Has anyone considered have a back-up shifter in your spare parts bag? I was wondering about having a set of down tubes shifters "just in case".

I don't carry a spare. Despite trying, I've never managed to damage a shifter. And I use the supposedly delicate/finicky 10-speed STI and DoubleTap shifters. I don't make the clamps super-tight so the levers tend to rotate, rather than break, in a drop/crash. If I were worried about the mechanicals, I'd replace the shifters before leaving on a trip.

Worst case, the bike becomes a single-speed until you reach the next town and can get repairs/replacements.

I have been using the same Sun tour Ratchet bar end shifters for 30+ years ..

but then you have to resist the 'more speeds I need more speeds' marketing push ..

I got along fine for all those decades and thru dozen countries (europe trips) with a 7x3 Drivetrain.

[my Pre Rohloff touring Bike]

I think the detents on shimano bar end right shifters are not as durable ..

when I see people occasionally, wanting a new, right only shifter ..



you can use a section of cable or wire, and the clamping bolt on the RD

to pull it away from the return spring default which is the high gear ..

Maybe if in some remote place where you might go weeks without a chance for a replacement, but otherwise no. You can pretty easily rig up either the front or the back (which ever is broken) to be in the middle of the range and get a usable set of gears on the other shifter.

Besides there are other more critical parts more likely to fail. If you carried them all it would get to be a pretty big set of spares.

Besides, I have toured in a pretty wide range of US locales and never road toured anywhere where it wouldn't have been pretty easy to hitch a ride to a bike shop. So my spares are usually limited to the following if even that:
1. A spare tube
2. A couple chain links
3. A few rack bolts

Thanks for the replies.
I thought I would check out the idea. We leave for our cross country tour in about 4 weeks.

Have a great trip!

I have a friend with SRAM Double Tap shifters who is carrying a spare bar-end shifter on our Europe trip. One of those doesn't weigh much, so I suppose if it puts your mind at ease and worrying is an issue...

I went through the exact thought process on my first tours, and decided on the approach noted above--I can always make a single speed work for a day or two, even shift a couple of times a day if needed for a long grade. So I took a little risk, simplified and minimized my packing, and saved some money. Tens of thousands of miles, never had a shifter fail, even the more complex ones I've had in the past twenty years. They're pretty rugged, as it turns out. Keep an eye out for cables fraying at the ferrules--they give lots of warning if you pay attention. And have a great trip.

I am not sure why folks are assuming you would need to go single speed. A broken shifter will not make you need to go single speed if you have front and rear derailleurs. A broken rear derailleur or derailleur hanger will but with a broken shifter you can still shift the other shifter. It isn't that bad to have one shifter if the other one is chocked into the middle gear either with a knotted cable, the limit screws, or even a improvised wedge.

With a broken derailleur or derailleur hanger a spare shifter does no good and I think the derailleur and hanger are way more likely to be a problem than a shifter.

Yeah, I could see taking a spare hanger if anything. Touring bikes fall over sometimes, and that could trash a hanger pretty easily if it hit the ground wrong. A hanger also weighs practically nothing.

If I was going to outer Mongolia with a derailleur bike, I might bring one friction shift lever that could be installed on a downtube boss by removing cable housing stop. If you really wanted to get something like this, see if any local bike shops that work on older bikes have a bucket of old parts in the corner. Low cost shift levers off of a 70s bike might fit the task nicely.

The advantage of a vintage friction shifter on a downtube boss instead of a bar end shifter is that bar end shifters may need a longer cable and housing. A downtube shifter can be used with a shorter cable and without additional housing.

I've broken a shifter cable, but never a shifter.