staehpj1

Me too. They are pretty much my last choice.

Yeah, I've never bothered, but that certainly would be an option.

ironwood

Thirty five years ago I toured with Suntour friction bar ends and have been using them ever since. On my bikes without barends I have friction downtube shifters.

DropBarFan

Just be careful & don't crash like Bono! I'm not so familiar with D2, I know it's $$ & requires batteries; OTOH some roadies seem to like it. I could imagine a version where they have a button pad w/separate button for each gear & the front &/or rear derailleurs change as necessary. Or wait, they could have bluetooth earpiece microphone & one just says the gear number! I know, sounds kind of silly esp for distant touring but ya' never know what might become popular.

I was never crazy about electric car windows but they've gone from a luxury car item to virtually standard on US-market cars.

SlowAndSlower

Bar ends. Speaking of which the newest Shimano 10 speed bar ends seem to have dropped friction mode.

wahoonc

I use bar ends, brifters, downtube, twist grip and trigger style. My least favorite are the brifters and twist grip. Prefer bar end for the most part.

Aaron

Tourist in MSN

When I commented above in post number 5 that I prefer doohickies, I should have clarified that is on my derailleur bikes. But on my Rohloff bike, I prefer a Rohloff shifter.

A friend of mine rode on a fully supported trip in Italy earlier this year. He said that one of the other riders had electronic shifting, I do not know which brand, and when she downshifted her derailleur cage went into the spokes. She got to ride in a sag wagon for the rest of her Italy trip. He said he will never go electronic after seeing that.

DropBarFan

I read that D2 overshifts a bit & then snaps back to position so I guess one might have to adjust the limit screw a bit tighter. Or else use those dreadfully uncool spoke protectors.

DropBarFan

That's a drag. Friction-mode seems to be a popular feature, is Shimano just cutting costs?

staehpj1

I don't own a Di2 equipped bike so take the following for what it is worth.

There still are limit screws on Di2 equipped bikes so I really doubt that shifting into the spokes is more likely with a Di2 equipped bike. It seems to me as if it would be either similarly likely or maybe even less likely to have that problem with Di2. I'd think that having that problem on either would usually require either a poorly set limit screw, a bent derailleur hanger, or a maybe a wheel mounted very crooked in the dropouts and any of those could yield the same result with a non Di2 setup as well.

staehpj1

At first I thought that it was a shame that they eliminated friction mode for the rear derailleur and then upon thinking about it I realized that I have never used friction mode anyway in recent years, at least on newer bikes. Even on my older 7 speed bikes indexed shifting has been pretty flawless. In fact my 7 speed with indexed 105 down tube shifters is one of the most reliable and smooth shifting bikes I have ridden. I think that with 10 and 11 speeds friction shifting probably gets more fiddly any way.


I do find indexing kind of pointless for the front derailleur, but it works well enough and is pretty reliable so I won't complain.

azza_333

Even though its a taboo in the touring community, for touring I like my Di2 STIs. I've tried thumb shifters and bar ends too. Bar ends are my least fav

edthesped

My understanding, though I have yet to see definitive proof, is that Di2 STI's are cross compatible with MTB cranks making a brifter/mtb crank combo possible without a kludge fix.

As for the Di2 pushing the RD into the spokes I too would have to believe it was an adjustment issue as I would hope Shimano's top of the line technology wouldn't be released with such a serious flaw.

fietsbob

good luck Actually Touring in remote places in South Asian villages if there is problems with your race pro level stuff .

Tourist in MSN

If the shifters are simply an electrical switch, that would make sense on mixing and matching road and mountain equipment. But maybe Shimano is like Apple and intentionally wired things to avoid logic.

