hitting the pavement more than once.

NOS88

Doesn't Dia Comp make an imitation of the old Suntour shifters? Do you know anything about them. I don't think I really need the indexing.

seemunkee

Am I the only one who thought that said bacon shifters?

Rick@OCRR

The only one so far . . . let's see if anyone else thought that.

In the meantime, I'll add another vote for the SunTour barcons! I use them on my Mercian touring bike, no issues, no complaints.

Bought them a few years ago off ebay for almost nothing.

Rick / OCRR

Monoborracho

You can still buy new 8 speed barcons. FYI, the indexing has pretty much given up on the right barcon on my touring bike, and I don't think is has much over 20,000 miles on it.

You can get new 8 speed shifters here, just don't buy the last pair.

https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/shifters.html

X-LinkedRider

I use barcons on my touring bike because they are easy to shift AND ADJUST in all weather pretty much. You can go right from Index to Friction mode if there is something amiss and fix it when you have time. (This you can do on the fly)

Also I find JensonUSA.com usually has the best prices and ships right away for these.

Monoborracho

Another thought, if you don't want to go with SORA or barcons...you can still find some R500 STI 8 speed shifters, new, from time to time. I think Jensen had some a while back or you can check QBP.

jethro56 

Why do touring bkes usually have bar end shifters and racing bikes brifters?

NOS88

There are two reason of which I can think. First, when riding with a fully loaded touring bike, you often have great control with hands in the drops and reaching the bar ends is easier than moving back up. Keep in mind that most touring bikes have the handle bars higher than racing bikes. So, reaching the drops is often easier. The second reason is the bar-end shifters are more reliable. And if you're touring somewhere where bike shops aren't easy to get to, this can be really important.

BengeBoy 

Yes - I ordered the Dia Compe bar end shifters from Rivendell a couple of years ago and used them on an old Univega touring bike I was using as a commuter. They were (are) very nice, and Rivendell sent them with a nice set of clear instructions, the necessary cables, etc. Rivendell even recommend that you install the right on the left side, and vice versa, and explained why (I forget the reason, but I followed their recommendation).

If you don't need indexing, they work great.

Also, I think Rivendell (or other folks) sell a bar-end shifter assembly that has everything *but* the shifters themselves. You just put the plugs in the end of the bars, and then attach whatever set of downtube shifters you have lying around. It's basically the same thing.

BTW, I also have recent experience with the Shimano Dura Ace 9-speed bar end shifters. They work fine.

I'm a big fan of bar end shifters, though I now like STI more. But you're right about riding w/gloves - bar end shifters work great for that.

CHAS

Put 10 Speed Barcons on my Rawland. They work very well. Have not gotten them set for indexing. Seems to be no need.

BluesDawg

I'm not sure what "need" means in this context. About the only "need" for friction shifting would be if something went wrong with your indexing and you needed to ride the bike before you could fix the problem.
I'm not sure how pleasant friction shifting would be with a 10 speed system. The narrower spacing would require more precise shifting than with 8 speed or less. No doubt it could be done, but it might not be fun.

Is your Rawland running 650B wheels?

zonatandem

While Sora brifters are not top o' the line, Dura Ace is.
D/A STI brifters were problematic on our tandem. Put them on new single and they worked fine for a while. However, they 'died' after 10,000 miles of usage; so much for $500 Dura Ace brifters!
Both tandem and single have Dura Ace barcons now . . . happy!

badamsjr

I swapped to barcons to solve a problem with shifting a MTB FD with a brifter. Have no issues now. Set rear (9spd) to index, and they are very precise, and easy to shift with whatever gloves I am wearing. DA 9spd barcons, BTW.

robtown

Most of my bikes have bar end shifters. The standard is the 9 speed DA that can run friction or indexed. I have used a couple of the VO retro friction bar end shifters - they are nice. JensonUSA had 8 speed DA for about $56 - a bargain.

curdog

+1 I have on my touring bike and love them.

Velo Dog

You don't need any more comments here, but I can't resist: I've had barcons on my two main road bikes, an Atlantis and Rambouillet, for five or six years, and I love them. Mine are Shimano, eight-speed I think (cannibalized them from other bikes and I run them in friction mode, so I've never bothered to count the clicks). You can shift in mittens, they never miss, and even if you index them, it's easy to shift back to friction if you fall and bend something. To me, maybe because I've used them for years, they feel much more comfortable than "brifters," plus I can't stand the word "brifter."
Mine work equally well with eight-speed and nine--no difference at all. Don't know about 10, because I think 10 is overkill and I'm going to resist as long as I can.

markf

Brifters let you ride in a very comfortable, aerodynamic position (hands on lever hoods) and reach the brake and shift levers without moving your hands. It's very nice for riding at speed in a pack, where it can be useful to reach the controls quickly but braking too rapidly might not be a good idea.

Bar-cons are simpler and therefore presumably somewhat more reliable and maintenance free than brifters, especially the friction-only SunTour/Dia-Compe/Rivendell Silver levers. Bar-cons appeared long before brifters or any kind of index shifting. Without indexing or the kind of accurate shifting that modern drive trains and shifting systems offer, racers never felt that bar-cons offered a significant advantage, especially since they added weight and the extra cable and housing had the potential to get in the way when racing in close proximity to others. Bar-cons also left a racer vulnerable to the dirty trick of someone "accidentally" bumping another rider's shift lever, putting that rider in the wrong gear at the wrong time.

roccobike

I'm assuming you've taken WD-40 and sprayed the inside of the shifter with huge quantities while trying to shift. I'll bet you can bring that shifter back for about $5.

NOS88

Thanks for the thought. I use a different product, but that's become part of the standard maintenance program for all of my bikes. This feel like a different kind of mechanical failure.

ro-monster

Nope, I keep reading "bacon shifters" each time I see it.