Chaps,
how well do these (or the Paul equivalent) work?:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150638339647?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Im interested in getting as much weight as poss off a new build and am keen to run thumbies.
how well do the above fit alongside modern disc levers? ive read that the Paul adaptors leave enough space for two bolt lever clamps, and they do look a bit more 'forward' spaced. I think the ebay ones might not integrate as well..
Is the cassette cog spacing the same on MTB & road? ie, XTR or XT rear mech with dura ace thumbies? (all 9sp)
Which, if any, road cassettes fit on MTB hubs?
I might be keen to try a lower ratio ultegra/DA cassette on the bike, something like 11/27 for example.
The nice thing about the Pauls adaptors is the hinged clamp so if you ride a bike with swap outs you can quite literally just take your gears on and off by turning a couple of hex bolts.
I'd go Pauls purely because I think the hinge is a nice, well thoughtout touch.
The only difference between road and mtb cassettes is the range, spacing is the same. The rear mechs are spable too, in fact I know a couple of people who run road rear mech on mtbs where they only have a 1x9 setup so a short cage mech offers enough wrap.
I use those shifters as bar end shifters with an XT mech if that helps, the indexing is the same, as are the cassettes. That price is outrageous though.
I have exactly that set up on my H-Bars and it works perfectly - better in fact than the XT pods it replaced. (I got my stuff separately in case I want to run drops again, dunno if they'd include the bar-end fittings in with it like this or not).
If you've not used bar-end shifters before you might be a [i]little[/i] surprised by the amount of lever travel between one end of the block and the other; using pods kinda hides this, as it's the guts that move, rather than the lever - it's certainly not any kind of an issue, but it can maybe look a bit unusual if you aren't used to seeing it.
Using these gives you the bonus friction option if you need it (or if you prefer it). I'll be doing that same again on my next build - which will be over the next couple o' months (assuming I can get what I want :?).
Not the best picture ever, but it'll give you the flavour:
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I've got two other sets of the Dura-Ace bar end shifters on two other bikes (as bar-end shifters). They are both [i]now[/i] shifting long-cage rapid-rise XT mechs as I've re-geared things, but they were perfectly happy pulling on the mid-cage Saint, and mid-cage Ultegra mechs I was using ... (before the hills beat me and I moved to 11-32's 🙂 ).
I always mix road and MTB components to get what I want - as long as it's all the same 'speed' stuff, you shouldn't have an issue (other than with the ranges of the mechs, as TheBrick has noted up the page a bit ^).
I have these on a 9 speed XT cassette. They work brilliantly just like they did 25 years ago on my first MTB.
SunRace have old style thumbshifters about to hit the shops and I think I saw some from Microshift on one of the show reports Singletrack went to.
Have fitted the Paul Thumbies set to my bike recently and have been nothing but impressed. Yes the lever throw is a little extreme at the end, but it means a second difference in shift time, but nothing big or worth worrying about. If I had a second bike I would be getting another set of these for it.
I thought about this route a few years ago but was put off by cost. Why are bar end shifters so expensive? You could almost buy XTR triggers by the time you have bought all the bits to make thumbies work