I suspect it was adjustment too, but it sure is easy to adjust mechanical stuff whereas the electronic stuff you probably have to go to technician school to figure that out. When you start pushing a lever and something about the way the lever reacts tells you to stop pushing, you stop pushing. I expect no such feedback from pushing an electrical switch.

edthesped

Heck, I'd try it on a Big Wheel given the opportunity. Unfortunately the reality is that with 2 college age kids my adventures are limited to relative local stuff and move in and out drives.

edthesped

First I must say that I've never even seen a bike with electronic shifters so I'm talking out of my a$$ but I would think adjustment would be easier as the index spacing is fixed with upper and lower limits being the only thing needing to be dialed in. But then again maybe I'm over simplifying it.

mstateglfr 

True, but what % of people who enjoy the activity actually tour in some remote South Asian village- or anything like that across the world? The % is incredibly small.
Also, your comment is ignoring the reality that there is obviously different types of touring. Riding on roads. Riding off roads. Riding in the SE US. Riding in the NE US. Riding in the Pacific NW. etc etc etc. There are tons of different types of touring in the US alone where different gear setups(and a bike is part of that gear) will work best.


Touring across Mongolia requires different equipment than touring down the PCH. Again, bikes are part of that equipment. Adjust accordingly.

fietsbob

dont forget riding to show off the bike you got to one-upsmanship your friends..

No local buyers of High end stuff , so the touring public wont find the service parts stocked on Spec. .

hence midline stuff , gets you there, to see stuff, and you wont have to hang around for several days ,

while special order stuff is ordered and shipped when like your Campag or Di2 may require.
( to be forewarning azza_333)





I was quite happy with my 6 speed freewheels , only weakness the hub axles bend, Phil Wood Hubs axles dont bend

put together a reliable rear wheel That way .

Cougrrcj

Back when I got serious about cycling, I put SunTour barcon shifters on my Fuji S-10S waaaaay back in 1976 and never looked back.

Two years ago, I picked up a '84 Univega Viva Sport, and it, too, got a set of SunTour barcons before riding it more than ten miles.

Two weeks ago, I picked up a Univega Gran Tourismo (touring bike). Yep, SunTour barcons are going on that one as well.

I also have a repainted MTB/touring bike (unknown brand/model) with SunTour thumb shifters.

Walter S

+1. Just as reliable as down tube shifters but I find them easier to reach, especially if I'm on my feet. And if I'm indecisive/tentative with my shift, my hand can linger for a moment while still steadying/steering the bike.

350htrr

Bah humbug... This is like comparing old 5&4 non-synchronized truck transmissions and the new fangled 12 speeds for trucks... The 12 speed wins for trucks, and the indexed shifter wins for bikes... Oh, and so do hydraulic disc brakes over any other types...

SlowAndSlower

A bit later in the 80's I bought myself a brand spanking new Fuji America that came stock with the SunTour barcons. Think I still have the cable housing laying around some where.
My son still has his S-10S too.

azza_333

Thanks for having my back mstateglfr, your correct my Di2 bike I built up for touring in Japan, and other developed countries, its fast and light but I can still go unsupported on it. I do also have a Kona sutra though with bar ends, they are ok, but I much rather my STIs, so I can shift when im zooming down a hill without taking my hands of the drops.

Mike Ayling

I have a Surly LHT with bar end shifters which worked well enough then Mary and I bought a Thorn tandem with Rohloff and I love it.

I now have a Thorn Mercury with Rohloff and I am unlikely to get another derailleur equipped bike.

Mike

I

elcruxio

Just got my bar ends mounted up (microshift 9 speed) and I really do like them. Took a bit of getting used to and I was constantly missing the flappy action of my brifters but then again I don't really need to brifter performance on a tourer since I'm not looking to keep a perfect cadence and a constant performance rate all the time anyways. And as the drops are pretty much the most comfortable spot on my tourer I'm not at all bothered about the shifter placement.

As usual I have a friction front shifter and indexed rear shifter. I'd imagine going friction with a 9-speed would be a bit too tight for any kind of performance. Also my rear hub is so damn loud when freewheeling even just a bit that I can't hear any rear mech noise over it (this of course assuming that I'm not actually putting in torque and am downshifting in preparation of a hill or whatever)