Thumb friction shifters on drop bars

[wistleboy]

Any body done this

 

[Cycleops]

No, and have only ever seen them on stems which were fashionable for a while in the seventies. Does seem rather pointless when you can have bar end shifters which have stood the test of time.

 

[biggs682]

on my Pollard the previous owner built it with thumb shifters on top of the drops works fine , just about half way through building a flat barred Carrera racing bike with flat bars and that will use same arrangement

i also have a set of those levers shown in Users pic above in my spares box

 

[Cycleops]

[QUOTE 2630336, member: 45"]You can get them for child's road bikes. Decathlon do them....

[/quote]

Poor kids!

 

[Nigeyy]

Yes, I have. But I used Kelly Take Offs (probably hard to find now http://kellybike.com/2nd_xtra_takeoff.html but they come up on Ebay now and again). Thoroughly recommend them -not quite as convenient as STIs or Ergos, but really close. I liked them so much, I bought 2 sets and have them on my old commuter bike as well as my touring bike. You can also try Pauls Thumbies (http://www.paulcomp.com/thumbies.html) -they'll mount the shifters in the old style mtb thumbie style on a road handlebar (be aware that road handlebars are a different diameter from mtb or straight handlebars, and of course if you add in the bends of the drops, that's the reason why it's hard -not impossible mind you -to put old style Thumbie mounts made for mtb bars on road handlebars). I also think they are perfectly functional, but two disadvantages are that i.the Pauls Thumbies take up real estate space (at least if you are concerned with this), and ii. you can only reach the shifters from the tops, whereas you can reach the shifters from multiple positions with the Kelly Take Offs, so I preferred the Take Offs over the Thumbies.

While there have been stem mounted shifters, and you can get bar cons, neither is a close at hands option (well, unless you spend your majority of the time at the bottom of the drops -I spend more time on the tops and on the hoods). I have tried bar cons and I just couldn't get on with them for that reason -I didn't find them that good ergonomically plus occasionally my knees would hit them when I was turning a corner which drove me crazy.

If you go over to Crazyguyonabike.com you'll see my review: https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/reviews/board/message/index.html?thread_id=106803 of the Take Offs, as well as seeing Neil Gunton's efforts in putting GripShift on the bottom of the drops (perpendicular to the bar -I know these aren't friction shifters but it might be worthwhile to take a look).

 

[biggs682]

@Nigeyy i like the look of those Kelly Take offs , will look to see if sold in uk

 

[Davidc]

I liked downtube friction shifters, but suspect I may be alone in this!

 

[wistleboy]

thanks for your reply s I'm looking for a cheap option but I don't think there is going to be one , Im running 1980s mavic SSC mechs and don't want to change them as they work very well . Have flat bars at the moment but thinking of going to drops as climbing seems more comfortable with them . the bar mounted changers work well to . So looks like I am going to have to spend some cash ( shame as its been a very cheap bike until now bugger)

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

So looks like I am going to have to spend some cash ( shame as its been a very cheap bike until now bugger)

Although rare, some cheap thumb friction shifters have flexible steel (as opposed to cast alloy) bands that would fit drop bars. These for example.