Katiesmalls

Shifters on the down tube. Where else would you put shifters? I have one bike with Brifters. They are decent DA Pic #2 . I personally hate the flex feel of the levers. A properly tightened braze on, or Campy record lever feels solid and correct. IMHO which is exactly what it cost. But, just looking at my current bikes closest to door, I seem to have a preference for Bar-Cons???

billnuke1 

I ride a lot of different bikes and am always at the start of my rides, kinda reaching up, down, here and there for the shifters 'til I get used to what ever bike I am riding! Brake levers, too. Chicken wings, no chicken wings.

martianone

it is easy to be in the current time looking back at previous "technology" and ask why "did they do that" without seeing what came before. New tech often builds on old tech and some things "old" just work well across generations. A diamond frame bike and Brooks saddle are examples.

bikepro

Down tube shifters where the norm before STI type shifters became the norm. Some cheaper bikes had the shifters on stem, and some, primarily touring bikes, had bar end shifters. The main advantage of down tube shifters is the cable was short and direct which made shifting more precise. Also, they are convenient when you are in the drops. You can also shift the front and rear derailers with one hand. Are they as convenient as the STI type shifters? Of course not, and I would never go back.

himespau 

To bad command shifters never really took off.

Stucky

I think a better question is: Why aren't they still offering the option of downtube shifters on new bikes?

Seriously!
They're cheap!

They're 100% reliable.

Last forever.

Very low-maintenance and super-easy when you need to change cables.

You can switch from one end of the cassette to the other with one flick of the lever.

As someone else mentioned: Instant compatibility with EVERYTHING!

You have infinite, precise control- Trim that FD exactly where you want it!

It's no big deal reaching down to shift. Did it as a kid and through my teens- never a problem; never a shift-related crash.

So they've upped the technology with brifters and electronic shifting- but you can't improve on something when that something it is the simplest and most efficient way of achieving a given task- and DT shifters were indeed that!

My next bike is goin to be a vintage with DTs. These modern fancy bikes are O-K, and nice as far as the look and feel- but one of the things I love about bikes is their simplicity and directness- and DTs achieve the height of that. We're getting too far away from that with all this other crap: Brifters; internal cable routing; eighteen-zillion cog cassettes/skinny chains that only last 1000 miles; hydraulic/disc brakes- sheesh! Enough already! What's the point of all this stuff? It's adding weight and complexity; and making money for the bike companies with half of the riders acting like salivating dogs who have to have the latest and greatest fad of the month [Don't get stuck with lowly 10-speed! Don't get left behind! Get on board with 11-speed, or you're nOTHING! ]- but what is it doing for the rider? Nothing!

Eprobungs

They're 100% reliable. + Last forever. + compatible w/ anything = Not good for business(profit).

With brifters, you can generate artificial demand just by introducing new pull ratios.

Corben

Anybody else hear Sheldon from Big Bang Theory while reading The OP questions?

StanSeven

This sums it up well.

StanSeven

Except there are extremely inconvenient when you are out of saddle climbing and need to shift, come around a sharp turn and you face a monster incline, or need to suddenly sprint and change gear.

You can still buy bikes with downtime shifters. Places like Bike Direct will build and sell anything when there's a demand. The problem is the demand is so small all they sell are a couple low end models.

himespau 

The thing I don't get about this then is why, when I was looking for new 10 speed downtube shifters last week, were the only ones I could find Dura Ace (7900)? If they're only making them for cheap bikes, why weren't they tiagra or sora or claris or something?

