Modernise a Raleigh Royal with brifters for touring?

[dimrub]

Another idea: headtube shifters. Very close to the original concept, but not that far from the handlebar.

 

[wafter]

Another idea: headtube shifters. Very close to the original concept, but not that far from the handlebar.

They do however look bloody awful, and aren't as easy / intuitive / stable to operate..

 

[Paul_in_France]

Evening all,

After all this talking up of bar end shifters, I feel compelled to add my words in favour of Campag's Ergolevers.
In my opinion, these are the safest and most convenient controls for all dropped handlebar bicycles, including tourers.

I have two Raleigh Royals (from 1989 and 1990) in my garage, which Mr Bob Jackson "cold set" (prior to repainting) the frames just enough to fit 135mm rear hubs (Shimano Deore XTs, of course). They have 8 speed (12-34t) gear blocks and mountain bike triple chainsets (48-38-26) and old Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs. Upfront, there are Campag Veloce 10 speed levers which work perfectly with Shimano's 8 speeds. Chris Juden wrote about "Shim-Ergo" in the Feb/Mar 2003 edition of Cycle if anyone is curious about which Shim-Ergo combinations work (I have a copy scanned, if anyone is interested).
FWIW a 9 speed at the back works with only a very simple "hack", and I have that setup on an old Raleigh Record Ace and a Claud Butler Criterium.

I have ridden tens of thousands of miles with this set up on the Royals, and rebuilt them when the inevitable contact with the ground happens when touring with teenagers. If I woud change anything, it would be smaller rings on the chainsets ...

An additional advantage: as well as the safety and comfort advantages, the installation of cables under the handlebar tape makes the use of decent handlebar bags (from Lancashire, also of course) SO much easier.

Disadvantages ? Having to deal with the occaisional know-it-all or brand afficionado who insists that it can't or shouldn't possibly be done ...

 

[wafter]

Evening all,

After all this talking up of bar end shifters, I feel compelled to add my words in favour of Campag's Ergolevers.
In my opinion, these are the safest and most convenient controls for all dropped handlebar bicycles, including tourers.

I have two Raleigh Royals (from 1989 and 1990) in my garage, which Mr Bob Jackson "cold set" (prior to repainting) the frames just enough to fit 135mm rear hubs (Shimano Deore XTs, of course). They have 8 speed (12-34t) gear blocks and mountain bike triple chainsets (48-38-26) and old Shimano mountain bike rear derailleurs. Upfront, there are Campag Veloce 10 speed levers which work perfectly with Shimano's 8 speeds. Chris Juden wrote about "Shim-Ergo" in the Feb/Mar 2003 edition of Cycle if anyone is curious about which Shim-Ergo combinations work (I have a copy scanned, if anyone is interested).
FWIW a 9 speed at the back works with only a very simple "hack", and I have that setup on an old Raleigh Record Ace and a Claud Butler Criterium.

I have ridden tens of thousands of miles with this set up on the Royals, and rebuilt them when the inevitable contact with the ground happens when touring with teenagers. If I woud change anything, it would be smaller rings on the chainsets ...

An additional advantage: as well as the safety and comfort advantages, the installation of cables under the handlebar tape makes the use of decent handlebar bags (from Lancashire, also of course) SO much easier.

Disadvantages ? Having to deal with the occaisional know-it-all or brand afficionado who insists that it can't or shouldn't possible be done ...

Nice

I'm slowly coming round to the idea that the setup you describe is arguably perfect for utilty / touring - MTB spacing at the rear for stronger wheels, wide range 8/9sp cassette for longevity and low cost, MTB-derived RD, FD, sensible triple chainset and bar end shifters as they're unfussy and suit drops nicely.

My Fuji is similar (all old Deore, 9sp 11-34 on rear, 26/36/48 on the front all operated by Microshift bar-end shifters. Can't think of much I'd change to make it any better tbh

 

[Kingfisher101]

The cheapest for bar end shifters I found was the Surly stockist in Richmond. Bikemonger.

 

[MyNameIsEarl]

Chris Juden wrote about "Shim-Ergo" in the Feb/Mar 2003 edition of Cycle if anyone is curious about which Shim-Ergo combinations work (I have a copy scanned, if anyone is interested).

