3x5 brake lever/gear shifters - is there such a thing?

[Houthakker]

I have an old Raleigh rigid mountain bike with straight bars which I've been using for shortish local rides, more relaxed than my road bike and saves putting on cycling shoes etc. Only downside is I find the straight bars a but limiting. I keep moving my hands around when on the drops or do tend to get some numbness/pins & needles, obvs can't do that with the flat bars. I do have an old set of butterfly bars I was thinking of swapping onto it, but as it has twist grip changers, they are too big to fit on the butterfly bars. I was looking for a thumbshift/brake lever combined unit like below, but can only seem to find these in 7/8/9 speed versions. Does anyone know if its possible to get these for a 5 speed? if not I might have to look for seperate units. TIA

 

[C R]

I have an old Raleigh rigid mountain bike with straight bars which I've been using for shortish local rides, more relaxed than my road bike and saves putting on cycling shoes etc. Only downside is I find the straight bars a but limiting. I keep moving my hands around when on the drops or do tend to get some numbness/pins & needles, obvs can't do that with the flat bars. I do have an old set of butterfly bars I was thinking of swapping onto it, but as it has twist grip changers, they are too big to fit on the butterfly bars. I was looking for a thumbshift/brake lever combined unit like below, but can only seem to find these in 7/8/9 speed versions. Does anyone know if its possible to get these for a 5 speed? if not I might have to look for seperate units. TIA

View attachment 514798

I don't think they make them in 6 or 5, but the spacing of the gears is the same afaict. I used an 8 with a 6 speed for a while without issues, it might work with the 5 too.

 

[Houthakker]

Thanks CR, might give it ago then.

 

[DCLane]

You can - either grip-shift or trigger ones. Have a look on eBay "gear 3 5" in shifters brought up a few: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/177824/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=gear+3+5&rt=nc&LH_PrefLoc=1

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Are we talking about something like an old Raleigh Ascender or Firefly? They were 3 x 5.
You might be able to get MTB bar ends to go on by moving the grip shifters inwards a bit and trimming a bit off the ends of the rubber grips. Only the twisty bit needs to be free to rotate, not the whole thing.

 

[raleighnut]

You could probably get a 7 speed freewheel to screw onto the hub, I did it on one bike by fitting a wheelnut on the axle instead of a cone nut to increase the clearance for the little sprocket.

 

[C R]

You could probably get a 7 speed freewheel to screw onto the hub, I did it on one bike by fitting a wheelnut on the axle instead of a cone nut to increase the clearance for the little sprocket.

The only thing to keep in mind is that the axle is liable to bend over time, due to the added overhang.

 

[raleighnut]

The only thing to keep in mind is that the axle is liable to bend over time, due to the added overhang.

It only added about 3mm to the overall length, note I removed the locknut and replaced it with a thicker nut. Axles tend to bend/break if the cones are not adjusted correctly, it doesn't take much play to transfer the stresses from them to the axle hence the move to freehubs for anything over 7 speed.

 

[Ajax Bay]

the spacing of the gears is the same afaict

Don't think so. 5 and 6 regular freewheels are 5.5mm spacing but 7sp is 5.0 and 8sp is 4.8 (Sheldon). I guess this might work well enough using 7 speed trigger shifters with the current 5sp block. If you get it aligned on the middle sprocket, you'll only be a 0.5mm out on sprockets 2 and 4, one mm on the large sprocket, and care with the limit screws will allow a double shift, restrained by the 'high' limit screw to get it right on the smallest sprocket, and avoid over shifting either way.

 

[C R]

Don't think so. 5 and 6 regular freewheels are 5.5mm spacing but 7sp is 5.0 and 8sp is 4.8 (Sheldon). I guess this might work well enough using 7 speed trigger shifters with the current 5sp block. If you get it aligned on the middle sprocket, you'll only be a 0.5mm out on sprockets 2 and 4, one mm on the large sprocket, and care with the limit screws will allow a double shift, restrained by the 'high' limit screw to get it right on the smallest sprocket, and avoid over shifting either way.

When I used the 8 speed shifter with a 6 speed freewheel and a turney derailleur, indexing worked as well as with the 8 speed cassette, better if anything. I didn't need to do anything special, set the limit screws so that with the shifter on six the chain was on the smallest sprocket, and then index as usual, it just worked, that's why I assumed spacing was the same.

 

[Houthakker]

Thanks for the all the advice but Ive knocked the idea on the head after checking the stem against the forks and finding they are different sizes!

 

[C R]

What size stem do you need? I assume it is a quill stem, I have one knocking about in the garage which you can have for the cost of the postage if it will fit.

 

[faster]

When I used the 8 speed shifter with a 6 speed freewheel and a turney derailleur, indexing worked as well as with the 8 speed cassette, better if anything. I didn't need to do anything special, set the limit screws so that with the shifter on six the chain was on the smallest sprocket, and then index as usual, it just worked, that's why I assumed spacing was the same.

I'm really surprised this worked.

I've tried a 5 speed freewheel with a 7 speed shifter and derailleur, and whilst it worked well enough in an emergency to get me home, it did mean that some shifts required one click, some shifts required two clicks and others needed two clicks then one back the other way. Maybe the derailleur you used had an odd pull ratio, as in theory 6 speed freewheel with 8 speed should be even worse.

 

[C R]

The derailleur was a Shimano Turney, nothing special, one of these

https://images.app.goo.gl/EJEuvY97RaJwkQo79

shifter the one op showed, 8 speed version, freewheel was this one

https://images.app.goo.gl/n8T8Xoj3hEK1Uiwu6

Used for over a year without issue. I later bought new wheels with an 8 speed cassette, and all I needed to do was fix the limit screws and tweak the cable tension, and the indexing worked just as well with the 8 speed, despite the derailleur saying 6/7 speed.

 

[Ajax Bay]

You must have 'special powers' @C R