Grip shifters on a drop bar bike??

[Jonathan M]

OK, my son has got one of the kids Decathlon bikes, but struggles with braking from the hoods & drops, and with the downtube shifters (he's only 8, so hands are a bit small for the brakes).

Braking I've solved by buying some cyclocross "top" brake levers.

Shifting is now the next hurdle. The bike has a 5 or 6 speed freewheel, and a triple front. I've thought about ergo/STI but this seems to me that it would be a very expensive & maybe confusing system.

Josh (son) currently uses cheap gripshifters on his cheapie mountain bike, so is familiar with the use of grippies.

I seem to recall some bikes (a cannondale tourer in the early 1990's for one) having gripshifters fitted on the ends of the drop bars in lieu of bar end shifters. Anyone recall this/have any experience of gripshifters on drop bars??

 

[Radius]

The only ones I've seen recently are on that nasty Barracuda bike where the grip shifters are where you'd expect them to be on a flat bar, but it's got drops. I know he's young but if you want him to get into drops then surely STIs are the way to go, there are some cheap Sora levers around now (sub £100, maybe even sub £80), otherwise wouldn't a flat bar be best?

 

[RedBike]

I can remember that as kids we all used to struggle slightly with the downtube shifters. It wasn't the shifters that was the problem, it was having to let go of the bars and reach down.

Mind you I can also remember that are gears (or brakes) never used to work right yet this was never a problem.

 

[mickle]

GripShift was originally a drop bar/ tri bar shifter. They can be bodged on past the bends, it used to be a regular workshop job back in the olden days. We used to dismantle them, cut a slot in the inner, stationary component, to allow it on past the bend and then reassemble the shifter on the bar. I have some spare GripShift/ clone shifters in a bin at work if you PM me next week.

 

[Jonathan M]

Thanks Mickle, I'll be in touch next week.

I've thought of some flats, but Josh is reluctant becuase then it won't look like a road bike. STI's, hand size may again be a problem, plus I think grippies are something he'd be more familiar with.

 

[fossyant]

My son won't fit a road bike...he's just 8 but a bit 'short' at the moment....that will change but over 5' 9" I doubt as an adult......

He's pretty fast on his MTB....beats a few of the older lads racing down the road....

Just don't look at the computer stats.......he's done 25 plus riding down our little hill.....

 

[P.H]

An alternative would be to use trigger shifters on the tops, next to the cross top levers. There's a few 6spd shifters about and cheap as chips. You'll need to bodge the clamp to fit the bigger diameter of a road bar, but I'd have thought this was easier than trying to fit gripshift (though I've never tried that)

 

[jimboalee]

My son had a Raleigh 42 when he was eight.

It was a 500A wheel miniture race bike, 5 speed with drops.

42 tooth ring to 14 - 24 5 block.

One downtube gear lever and 'race bend' brake levers.

It was a sickly yellow colour which negated all the appeal of a miniture race bike.

Trouble was, he grew out of it too quick, and then insisted on a MTB like his school pals.

It was a good job I didn't go to too much trouble changing components.

 

[ufkacbln]

St John Street have a similar problem with their Rohloff shifters and have solved this by fitting a "accessory bar" to the stem which holds the shifter. This should be easily adaptable for a grip shift.

Could this be a simpler answer?

 

[Jonathan M]

An alternative would be to use trigger shifters on the tops, next to the cross top levers. There's a few 6spd shifters about and cheap as chips. You'll need to bodge the clamp to fit the bigger diameter of a road bar, but I'd have thought this was easier than trying to fit gripshift (though I've never tried that)

On the narrow drop bars (width wise) the space taken by the cyclocross brake levers means it would be too cluttered if I tried to fit anything else there, hence my thoughs about gripshift as bar end shifters. Just trying to keep costs down to aviod expensive kit which is then grwon out of.

 

[Jonathan M]

St John Street have a similar problem with their Rohloff shifters and have solved this by fitting a "accessory bar" to the stem which holds the shifter. This should be easily adaptable for a grip shift.

Could this be a simpler answer?

No spacers between stem & headset I'm afraid, good suggestion though.

 

[Radius]

With regards to components being grown out of, if you know what you're doing, you can take them off the bike again and use them elsewhere if they're good quality.