I'm a teacher with scads of summer time so I'm thinking of getting a touring bike for some summer excursions. So far I've looked at the Trek 520 and the Surley LHT. I've also observed some pictures on this thread of other bikes.

Why do touring bikes come mostly with bar end shifters? I primarily ride a road bike and find that riding "on the hoods" is very natural and I usually only go into the drops in headwinds or straight speed runs. I am also most comfortable having my hands on brifters so shifting and braking doesn't require a hand shift.

I'm sure I can get used to bar ends but do they work as smoothly as brifters? Have any of you converted bar end bikes to brifter bikes?

Thank you.

Bar-end shifters cost bike manufacturers a lot less to put on, plus they play well with the notion that bar ends are considered virtually bombproof for touring purposes. A lot of brifter users have never had issues either. If you are used to brifters, chances are that you may not like bar ends (I love them!) Do spend some time trying them though. Otherwise, yes you can upgrade to brifters. If you mostly ride on the hoods, Retroshifts with the bar-ends might be another good option.

Bar end shifters are the last of the old school touring components to die off. They have no advantages. Even the old meme of; what if you're touring in the Amazon jungle and your new fangled shifter breaks? Just bring along a down-tube shifter and switch to it in an emergency.

Most good bike shops will swap out the shifters to what you want. Might cost a little, but it will be worth it.

It is a pretty expensive conversion, so take that into account when choosing a bike. You might be better off to buy a bike that already has them (brifters). Personally, I do not like bar ends at all. I don't mind down tube shifters as much.

Some people like bar ends a lot so it might be worth trying them. For me bar ends are not any more convenient than down tube shifters and they tend to be knee bangers. Also they always seem to be getting bumped out of gear when the bike is leaned against something.

Tradition.

But don't make it a decision-point before you try them, I was apprehensive about them too, but they are fine. The ability to shift at a moment's notice without a hand movement is much less important if you are not riding in a pack.

When I first started using bar ends they came on my LHT, they took some getting used to.When u come up out of the saddle on a climb,u need to watch that your knee caps dont hit the shifters.It took me a few rides to get used to them but I wouldnt use anything else.

I've got STIs, bar-ends and downtube shifters on various bikes. They all work well, but STIs definitely make it easier to shift. The big advantage to bar-ends is that they are much less expensive than STIs and supposedly more durable and less prone to failure. However, I had some Dura-Ace bar-ends wear out with less than 3 years of use -- although fortunately still covered under warranty. Bar-ends are much easier to use than down-tube shifters and only marginally more inconvenient than STIs.

So they have no advantages as long as you bring along a backup shifting system.

OP: My bar ends work smoothly either in index or friction mode. One thing that some people don't like is that you can knock the bike out of gear by hitting the shifter while doing something like leaning it against something. As noted, moment's notice shifting usually isn't neccessary.

I use both brifters and bar end shifters. I am pretty much an old school rider and prefer the bar ends in a touring situation. Much of it is personal preference. Mine is probably brought on by the fact I started touring over 35 years ago and that is what we had.

Aaron

Learn to travel light and do the excursions on your road bike. Not hard in summer as long as you don't stray too far from services. Change of clothing, small tent and pad, few odds and ends. Skip the cooking bit. This could get you started.

This is assuming you can do 50 miles on the road bike without too many aches and pains.

It is true for some riders on some bikes that bar ends may be easier to use than down tube shifters, but there are a number of factors that may affect whether that is true for a particular rider. I suspect that when folks say that bar ends are easier it is often because the have to reach down much farther than they do for bar ends. When on a large frame in an upright posture that would very much be the case. That said if on a smaller frame and/or with lower bars it may actually be a more natural reach. See the picture below of one of my bikes set up for ultralight touring. The bar ends would be at pretty much the same height ad the down tube shifters and I actually find it more natural to reach to that shifter position.


That said brifters are much more easy to use, but a bit more expensive, slightly harder to keep adjusted, and maybe a bit less robust. For me it is brifters or sti with bar ends not even in the running. For someone else they may be the winning ticket.

Thank you all for some insightful answers. The more I think about it, the shifter position is less crutial to me than having my hands at the brakes. I'll be out this afternoon trying the bar ends.

Bar end shifters are specified for touring bike primarily due to cost and profit motive for the seller. Bar end shifters have a wholesale cost of $70 or less; low-end Tiagra brifters are twice as much. If brifters cost the same as bar-ends, then you would see all touring bikes switched to brifters by the next model year.

I prefer brifters for the performance and safety advantages of having nearly instant ability to change gear from hoods or drops.

As another poster indicated, I'd just as soon use DT shifters over bar ends. DT shifters won't bump your knees, they require less housing and cable and thus weigh less, shift effort is very low due to no cable bends and associated friction, and DT shifters are more attractive than bar-ends with the flying cables. The bar-end shifter mounting location is susceptible to damage, whereas DT shifters are relatively protected. Down tube shifters even cost less than bar end shifters.

I agree with all of that, but one thing that has not been mentioned is that some frames do not readily take down tube shifters (most carbon frames and some other frames with no bosses and non round tubes).

the bar end shifter , particularly the friction/power ratchet ones
are exceptionally reliable.. mine are 30 years old, still work fine..
before that I had down tube mounted levers,
a quick slap made 1 gear downshift, on the RD,
to limit time not holding on the bars, with both hands.


