bikeNYC

what is a braze on for down tube shifting. I was interested in buying a particular bianchi frame. however in the add it said that this was not included. I do not want to purchase the frame and find out that i needed it. Pardon my newbie question, but id rather ask since this will be my first road bike! thanx !!!

sydney

Studs that the shifters attach to. If you don't intend to use downtube shifters it's not an issue. If you want downtube shifters,especially index,it can be a big issue.Even with friction it can be an issue because clamp on friction shifters don't fit alot of oversize downtubes.

Maj.Taylor

Buy it. Everything is Ergo or STI now. You'll never use a downtube shifter. Let me take that back. You may want to be like Lance. He has been known to remove the left shifter and install a downtube lever to save weight. If you're thinking about climbing in the Alps, you might keep that in mind.

sydney

Some would not agree.

MichaelW

DT lever fittings are only found on modern touring bikes (and not all of these), to allow riders to fit DT friction levers in case of emergency. Pretty much all modern road bikes use a simple cable guide on the DT. Most riders use STI/Ergo levers, and if you prefere something else you can use bar-end levers.

sydney

Probably an overbroad generalization.

Michel Gagnon

But whatever shifters you use, you need some form of cable guides or stoppers on the downtube... unless you want to run housing all the way.

rcams

Yeah, I though that even STI and Ergo shifters had a cable housing attachment at the same spot as the braze-ons for downtube shifters. Is it that they use a different type of fitting?