Converting gear shifters?

[Chris-H]

I'm looking for an old 80's style road bike to convert to flat bars for more comfy town riding,the problem is i really dont like downtube shifters so can i fit bar mounted shifters and use the old shifter bracket/braze on as a cable stop for the bar shifter cables?
Does that make sense?

 

[chillyuk]

Yes, yes and yes.

You will need to ensure the shifters match the mechanism you use. Are your gears indexed or friction, and how many gears do you have.

 

[Zoiders]

It's an easy conversion.

Flat bar cantilver brake levers work OK with single or dual pivot road calipers, cheap to get hold of on ebay as well.

Thumb shifters are again cheap and will work fine as long as you turn off the indexing, most old thumbies let you do this.

As for the braze on - yes you can simply bolt on barrel adjusters.

 

[Chris-H]

Yes, yes and yes.

You will need to ensure the shifters match the mechanism you use. Are your gears indexed or friction, and how many gears do you have.

Ok i'm lost
Hav'nt got the bike yet so not sure what gears i'll be using but whats the difference between indexed or friction?

 

[Chris-H]

It's an easy conversion.

Flat bar cantilver brake levers work OK with single or dual pivot road calipers, cheap to get hold of on ebay as well.

Thumb shifters are again cheap and will work fine as long as you turn off the indexing, most old thumbies let you do this.

As for the braze on - yes you can simply bolt on barrel adjusters.

I was thinking of going for the thumb shifters,i have some twist grip shifters in the shed spare but really not keen on them,if i use thumb shifters how do i turn off the indexing?

 

[chillyuk]

Inexed gears click into position when you change gear whilst friction gears have to be "felt" into the change and don't have clicks. A lot of road bikes with a double chain ring on the front have friction changers for the front and indexed on the rear.

 

[Chris-H]

Inexed gears click into position when you change gear whilst friction gears have to be "felt" into the change and don't have clicks. A lot of road bikes with a double chain ring on the front have friction changers for the front and indexed on the rear.

Thanks for clearing that up for me mate,understand it now

 

[Zoiders]

Sorry I missed this bit out, you may only need to turn the indexing off for the front mech, the right hand should be fine if you have the right speed shifter, a 7 speed shifter will work just fine with a 7, 6, or 5 speed block.

Your old gripshifters you simply can't turn the indexing off, I am not keen on them anyway.

To turn the indexing off a thumb shifter tends to simply have a switch next to the lever, push it one way the ratchet engages, push it the other and it doesn't and you are on friction only.

Some down tube levers let you do this as well.

 

[Chris-H]

So if i did'nt turn the index off what would happen? Its definatly the thumb shifters i want so want to make sure i get things right from the start.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

I'm looking for an old 80's style road bike to convert to flat bars for more comfy town riding,the problem is i really dont like downtube shifters so can i fit bar mounted shifters and use the old shifter bracket/braze on as a cable stop for the bar shifter cables?
Does that make sense?

I agree with most but not all the above comments.

It is not easy to generalise, imho answers to your questions must depend on what the 80's bike has, and some features could make your requirements harder to achieve.

First of all if the bike doesn't have a Shimano SIS rear mech (only produced from mid 80s), then indexed shifting can not be assured without its replacement. Without such you should use friction shifting, with, e.g. friction thumb shifters.

Secondly band-on downtube cable stops with cable tension adjusters are becoming very hard to find on the market (while brazed-on adjusters are available cheaply and band-on cable stops without adjuster are also readily available), so you could end up having a little difficulty adjusting cable tension because there is no guarantee that brazed-on adjusters can be mounted on an old shifter clamp. Similarly most, but not all SIS rear mechs have an integral cable tension adjuster.

However if the bike has a 7 or 8 speed block then that is not an issue if you get 8 speed flat bar brifters such as these - they can be set to work with road caliper brakes, they will index reasonably well with both 7 or 8 speed blocks, and they also have integral cable tension adjusters. However 7 or 8 speed shifters will not index sweetly and consistently with a 5 or 6 speed block.

If the bike has a 5 or 6 speed block, then you could get these flat bar brake levers designed for road caliper brakes, and separate 6 speed thumb shifter for the back (which will work with both 5 or 6 speed blocks) and friction thumb shifter for the front such as these. But these shifters don't have cable tension adjusters.

Hope it helps.

 

[Chris-H]

A wealth of knowledge there and much appreciated,will now be able to refer back to this post once i've found a bike and get things right,cheers for all of the advice

 

[uphillstruggler]

You could always go fixed or ss, there are no hills in Bedford

 

[swee'pea99]

You could always go fixed or ss, there are no hills in Bedford

This is clearly a pisstake/tongue in cheek suggestion, but you might actually give it some thought. If you haven't. Old steel bikes make excellent fixies, they're great to ride (as long as there's no hills) and maintenance is zilch.