I went from bar end shifted derailleur bikes to the 14 speed Rohloff IGH.

which uses a pull-pull 2 cable shifting grip... in event, should a cable break
the hub can be shifted with an 8mm wrench, on the hub
as the whole sequencing mech, is in the hub.

grip shifter and trekking /figure 8 bars is a nice combination
being the right diameter match.

The main reason is because bicycle tourists tend to be a curmudgeonly bunch who don't like new fangled things and are tied to tradition (see also retrogrouch). Sometimes, I'm a amazed that bicycle tourists accept pneumatic tires It also derives from an (unfounded) fear that new fangled stuff is delicate and will fail along with a mistrust and misunderstanding of system. People want to have a friction mode because they just know that the new index shifting (new 20+ years ago) isn't going to work and they'll be stuck on the side of the road. Then they'll have to hitchhike and they'll be taken deep into the backwoods somewhere and eaten

I, personally, don't like barends because they are always getting bumped and shifting gears.

Back in the day when 10-speed was what we would now call 5-speed, you didn't have as many gear options, and tended to shift less often. Downtube or barend shifters worked OK for this. The more gears available today means more frequent shifting to find the perfect gear, so the easier shifting brifters or trigger shifters are prevalent. Shifting gears when climbing out of the saddle or simultaneously shifting the front and rear derailleurs are both much easier using brifters or trigger shifters.

I confess I am one of the old guys. I discovered friction bar end shifters over 40 yrs. ago. I was using Campy barcons for many years until I finally got around to building a new bike with indexed shifting. I used Shimano barcons for that. I have gone through 7, 8 and now use 9 spd. setups and am happy with the result. I suspect one reason for barcons is the number of older riders who may have been using barcons for years.

How often do you shift when on tour? I find myself shifting fairly infrequently, as most hills/obstacles are seen way before the need to shift in anticipation for them. On a long climb I tend to find the sweet spot and stay in that gear. I also find it easy to shift simultaneously with bar ends.

Like most people here, I think that touring doesn't require shifting as frequently as fast light riding. But if you like brifters, use 'em. I changed the bar ends to thumbies on mine because I would bump the bar ends with my knee when I got out of the saddle.
I used to have an LHT and really liked it, but when I had some "extra" money I upgraded the frame to a Rivendell Hunqapillar and am a lot happier with the handling.

Marc

Actually I thing frequent shifting is more important on a tour. When you are hauling a heavy load the right gear is more critical than unloaded. Over the course of a day, if you are in the right gear all the time, you will expend less energy and on a long tour that's a pretty big deal.

MAK, A couple of technical reasons for the bar end shifters are that with a narrow handle bar and a handle bar mounted bag there is the possibility of some interferance when shifting a Shimano STI. Another is that many touring bikes are built using a mountain bike's crankset and FD. Pull ratio is different between Shimano road and mountain FDs which most often, but not always excludes the use of the STI shifters. The friction mode of operation of the FD bar end shifter allows mixing road and mountain groups.

Brad

I for one have never bumped a bar end with my knees, and thats on bikes with both high and low bars. I have also never shifted gears leaning a bike on something with bar ends. And thats out of about six bikes that have them. I run old suntour friction bar ends on all my bikes that don't have friction downtube(or indexed virtualy permanently set to friction)or friction thumb shifters.

One advantage of bar ends, and I don't think that anyone touched on this, is that most new barends can be set to friction mode. A roadbike generaly goes to a home at night, so when the derailers need to be adjusted its no big deal, either you do it yourself, or take it to a shop.
On a tour, if a cable gets stretched, a derailer bumped out of adjustment, or a part wears so that the indexing is not perfect, then its really nice to be able to go to friction where you can trim the chain so it does not rub or grind on the front derailer, or chatter on the rear cluster. Then, when you have made the miles that you planned for the day without having to stop and screw with adjustments, you can work on it at leasure, or wait till you find a shop.

The only bikes I run indexed on are my mountain bikes, and that because like many have said, its nice to be able to shift fast at a moments notice when needed.
But on a tour, usualy I don't need to do that. In fact, I am usualy in one gear for long periods of time. That would be the granny gear...

Most touring bikes come with v-brakes for better stopping which comes in handy on a fully loaded bike. Brifters do not give enough travel and hence the bar ends.

I have two bikes, one has ultegra brifters and the other (my tourer) has dura ace bar-ends. I like them both and, between the two bikes, really don't have any trouble moving between the two. I do spend more time shifting on my around town bike (stopping, slowing down, lights, other cyclists, etc.) than I do on my touring bike. Real quick shifts don't seem as important when I'm touring, where I'm generally in more of a rhythm and also following a mellower vibe, generally, than when I'm dodging traffic in the city. I do like a couple of things about the bar ends, on my tourer, that I wouldn't like with my brifters on a touring bike: 1. Can shift into friction mode. Brifters can get finicky with adjustments in a way I don't want to puzzle much with while on a bike trip. On the bar ends, I can just move into friction if something isn't sounding the way I like it and worry about messing with adjustments later. 2. FD shifter is still friction. This may seem a disadvantage but a front triple with an old derailler from Sun Tour...I don't think it'd work with any brifter and the friction gives me a lot of latitude for trimming.