Hybrid gurus, I just picked up an old Cannondale hybrid frame (no idea what model) that I'm going to build into a winter commuter. I'm pirating all the components from my wife's old Mongoose hybrid (she has a new bike) that has flat bars and twist grip shifters. Eventually I want to put drop bars on it. I have the bar and brake levers but not clear about what kind of shifters will work - either downtube or bar end would be fine. The stuff is all old Alivio. Suggestions?

If using downtube or barcons,as long as they're set to friction you'll be fine. Most drop bar levers are short pull,however,so if you have V brakes you'll need Problem Solvers Travel Agents. If you're running canti's you'll be fine.

or get CX brifters for said dropbars, which are intended for mechanical disk brakes, which are long pull, just like V-brakes.

Couple posts say don't use friction levers with 7 or 8 gear hubs - I haven't used friction levers in 25 years so don't know

I use friction shifters on my 8 spd. They are pretty flexible. Had them on 7 spd before and 9 spd.

There are both long and short pull interrupter/cross/bartop levers,but all Shimano/SRAM brifters are short pull. Avid,Shimano,and Tektro all make short pull versions of their disc brakes,which is what cross bikes use. Also,I can't see adding long pull interrupter levers inline with short pull brifters and not having issues.

They're talking about internally geared hubs(IGH,ie,Nexus/Alfine/Sturmey Archer,etc). With derailleur drivetrains you just set the limit screws on the derailleurs and you're good to go. And most of the time friction shifters will work with IGH's,it can just be fiddly sometimes depending on the specific hub and shifter.

Great, thanks! I don't want to do brifters simply for cost. I'm also leaning towards friction levers for the same reason - good to know they won't be a problem