Changing the gears on a Dawes Fleur
- Thread starter Polyanna
- Start date
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raleighnut
Legendary Member
- Location
- One of the 'Elite'
It depends on which shifters you're wanting to fit and onto what bars.
biggs682
Touch it up and ride it
- Location
- Northamptonshire
my old Pollard use to have shimano older stlye thumb shifters on drops worked fine
Hi
I have drop handlebars on the Dawes Fleur (pale turquoise/green version)- not too worried about the type of shifters as long as they are on handlebars- current derailleurs are downtube shifters - 10 gears- I wouldn't mind changing the handlebars as I tend to cycle using the top of the drops! I have a folding bike and it has Shimano gears - I like those.
Cycle shop quoted £120+ Could I do the changes at a better cost?.... or should I just get shot and start again?!!
Don't like having hands off handle bars...feel a bit wobbly doing it in traffic...so tend to use the folding bike...BUT the Fleur gives a much more exciting ride...and with less effort too! It's turqouise/green.
Did you have downtube shifters originally? - If so, did you change them over yourself to the Shimano thumb shifters?
biggs682
Touch it up and ride it
- Location
- Northamptonshire
i bought bike with them fitted , originally the frame was a track frame so no downtube bosses , easy enough to do .
where are you based in uk ?
Ilkley, West Yorkshire.
biggs682
Touch it up and ride it
- Location
- Northamptonshire
oh ok not local to me then
Tony Raynor
Need for steeds
- Location
- Newcastle/Patrington Haven
@Polyanna can we have a few pictures please. I'm sure there is a cheaper option but it depends on what you really want. I'm guessing you want to go indexed shifting (one click, change gear). Might also mean you need to change your rear derallieur.
Modern shifters will probably be 8 speed so means you could over shift. Not tried this myself but I. Sure someone has used 7/8 speed shifters with 5/6 speed rear gears.
Riding position will change dramatically going from drop to flat bars. Again personal choice but you may loose some of the excitement.
I think I have a 5 speed indexed thumb shifter somewhere but not the corresponding left thumb shifter. It shouldn't be too hard to fit but again there are options to think about with the cabling. Some older bikes that had stem shifters also had cable holders where your current dt shifters are. Without them you will need to route a full outer cable possibly to your rear derallieur which can look messy.
Here's a picture of what I mean.
Hope this isn't too confusing but please ask for clarification as were all here to help.
Modern shifters will probably be 8 speed so means you could over shift. Not tried this myself but I. Sure someone has used 7/8 speed shifters with 5/6 speed rear gears.
Riding position will change dramatically going from drop to flat bars. Again personal choice but you may loose some of the excitement.
I think I have a 5 speed indexed thumb shifter somewhere but not the corresponding left thumb shifter. It shouldn't be too hard to fit but again there are options to think about with the cabling. Some older bikes that had stem shifters also had cable holders where your current dt shifters are. Without them you will need to route a full outer cable possibly to your rear derallieur which can look messy.
Here's a picture of what I mean.
Hope this isn't too confusing but please ask for clarification as were all here to help.
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biggs682
Touch it up and ride it
- Location
- Northamptonshire
@Polyanna the set up that @Tony Raynor shows is the same set up i had on mine till i removed it all and put said bike back to single speed .
one issue is that the brackets on the levers are designed for early mtb bars that had a lot smaller od than normal dropsi was lucky mine is fitted with a set of Cinelli's that were the right diameter , so worth checking and still worth doing
one issue is that the brackets on the levers are designed for early mtb bars that had a lot smaller od than normal dropsi was lucky mine is fitted with a set of Cinelli's that were the right diameter , so worth checking and still worth doing
I know they aren't popular but how about stem shifters? Something like this would do the job, be reasonably correct for the period and be easy to fit http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171383493197 although I think you would need to buy a cable stop to go where the current shifters are. You still need to take your hand off to change gear but it's a bit easier to reach.
Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
How about bar end shifters? You can run them in friction mode so no faffing about with indexing and worrying about cable pulls and all that hassle.
As with @Bobtoo 's suggestion of stem shifters you'd need to put a cable stop where your existing down tube ones are (are they band-on or brazed on?)
Or have they been suggested above? I got a bit confused.
As with @Bobtoo 's suggestion of stem shifters you'd need to put a cable stop where your existing down tube ones are (are they band-on or brazed on?)
Or have they been suggested above? I got a bit confused.
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