which front mech is compatable with bar end shifters

[Jac]

Hi,
I wonder if anyone knows which front mechs are compatible with bar end shifters.

I have had straight bars with shimano LX combined brake and thumb shifters and Deore front mech with triple ring on my Dawes Galaxy - all worked fine but now I want to reinstate the drop bars and bar end shifters that it came with. Unfortunately I cannot find the old RSX front mech and the Deore front mech seems to be incompatible.

Spent a day trying to set it up only to realise that the pull from the bar end shifters is insufficient.
I have been unable to source an RSX front mech.
Any suggestions would be very welcome

Thank you

[Brucey]

if you remount the cable closer to the pivot on the deore, it will work OK . There have been pics of this adaptation posted here, I think colin531 helpfully posted one such a while back.

cheers

[531colin]

It should be OK.
As the shift isn't indexed, a bar end shifter should work a mountain front mech......I have got them doing it, including a recent LX front mech, should be same as Deore.
You do need to use the full range of the bar end shifter, as mountain front mechs are longer cable pull than road, just ensure there is no "lost motion" due to cable slack on the little ring for example.

[531colin]

if you remount the cable closer to the pivot on the deore, it will work OK . There have been pics of this adaptation posted here, I think colin531 helpfully posted one such a while back.

cheers

I think that was for road STI and mountain front mech.

[Brucey]

you are quite right, it should work OK without the mount adaptation....

I wonder why it isn't?

Assuming that there is no lost motion due to cable slack, I can think of one possible reason; some Shimano shifters have the ratchet mechanism mounted to the bracket via an M5 bolt and four little pegs that sit in four little holes. If the BE shifters are like this, they can be mounted wrongly by 90 degrees and this can means that the lever movement and the total cable pull is reduced. With other styles (not all of which I am so familiar with) it may also be possible to remount so as to reduce the total cable pull too.

Q. is the throw of the lever as great as it should be? If not maybe it has been remounted incorrectly at some point perhaps..?

cheers

[Jac]

Thanks for the suggestions
The bar end just doesent seem to pull sufficient cable to move the mech across the 3 rings.
I get it set up fine for the small ring and middle and then the bar end shifter wont pull it across the large ring.
If I pull the cable by hand the mech will pull over sufficiently.
Conversly if I get it set up for the large ring then the cable is too tight to move back across to the small ring.

I cant see any adjustment on teh Deore mech - other than the 2 screw to set the limit - I have tried these on every possible setting

it is very frustrating

[Jac]

I will try taking the levers apart to make sure there is no other way of mounting them - It seems to move correctly though
It moves through about 90 degrees
thanks for the suggestion

[531colin]

I will try taking the levers apart to make sure there is no other way of mounting them - It seems to move correctly though
It moves through about 90 degrees
thanks for the suggestion

Mine go just a bit over 90deg. so I think you are OK.
Theres a shiny spacer that sits on a square cast into the alloy shifter body. The other side of the spacer only fits the actual lever bit one way round.

EDIT can you post a picture of the cable attachment/routing on your front mech?

[andrew_s]

It is possible to get the shiny spacer between the mount and the actual lever the wrong way round so that lever travel is restricted (BTDTGTTS).
The lever should pull up to just above the level of the bar in the absence of cable/limit stops - something like 110-120° total movement?

[Jac]

Thank you for the helpfull suggestions
Have taken the lever apart and moved the washer thing thro 90 put another new cable in - and it worked first time

Thank you so much for the advice - I was just about ready to give up

[Brucey]

excellent!

cheers