'old school' thumb shifters

"Warren Ginn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Can someone explain to me why there are no 'old school' thumb shifters
available for a 9-speed cassette? I am moving from my '89 Giant Iguana
with it's Suntour thumbs shifters (switched to friction) to a new
road/hybrid bike where I will have a straight bar. When I was on a
tour last weekend, I started to notice how everyone was clicking
through their gears while I was quietly and smoothly shifting with my
thumbs.

I really like my Suntour thumb shifters particularly because:

a) They are smooth
b) They are quiet
c) They allow me to trim my front derailluer to adjust for the
crossover on my low inside rear to big outside front and vice versa.

How do the new "raid fire" shifters adjust for crossover? It sounded
like there was a fair amount of grinding on the tour as they
downshifted and I wasn't sure if there was any way to trim the front
derailleur on the fly. Is there?

I have searched far and wide on the internet only to find that you can
get a few old Suntour 7-8 speed shifters (right handed), but there
doesn't seem to be any really good, new solution for a 9-speed rear
casette and a 3-speed front chainring.

I did see the Shimano Tourney components which includes what appears
to be an old-school type shifter, but it's only intended for 5, 6 and
7-speed drivetrains and isn't intended for heavy duty use (it's for
kids bikes).

The Deore LX has been recommended, but doesn't it click like the rest
of them?

I have seen a few random Sunrace MTB shifters on bikeman.com, but I'm
not so sure they would work with a 8 or 9-speed cassette (which is
what I want). I saw a Suntour XC Expert Thumbshifter for the right
hand, but what would I use for the left?

Does anyone have any suggestions (short of starting my own business
and manufacturing my own)? Is this a freakishly odd thing I am looking
for, or has the industry just left this very simple item behind in
favor of more complicated and expensive shifters?

Thanks,

Warren

Get a set of Shimano 9 speed barcon shifters and a set of Paul Thumbies
(http://www.paulcomp.com/) and look for "thumb shifters". The two products
will make what you want. I've been using them since February, and they work
great.

Jacobe Hazzard said:

rosco' reverse-the-following'ocsor_g said:

Get a set of Shimano 9 speed barcon shifters and a set of Paul
Thumbies (http://www.paulcomp.com/) and look for "thumb shifters".
The two products will make what you want. I've been using them since
February, and they work great.

Why should we pay $55 for the thumbies and still have to buy barcons, when
you can buy whole bicycles equiped with thumb shifters for that price??

Why isn't there an inexpensive source for these inexpensive parts?

Dear Jacob,

Yes, the Fury RoadMaster is indeed available at select outlets for
under $60, including tax, complete with thumb shifters!

But think before you come over to the dark side . . .

The precise engineering tolerances of the Fury RoadMaster's
3-sprocket-front and 5-sprocket-rear transmission may not suit Shimano
or Campagnolo bicycles, which are notoriously unreliable. (Also, there
is no source for new decals indicating H<-->L and 1<-->5, but cinching
the thumb shifters down requires punching a screwdriver right through
the decal--horrors!)

I see many querulous posts here on rec.bicycles.tech from owners
obviously unhappy with the shifting of their Ergo and STI devices.
They desire to mix and match bits and pieces from Italy and Japan in
hopes of achieving a happy result, with patient dealers like Sheldon
Brown, Andrew Muzi, Peter Chisholm, John Dacey, and others explaining
what derailleurs will work with which gears in what numbers operated
by various contraptions.

I note that such dealers have trouble concealing their love of single
speed fixed-gear bikes. After fiddling all day with balky shifters
that are nowadays entangled with the brake levers, it must be a relief
to ride home on something with nothing but pedals and a front brake.

The $55 for the thumbies may well be the minimum necessary to keep
such useful folk toiling over all those fiddly little gears.

Carl Fogel

Jacobe Hazzard said:

Why should we pay $55 for the thumbies and still have to buy barcons, when
you can buy whole bicycles equiped with thumb shifters for that price??

Why isn't there an inexpensive source for these inexpensive parts?

Because Mr Shimano says you have to use Rapidfire and he knows best.

"Warren Ginn" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Can someone explain to me why there are no 'old school' thumb shifters
available for a 9-speed cassette? I am moving from my '89 Giant Iguana
with it's Suntour thumbs shifters (switched to friction) to a new
road/hybrid bike where I will have a straight bar. When I was on a
tour last weekend, I started to notice how everyone was clicking
through their gears while I was quietly and smoothly shifting with my
thumbs.

I really like my Suntour thumb shifters particularly because:

a) They are smooth
b) They are quiet
c) They allow me to trim my front derailluer to adjust for the
crossover on my low inside rear to big outside front and vice versa.

Maybe you just prefer friction shifters. These would work (as you pointed out.):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42330&item=3676262390&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

"Jacobe Hazzard" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

rosco' reverse-the-following'ocsor_g said:

Get a set of Shimano 9 speed barcon shifters and a set of Paul
Thumbies (http://www.paulcomp.com/) and look for "thumb shifters".
The two products will make what you want. I've been using them since
February, and they work great.

Why should we pay $55 for the thumbies and still have to buy barcons, when
you can buy whole bicycles equiped with thumb shifters for that price??

Why isn't there an inexpensive source for these inexpensive parts?

It's basic economics. Well made, relatively small volume CNC machined parts
don't come cheap. I doubt Paul Components did any formal market research
that showed there was a huge market for thumbies and it was their ticket to
getting rich quick. More than likely, someone at Paul Components wanted to
make them for themselves, and then they decided to sell them to others. Who
knows, maybe they will get popular if Shimano entirely does away with rapid
fire shifters in favor of those integrated STI-like mt bike brifters.

If you look around, you can find them for less than $55. I remember seeing
them featured on www.bikeman.com a while back for $40.

Quoted message said:

Get a set of Shimano 9 speed barcon shifters and a set of Paul Thumbies
(http://www.paulcomp.com/) and look for "thumb shifters". The two products
will make what you want. I've been using them since February, and they work
great.

What a hack - and an expensive one at that. But it may be my only choice.

Thanks,

Warren

Quoted message said:

Maybe you just prefer friction shifters. These would work (as you pointed out.):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42330&item=3676262390&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Yes, I've considered getting an old set of original Suntours...

Warren