I like bar end shifters. But I want to loose the drop bar. I do not mind cutting the drop off some, but then
how do I attach bar end shifters?

I like the bar ends because they offer friction if somthing messes up. They are easy to work on.
There is nothing to go wrong. But my drop bars are to hard to pack.

I have cut drop bars befor just below STI shifters, so cutting is no problem.

Note: I do not nwant to use grip shift on tours. Don't trust them - to much mechanical stuff to go
wrong.

If your frame has bosses for downtube shifters, you can put the shifters there. Also, you might look around for old mountain bike thumb shifters.

I don't think bar end shifters care where the end of the bar is. Seems that if you cut the bars you would still attach the bar end shifter to wherever the new bars ends are. With that said, where those new bar ends are might make it diffiuclt to reach and shift the bar end shifters. You may also find that you inadvedrtantly movem them while leaning the bike against things.

Out of curiosity, what is difficult about packing your drop bars? I am 6'2" and have had some pretty wide and deep drop bars in my day. Never really had a problem packing them in a properly-sized box.

I want to use my Garvin flex stem. it does not allow me to remove it from the bars w/o slipping it to the end of the bars. I also use drop bars w/ bar end shifters. Having the stem on the bars in packing has never allowed me to pack them in the S&S case.

Believe me, I have read the instructions but it does not work for me. Trek 520 56cm. bars 44cm

Paul's Thumbies! Not a super cheap solution, but they're very well made and available for both road and mountain bar sizes.



Here they are on my trekking bars:



I'm about to switch back to drop bars for this season's touring and I'll still use the Thumbies on top. They work great.

Have you considered what Bike Friday does with drop bars: Drill a hole at the halfway point. Cut bar in half. Insert a friction-fit sleeve with a rivet or flat-head screw where the hole was drilled to function as a positioning guide. This allows you to remove and attach the bars w/o having to feed them through the stem. The sleeve/insert only needs to be about 3" long.

Paul's thumbies, or you can mount the bar end on the horns of a pair of these:

To the guy who suggested a 'cut' bar like Bike Fri uses. Boy I sure have thought about somthing like that. A nice piece of solid ALU made to hold the post and then have a step down on each end where I could attach two pieces(one on each end) of a drop bar. Like you said, it could be 4-5" and be held with a bolt of some knid. As long as the slip fit was tight there should be no issues. I just do not have a lath to make this thing or a friend machenist.

And those bars that are pictures I will have to think about. The photo show a WIDE spread at the rear. Perhaps it is not that wide in real. Then, will it fit an old 24.5 quill flex stem???

A machinist setup for manual machining probably wouldn't charge much to make the pieces you need. If there are any community colleges in the area, you might also be able to find a student willing to make the part for a small fee if you provide the materials.