I’m thinking of putting gears on my S/S drop bar 29er, for commuting and possibly a bit of bike packing.

Currently run Hylex hydro brakes. Don’t fancy STI’s due to cost.

Probably want to achieve 9 or 10 or 11 speed on the back with the possibility of a double on the front.

What bar end shifters would be best? I see that 9sp Dura Ace can run on friction. Does this mean it could cope with a 10sp cassette (I have one)?

From what I’ve read the 10sp/ 11sp Dura Ace shifters are not compatible with mtb groups. Can they also run on friction?

Should I look at another makes?

Cheers

If you want 10 spd and a clutchy mech, you can look at the SRAM TT500 bar end shifters with a type 2 mech. Heavier action than the Dura Ace 9 speed I’ve tried, but they both work fine.

SRAM was the only option I could find for bar end shifters and clutch mech at the time. Without getting into links and adapters or bodging.

I used a 10spd Dura Ace in STI mode (afaik can’t run as a friction shifter) with an old 9 spd Deore mech and it worked fine on 10 spf cassette. It wouldn’t work with a more modern ‘parallelogram’ type MTB mech though.

A friction shifter would give you more compatibility with MTB mechs and I assume (but it’ll be best to check) a 9spd Dura Ace will pull enough cable to shift a 10spd mech across a 10spd cassette.

Thanks – so I can either go for (1) SRAM 10 or 11 sp indexed or (2) risk DA 9 on friction with 10sp cassette (which I imagine would still do a clutch mech – if it has the range) or (3) 10sp DA with 9sp rear mech and 10sp cassette (who’d have thought).

Will work out whats economical

If you don’t mind the, not on the ends of the bars, Gevenalle are excellent. I’m running 1×10 and love them. They do a 2x option for any brakes you care to mention.

I’m running hylex on my pickenflick ..

11 speed rear mech(spares box bought in error while ago)
10 speed cassette
Dura ace 9 speed bar end shifter(friction) all good 🙂
44t n/w chainring up front

I did not realise that I could get a conversion kit from Gevenalle for the Hylex. At £170 its not cheap for 1X10 but might be the way forward. Thanks.

Alternatively I could probably do the 9 speed bar ends with what I have lying around.

I ran rivendell silver shifters (friction) with a 10 speed 11-36 cassette and 9 speed deore rear mech no issues.

I now have 9 speed XT with Sunrace shifters.

Signed up for an extra session at work to offset the cost and ordered the Gevenalle 2X10 for Dyna-Sys. Hopefully it will be ace.

I mulled over all the options for bar end shifting in a 1×10 cantilever build. In the end I plumped for the Gevenalle option with BURD derailleur and spacer for 9 speed. It is excellent and I have not regretted the choice.

I might have been better going for the V-brake pull levers, given the brake judder, but that is the fault of the fork on my bike. I still have the option of mini-Vs.

Judder on my Exotic fork was noticeable – remedied by crashing into a bollard at full tilt and having to pop the Manitou Pro Towers back on 😀

I use Microshift BS-M10 shifters on a 2×10 Deore setup. Rear derailleur
Is Shimano Deore Shadow (RD-M615-SGS)

Faultless so far, firm and positive, and I like the grippy rubbery texture on the shifters 8)

MR
Where did you get the M10’s from?

I couldn’t find them in UK – emailed distributer but no response yet. Jenson were the only place I found with stock. Ended up just ordering Gevenalle from Charlie.

10 speed chains are pretty slim. Wouldn’t friction be a pain to get in the just the right place?

You might be right but the M10s are indexed as are the Gevenalle’s which are derivatives of the M10.

MR
Where did you get the M10’s from?

They came fitted with the bike.

They are indexed, as someone said. I like it that way until it goes wrong, but it hasn’t yet.

Seem to be thin on the ground in UK. These *might* be them:

" class="bbcode-link">https://www.amazon.co.uk/Microshift-Bar-Shifter-Speed-Alloy/dp/B01M6DAO59

Poor description so I’d check with the seller first. Might also be worth giving SJS cycles a call, they stock 11 speed maybe they can source.

As a stop gap on my Vagabond I used Dia-compe friction bar ends with SLX 2*10 inc. clutch mech – they worked fine (available for sale :-).

I had the trouble getting hold of the BS-M10’s but luckily found a second hand pair on here so have switched over. They are nice if you can find them!

I’d avoid friction shifting.

It’s fine on older 6 speed cassetes with big gaps an unramped sprockets. But 9/10/11 is too fiddly, and the sprockets are designed to throw the chain off onto the next cog so unless it’s perfect it slips when you stand up.

That’s my experience anyway.

Slightly irked that I went 9s on my tourer and kept the friction shifters, but the uprgade cost of 10s chain and cassette would have been less than the price difference between budget 10s shifters and NOS 7700 dura ace.