# Can Bar End Shifters be used as Down Tube Shifters?



## Drevil (Mar 4, 2004)

I'm playing around with different setups of my wife's bike, and I wanted to get some Shimano down tube shifters for it, such as the Dura-Ace SL-7700. Then I got to wondering, the Shimano SL-BS77 9-SPEED Bar End Shifters don't cost that much more, they include the bar end mounts, plus they're compatible with the Paul Thumbies! :thumbsup: 

So my questions:

Will the Down Tube Shifters (SL 7700) work with the Paul Thumb mounts?
Will the SL-BS77 bar end shifter convert to down tube configuration, i.e., can I simply take them off the bar end mounts and attach them to the down tube brazeons? Will the levers sit in the right position and will it get the full range of motion? 

BTW, if it matters, here's my wife's bike I will use it on, initially with the shifters in the down tube configuration:



If she doesn't like the bars, I can put Moustache bars I already have on the bike, then either leave the shifters on the downtube or use the bar end shifter mounts. If she likes the bars but not the shifters on the down tube, I can get Paul Thumbie mounts and put the shifters on that bar in the pic.

Confused? Yeah, me too


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## blackhat (Jan 2, 2003)

dt shifters will work with paul's mounts but bar end shifters won't work on DT studs unless you have the base plate from a set of DT shifters on which to mount them (the rounded piece the shifter sits on). even then, Im not sure I've never tried it. I have run dt shifters with pauls though.

edited to add that youll need the baseplate from bar end shifters to use dt shifters with pauls too.


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## MShaw (Jun 7, 2003)

That's not completely true. The flat mounts from the barcon mounts DO indeed fit, but the rounded sides of the DT mounts (for lack of a better term) fit the DT better.

ie: they're not gonna look good, but they'll do it.

M


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## Guest (Apr 30, 2008)

The current version of Campy 10 speed bar-cons will work quite well, just remove the shift lever from the bar pod.

It will mount directly to a down tube boss.


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## Drevil (Mar 4, 2004)

toomanybikes said:


> The current version of Campy 10 speed bar-cons will work quite well, just remove the shift lever from the bar pod.
> 
> It will mount directly to a down tube boss.


Yebbut, I need Shimano and 9 (or 8 speed)


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## blackhat (Jan 2, 2003)

MShaw said:


> That's not completely true. The flat mounts from the barcon mounts DO indeed fit, but the rounded sides of the DT mounts (for lack of a better term) fit the DT better.
> 
> ie: they're not gonna look good, but they'll do it.
> 
> M


I stand corrected. I had to dig out a busted barcon to check, but it does fit. doesn't look too bad either.


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## Thommy (Sep 23, 2003)

Yeah, hell yeah. Yes it does work. Love the Paul Thumbies. If you buy a new bar-end set everything comes with it. Cables, crimps, cable housing and shifters with the base plates. One version of the Shimano bar-ends are 8 speed, one is 9 and another is 10 speed. You can run 8 speed with the 9 speed bar-ends.


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## davidwaller (Sep 24, 2004)

That sounds like an interesting set-up and I'm glad to hear it works. I'm just curious why you would want to use downtube instead of barcon. I've used both and it seems to me that barcon works better (don't have to reach as far to shift, and if you want to shift every few seconds due to terrain changes you can just leave your right hand on the drops with the heel of your hand over the shift lever, and flick through the gears quite easily - as opposed to reaching to the downtube for every shift). Is it a retro/aesthetics thing?


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