Look At My Ridiculous Bicycle

[Jezston]

Hmm ... quite a lot of second hand STI levers on ebay, some quite cheap.

Would any 8-speed STI levers do the job? Seen some Dura Ace levers going for £60

 

[GrasB]

One thing to watch out for with STI's is that you may not be able to actually change gear with them easily on bullhorns. SRAM double touch would probably be better in this regard.

To answer your question they should be find in terms of working with mechs you have as long as the gears on the cassette match up.

 

[RedBike]

Hmm ... quite a lot of second hand STI levers on ebay, some quite cheap.

Would any 8-speed STI levers do the job? Seen some Dura Ace levers going for £60

No they wont work.

The amount of cable pulled per click for the front mech will be wrong.
(The rear will be fine).

Also STI levers also don't work with disc or V-brakes (ie the V-brake specifc drop bar levers I linked to. ) You can get adapters to use STI levers with disc/v's, commonly called travel agents, and you can get road specific disc brakes but again you're adding cost.

 

[Jezston]

So are you saying there is no way I could get some kind of combined drop brake and shifter combination? Or certainly not on the cheap? You recommending v-brake drops and friction shifters?

See I find myself shifting fairly often on this bike and would really like something which doesn't involve me moving my hands about.

 

[RedBike]

You can get road sti shifter to work with disc brakes; but not on the cheap.

For example the Marin Toscana.
http://www.airevalleycycles.com/products.php?plid=m1b1s200p4819&rs=gb

Drop bar brake levers only pull about 2/3's of the cable that V brake levers do. So you either need some sort of adapter
http://sports.shop.ebay.co.uk/Cycli...+agent&_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282
or brakes designed to work with drop bar brakes.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AVID-BB7-ROAD...sure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item3eff40d53b

Your second problem is the front mech.
MTB and road left hand shifters don't pull the same amount of cable per click, so you can't use a MTB front mech with road shifters. A road bike front mech might struggle with a 22t sprocket.

Most touring bikes get around this problem by fitting bar end shifters or using a road triple and STI levers.

Have a search through the various images of Cotic Road Rats and pompinos. Theses bikes are often setup in a similar way. They put the controls on the flat bit either side of the stem or use those sweepy handlebars from planet-x (The name of the bars escapes me).

 

[RedBike]

The simplest solution is to put a flat bar back on and some bar ends.

 

[GrasB]

There is no reason you can't use standard road leavers with v's & cable discs. I ran CaneCreak 200TT brake leavers with discs on the MTB for a while & it worked just fine. The only thing is the cable adjustment is far less forgiving.

 

[Jezston]

The simplest solution is to put a flat bar back on and some bar ends.

Sacrelidge!

 

[Jezston]

You can get road sti shifter to work with disc brakes; but not on the cheap.

For example the Marin Toscana.
http://www.airevalleycycles.com/products.php?plid=m1b1s200p4819&rs=gb

Drop bar brake levers only pull about 2/3's of the cable that V brake levers do. So you either need some sort of adapter
http://sports.shop.ebay.co.uk/Cycli...+agent&_catref=1&_fln=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282
or brakes designed to work with drop bar brakes.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AVID-BB7-ROAD...sure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item3eff40d53b

Your second problem is the front mech.
MTB and road left hand shifters don't pull the same amount of cable per click, so you can't use a MTB front mech with road shifters. A road bike front mech might struggle with a 22t sprocket.

Most touring bikes get around this problem by fitting bar end shifters or using a road triple and STI levers.

Cheers for the info - how about this as a possible solution:

STI levers
Travel agents for the brakes
STI shifters controlling the rear mech (as I'll be changing this often)
Bar end (or even down tube) shifter controlling the front mech (as I hardly ever change this)

 

[RedBike]

Cheers for the info - how about this as a possible solution:

STI levers
Travel agents for the brakes
STI shifters controlling the rear mech (as I'll be changing this often)
Bar end (or even down tube) shifter controlling the front mech (as I hardly ever change this)

Yes, that should work.

Another solution is to look at not using the granny ring. You might be able to get the STI shifter to work with just a double even if the cable pull isn't exactly right.

There is no reason you can't use standard road leavers with v's & cable discs. I ran CaneCreak 200TT brake leavers with discs on the MTB for a while & it worked just fine. The only thing is the cable adjustment is far less forgiving.

Drop bar brake levers will almost work with cable discs. If everything is adjusted spot on then they will appear to work. However, the levers don't really pull enough cable. So you'll often find the levers are all the way back to the bars yet the brakes aren't fully on.

 

[Jezston]

Yes, that should work.
Another solution is to look at not using the granny ring. You might be able to get the STI shifter to work with just a double even if the cable pull isn't exactly right.

Excellent. I never use the granny ring anyway so this might be just the ticket!

I shall have a chat with LBS gentleman soon ... and probably get an opinion totally contradiciting your own as a result But if I'm lucky he might have some old spares lying around.

 

[TheDoctor]

To get back to the OP...
Good Lord!! Thats...erm...quite unusual, to say the least.
Some very strange handlebar and lever related activity going on.
Still, if you like it then why not?
*goes for lie down in dark room*

 

[GrasB]

Drop bar brake levers will almost work with cable discs. If everything is adjusted spot on then they will appear to work. However, the levers don't really pull enough cable. So you'll often find the levers are all the way back to the bars yet the brakes aren't fully on.

It does work & what is '"fully on". I've not had problems getting the brakes setup so I can lock the rear wheel or throw my self over the handle bars despite best efforts to keep the rear of the bike on the ground with both TT 200 & SRAM Red leavers. At the end of the day that's what defines the limit of braking.

 

[CorsairC]

Why?

 

[Eddiethelaowai]

hmm... i inherited a set of bull-horn bars from a friend - might use them to replace the flat bars on my Giant commuter, but mine will most likely end up looking like the frankenbike as well - at least it'll be so ugly that it won't get stolen...