STI vs. Bar ends

[mimbresman]

I like downtube shifters as well. My road bike and my old touring bike are equipped with them.

I've never ridden with STI therefore have no imput, but I haven't had any real problems with my Shimano "Rapidfire" shifters on my mountain bikes.

[DaveB]

The bike's wheelbase is too short to do bar end shifters (I would get stabbed every time I used the bike).

The wheelbase should have nothing to do with whether your knees clear barend shifters.  I may be your bars are too narrow or you stem too short.  

Some riders cut an inch or inch and a half off the ends of drop bars when installing barends so the length of the hooks don't change.  I've never found this necessary but it's worth considering.  

[staehpj1]

The wheelbase should have nothing to do with whether your knees clear barend shifters.  I may be your bars are too narrow or you stem too short.

I wouldn't choose stem length or bar width just to accommodate bar end shifters.  The suggestion of cutting off a bit of the bar is a good idea though if you really want to use bar ends.

Personally bar ends would be way down on my list of choices anyway.  Different strokes.

[bogiesan]

Adventure Cyclist magazine ran an  article about STI a year or more
ago. Nashbar has some old Ultegras on super clearance for $150 and
their house brand is $150 but the Campy/Shiman/SRAM integrated
road brake/shifters are $350-$1,000. What's a Surly Long Haul
Trucker run these days? $1,095 with barcons. Add a fine set of STIs
and the bike is suddenly $1,500 and 25% to 35% of the entire
investment is on the handlebars. IIRC, there re 200 individual parts
between the pair.

I had 105s on my old Cannondale SX800, they were nice. But when I
had to replace one I freaked out.

david boise ID

go, ristretto, FCP/AE
"Read the manual."

[staehpj1]

Yes true, but Tiagras are cheaper and work fine.  There are touring bikes on the market that are about the same price as an LHT or cheaper and come with STI.

[paddleboy17]

My apologies to 'whittierider'.  I feel the older I get, the more dyslexic I am.  Every time I saw your signature, I read it as 'whiterider'.  I took no racism from my dyslexic read of your name as I thought it might be a minor character from the Lord of the Rings saga.

My service protocol for STI shifters is a little more rigorous than yours.  I remove the shifters from the bike and mount them on an old pair of bars that I have so they can hang over a trash can.  I peel back or remove the rubber hoods.  Next I flood the mechanical mechanism with penetrating lubricant.  When I am confident that this has flushed the dirt and grime, I then re-flood the mechanism with Isopropyl Alcohol to get rid of all that plastic disolving lube.  When the alcohol has dried, I flood for a third time with a plastic friendly lubricant (sorry I don't remember the brand name).  This gets to drip and dry overnight, and then its back on the original bike.

This has worked for both Ultegra and Tiagra STI shifters.

I would love to know what lube you use and how you do it.  I have not had a good history with rubber hoods being durable.  I would love something I can do in the field on a ride.

Danno

[paddleboy17]

More on the Paramount...

When I was in Engineering School, there was a professor that was universally loved, once you got past being terrified of him.  He used to tell us that, "you can't push on a rope".  He was talking about getting the right solution to the problem.

The Paramount is a '93 frame that was mass produced in Japan during Schwinn's dying gasps.  She has a lugged frame, gorgeous splatter paint job, and is just beautiful to behold.  She was originally equipped with 7 speed RX-100.  She is fun to ride, fast and nimble, and in 2000 I replaced everything but the caliper brakes.  

The stem and the bars are the right size for me, but the top tube is short and it is just to crowded for bar end shifters.  When the 9 speed Ultegra STI shifters froze, I could either go back to down tube shifters or repair/replace the STI shifters.  

Going back to down tube shifters would also have meant replacing the STI shifters with traditional brake levers.

I could not find replacement 9 speed STI shifters, so that could have meant upgrading to 10 speed just to get 10 speed STI shifters.  That would have been really expensive.  I was greatful that my 9 speed STI shifters could be saved.

I get really angry at Shimano for making stuff that cannot be repaired, and for making parts unavailable for parts that be repaired.  I have three nice bikes, and I can barely afford parts to keep them running, much less pay to have my dealer do the work.  I will to tolerate STI shifters on my Paramount because I am getting too old to bend down and use down tube shifters.  Lots of others must feel the same way as STI's replaced down tube shifters really quickly.

On a touring bike, there should be an emphasis on reliability.  Where I go on my touring bike, there is not usually a SAG vehicle following me.  I need stuff that I can count on to have a pretty good limp home capability.

I just don't think STI does that for me.

Danno

[whittierider]

I would love to know what lube you use and how you do it.  I have not had a good history with rubber hoods being durable.  I would love something I can do in the field on a ride.

I use a aerosol can of LPS-1 with the little straw to direct it to precisely the right spot.  See http://www.lpslabs.com/product_pg/lubricants_pg/LPS1.html .  It runs out the bottom of the brifter so I just keep a big rag under it on the garage concrete floor.  I also roll the rubber hood back enough to get a rag between it and the foam bar tape at the bottom.  When I'm done, also wipe the levers dry.  It has not damaged rubber or plastic in my experience.  The whole operation only takes a few minutes max.

I share some of your sentiments about unpairable components, but fortunately this brifter problem is very quick to fix-- if you know the secret.

My normal riding position is low enough that reaching for down-tube shifters does not require bending down, but with my hands on the aerobars most of the time, it made sense to put my shifters there.  Our sons did the same.  This family is stopping at 9-speed though, because 10-speed chains and cassettes are a lot more expensive and don't last as long.  That one extra cog just isn't worth it.  Brifters are probably the hardest kind of shifter to get in anything less that 10-speed, but you should still do fine with eBay.

[MRVere]

As for STI versus Bar-Ends, I've always thought, WHY NOT BOTH. If the bike is spec'd with bar-ends and you are thinking about STI you might get a credit of $40-$50 to upgrade. So just keep the bar-ends installed in the bars with cables removed, use STI's and if you have a major failure just pull a set of cables out of you bag and install them on the barends. VIOLA.  You could even use one bar-end as a drag brake controller while using the STI's.  All you would need is a clamp-on stop for the cable or even have one brazed on while building a new frame.
What do you all think?