Bar end shifters vs. STI

pauly a said:

I'm looking at adding aerobars with bar end shifters to my bike for time trialing, but I still want to be able to convert back so I can take my bike out for normal group riding as well. Does anyone know how hard it is to switch between bar end shifters and STI shifters? I'm not concerned about the initial switch to bar end shifting, but rather swapping between the two when needed.

Paul

It isn't something I would want to do on a regular basis.Have you really thought the whole thing through and what it involves?

I ride with an aerobar and would never use bar end shifters as I'm not on the bar all the time. Would love STI though as my bike has drop bar shifters. IF you are going to be back and forth on your bars, a more centralized system is best.

pauly a said:

I'm looking at adding aerobars with bar end shifters to my bike for time trialing, but I still want to be able to convert back so I can take my bike out for normal group riding as well. Does anyone know how hard it is to switch between bar end shifters and STI shifters? I'm not concerned about the initial switch to bar end shifting, but rather swapping between the two when needed.

Paul

its pretty hard, you have to take both off, reroute cable and more.... it will be easier to stick with just one

When using bar-end shifting, would you keep the STI levers on but use them just for the brakes? If so, it probably wouldn't be too bad if you go with a pair of cables and cable housings for each set of shifters. When you buy bar-ends new, they come with cables and housing already anyway.

The conversion back from bar-end shifters would involve disconnecting the derailer cables and taking off the aerobars, and then reinstalling the STI derailer cables.

You could also look into using some cable quick-connects to simplify and speed up the process.

http://www.thethirdhand.com/index.cgi?c=Cable/Casing&sc=Connectors&id=96346095940

You'd want the 6-piece set - 2 male would stay on the bike. 2 female would go on the STI derailer cables, and 2 female on the bar-end derailer cables.

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'm also going to repost this on a new thread to make sure it gets attention because as I've been thinking about it, I think the real issue comes to the difference between a triathlon bike versus a TT bike. From what I understand, the seat tube angle on a triathlon bike is steeper because it supposedly helps save legs for the run. My question then, is whether or not the seat tube angle on a TT bike is also steep - and if so, why? One of my fears about dropping the money on a TT bike is fear of knowing whether or not the seat tube angle is going to mess me up at all. I wanted to know how to switch between the two so that it would be A.) cheaper, and B.) setup more like a road bike. But I also could possibly be making way too big of a deal out of the seat tube angle.

Thoughts?