Hi @Paul_in_France, thanks for this, I never realised "Shim-Ergo" was a thing

I found the article online:
https://www.cyclinguk.org/cyclists-library/components/transmission-gears/derailleur-gears/shimergo

and a nice build here:
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?t=31240

I need to read the article properly, but in theory, I could use old 9 speed Campag Ergo shifters with my 6 speed block, based on the pitch? That would make things simple and easy.

 

[Paul_in_France]

Hi @Paul_in_France, this sounds really interesting, would you mind sharing the scan? thanks!

In reply to @MyNameIsEarl, I tried to upload the scanned files, but it's a PDF (so my computer can search inside it) and we can apparently only upload image files on this forum ...
HOWEVER
After a quick search, I found this updated follow on article from Chris on the new style CTC web pages ...

Hope this helps !

 

[T4tomo]

Another idea: headtube shifters. Very close to the original concept, but not that far from the handlebar.

Thankfully they quickly went out of fashion, for a very good reason.

 

[dimrub]

What about instead of using a 7+ speed cassette, that would require cold-setting the rear triangle, use a 5 or 6 speed cassette? 126 mil should be wide enough for those, no? I'm not sure whether these can be bought with sufficient range though.

 

[Dogtrousers]

What about instead of using a 7+ speed cassette, that would require cold-setting the rear triangle, use a 5 or 6 speed cassette? 126 mil should be wide enough for those, no? I'm not sure whether these can be bought with sufficient range though.

OP says it's 128mm so no bending required to get an 8 speed freewheel in I think(???) Aren't they 130mm? 2mm should be easy to spring the wheel in.

I think bending is only necessary for frames designed for 5 speed freewheel which are significantly smaller (120mm ??).

 

[Paul_in_France]

OP says it's 128mm so no bending required to get an 8 speed freewheel in I think(???) Aren't they 130mm? 2mm should be easy to spring the wheel in.

I think bending is only necessary for frames designed for 5 speed freewheel which are significantly smaller (120mm ??).

I have had to cold set 6 & 7 speed frames with 126mm rear dropout spacing to fit mountain bike (135mm) rear hubs, which are my preference for touring bicycles. 8-9-10 speed road hubs are 130mm and 6 and 7 speed steel frames usually have enough « spring » to be able to fit these without permanent deformation.

 

[Fredo76]

Regarding your original idea, I've put MicroNew 3x7 brifters on two 126mm dropout frames, using Shimano derailleurs:

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/b...-a-tale-of-two-mixtes-franken-content.295622/

One thing to know is that the cog spacing is different between 6-speed and 7-speed freewheels, so 7-speed brifters won't work with 6-speed cogs. MicroNew makes 3x7, 8, 9, and 10-speed versions.

I'm going to try Suntour bar-ends on Fredo, my old racing bike, this year, which is currently geezerized with stem shifters instead (the horror!)

 

[MyNameIsEarl]

Hi all, just thought I'd add an update. I tried the bar-ends and they were really nice and smooth, but I ended up with some forearm pain where I was putting too much pressure on my left hand when changing - probably something I could have got used to, but I decided to go for Plan B.

So I bought some Campagnolo Veloce 9 speed shifters (old style) and they've worked a treat. I'd already changed to a quill adaptor/A-head stem, as the angle of the bars is now the same as my other bikes, and doesn't look too funky.

Thanks again to @Paul_in_France for the advice regarding 'shimergo'. A nice, simple and clean mod.

 

[fossyant]

Excellent. Keeps the bike looking 'period'.

 

[EltonFrog]

Hi all, just thought I'd add an update. I tried the bar-ends and they were really nice and smooth, but I ended up with some forearm pain where I was putting too much pressure on my left hand when changing - probably something I could have got used to, but I decided to go for Plan B.

So I bought some Campagnolo Veloce 9 speed shifters (old style) and they've worked a treat. I'd already changed to a quill adaptor/A-head stem, as the angle of the bars is now the same as my other bikes, and doesn't look too funky.

Thanks again to @Paul_in_France for the advice regarding 'shimergo'. A nice, simple and clean mod.

That’s a lovely looking bike.