Friction Shifters

[David9694]

Dearer than a bit of heat-shrink, I went the Jtek route to run a MTB derailleur like yours off road downtube levers. A haul on that right-hand lever is as big a change of gear as dropping to the smaller front chain ring.

How are you mounting your levers - do you have bosses?

[slowster]

Yes, thumb shifters would be ideal at the moment with my current set up which is a DT friction shifter for the FD and a Trigger shifter for the rear. See photo. However, my concern would if I go back to drop handlebars at a later date is finding thumb shifters that can handle both diameters of bars.

That is a very nice looking bike and a lovely photograph.

You might want to consider the Rivendell Silver 2 shifters and Thumbshifters mounts. They are expensive because they are niche small volume manufactured items, and you would have to pay import duty and VAT as well. The advantages of them compared with a pair of standard Dia Compe down tube levers on thumbshifter mounts are the better ergonomic shape of the lever and the ability to fine tune the angle of the lever in the mount (so that the lever is as close to your thumb as you want it at the start of the shifting range). Both fit the central 26mm clamp section of drop bars and come with shims for 22.2mm flat bars.

https://www.rivbike.com/collections/shi ... ihjga44451

https://www.rivbike.com/collections/shi ... -cnv-oialk

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/gear-shifte ... ir-silver/

[Campag]

I use those Dia Compe ENE shifters (the last link in the previous message). Not cheap, but well designed añd more versatile than most others.

[Ontherivet77]

Dearer than a bit of heat-shrink, I went the Jtek route to run a MTB derailleur like yours off road downtube levers. A haul on that right-hand lever is as big a change of gear as dropping to the smaller front chain ring.

How are you mounting your levers - do you have bosses?

Yes, the bike came with the braze ons for DT. Fortunately, the front mech is tiagra,I initially tried a l/h trigger shifter but prefer the trim abilities of the DT lever.

[Ontherivet77]

Yes, thumb shifters would be ideal at the moment with my current set up which is a DT friction shifter for the FD and a Trigger shifter for the rear. See photo. However, my concern would if I go back to drop handlebars at a later date is finding thumb shifters that can handle both diameters of bars.

That is a very nice looking bike and a lovely photograph.

You might want to consider the Rivendell Silver 2 shifters and Thumbshifters mounts. They are expensive because they are niche small volume manufactured items, and you would have to pay import duty and VAT as well. The advantages of them compared with a pair of standard Dia Compe down tube levers on thumbshifter mounts are the better ergonomic shape of the lever and the ability to fine tune the angle of the lever in the mount (so that the lever is as close to your thumb as you want it at the start of the shifting range). Both fit the central 26mm clamp section of drop bars and come with shims for 22.2mm flat bars.

https://www.rivbike.com/collections/shi ... ihjga44451

https://www.rivbike.com/collections/shi ... -cnv-oialk

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/gear-shifte ... ir-silver/

Thanks I will check these out.