GravelMN

My first road bike was a 1990s Trek 1500 with DT shifters. They were not at all difficult to use and were as bombproof as shifters can be. I like my current 105 brifters but there was nothing wrong with the old school DTs either.

jaxgtr

Probably because DA downtube shifters are about $80 and weigh next to nothing, so why bother with the lower end of the range. You can find lower end models or even make your own. I saw a story posted somewhere about this dude that makes them for an African bike relief program and they are about $5 a pop. Long lasting, precise and repairable if needed, what's not to like. If I ever get a custom steel frame built, I plan to put them on.

rydabent

The down tube shifters are mechanically elegant. They are light, the cable is shorter so it has less stretch. Also the cable slides under the bottom bracket and has only the turn around where the cable is inside. Once adjusted they stayed in adjustment much longer. The "brifters" are heavy and way up on the bike and has cables flopping around. Bikes with down tube shifters are amazingly clean. IMO they were not hard to reach.

Bandera

Modern-ish DT controls w/ 10 cog indexed shifting: simple, light, clean & reliable.

-Bandera

Stucky

Companies such as Sunrace make the cheap low-end ones. (They still make DA downtube shifters?! I didn't even know that!) But the DA ones are understandable, as most cheap bikes- i.e. Walmart bikes, have some other type of shifter- e.g. on the "GMC Denali" they have some funky handlebar-mounted twist shifters. Even 30 years ago, the cheap bikes would more often come with stem shifters rather than DTs. So I guess they figure that the only people who care about DT shifters, are purists and people with high-quality vintage bikes.

Well-said!

Beautiful!

wphamilton

Buff, because they're cheaper.

fietsbob

Race Posture, bent way over in the drops, the down tube Lever is right near your hands . though Bar end shifters are nearer,

but as pointed out, involves More Cable & Housing..

cale

Bike manufacturers have dealt with all sorts of liability lawsuits over the years. Brifters keep your hands near your brakes, literally on top of them. That's very appealing from a legal standpoint.

GP

$46. Silver Downtube Shifter Kits - 17101

79pmooney

Bandera, I was told this 1976-77 by a man in his 50s who grew up and raced Europe as a young man. The Breaking Away screenplay wasn't written yet.

Edit: When I saw the pump scene in Breaking Away, it was believable to me. Those Italians would have been lesser amateurs sent to the US instead of local races where they might be noticed by pro teams. To salvage anything out of the trip they had to dominate every race. And here was this US kid who knew nothing but was so strong they couldn't drop him, making them look bad. Now, about the pump. It wouldn't be on the bike if they were racing in Europe, but this was the US. They carried the pump so they might finish the race in this land where they didn't speak the language and didn't think for a second that this hick race would have any real support.

Completely in line with shifting a competitor to the wrong gear, except here no one is watching so if they crash, so what? (Think of this in the light of a suburban teen playing pickup basketball in the inner city with teens driven to be noticed and get out of the ghetto. Get too cocky and you will get an elbow in the ribs. Hard.)

Ben

fietsbob

Well Gibsons dont need any .. Fenders may to get the pull down angle behind the Nut.


Making a worm gear turn Backwards by its capstan turning the round gear is like trying to push a car sideways to Make it Go forward ..
Back to the original Hamster Wheel ..

Retro Grouch 

Now there's an idea. What with di2 I wonder if there's an i phone app for that. I could yell "faster" or "easier" and Seri could shift my bike for me. I'd just need to clamp my i phone onto my bike. I'm thinking the down tube would be a good place for such a "command shifter".

himespau 

I was thinking specifically of the Suntour Command shifters that had direct control of the cables (though longer and more convoluted than downtube shifters) and put them up by the hands like sti shifters but were separate and more hardy - less to go wrong.

mrv 

Some of the folks I ride with call "DT" shifters "suicides". I assume it's because they are nearly incompetent at being able to handle their $4k tri-bikes, and reaching for a bottle is an adventure is zig-zagging across the road. (and if any of you are reading this, I don't me YOU, but you know, those OTHER people we ride with.... really!)
I've got three flavors of shifter - DT, bar end, STI (the STI is 'bout 20 years old by the way - good stuff - hose down with WD40 if it quits working properly).
I wouldn't use stem shifters. If you end up going knee-caps over coffee cups flying over the bars, you don't want your important parts (boys) impaling on anything more pointy than the bike stem.