'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 (paulcomp.compaulcomp.comOpen ↗) and look for "thumb
shifters". The two products will make what you want. I've
been using them since February, and they work great.

rosco' reverse-the-following'ocsor_g said:

Get a set of Shimano 9 speed barcon shifters and a set
of Paul Thumbies (paulcomp.compaulcomp.comOpen ↗) 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?

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 (paulcomp.compaulcomp.comOpen ↗) 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.): cgi.ebay.comeBayOpen ↗
ISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=42330&item=3676262390&rd=1&-
ssPageName=WDVW

Quoted message said:

Get a set of Shimano 9 speed barcon shifters and a set
of Paul Thumbies (paulcomp.compaulcomp.comOpen ↗) 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

"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 (paulcomp.compaulcomp.comOpen ↗) 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:

Maybe you just prefer friction shifters. These would work (as you pointed out.):
cgi.ebay.comeBayISAPI.dllOpen ↗

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

Warren