[CR]Campagnolo bar-end shifters: geek question

(Example: Framebuilders:Tony Beek)

Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2005 20:50:27 -0400
From: "HM & SS Sachs" <sachs@erols.com>
To: chasds@mindspring.com, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, mitchell@gassworks.com
Subject: [CR]Campagnolo bar-end shifters: geek question


Chas. Andrews asked about cable stops for bar-ends on vintage bikes, and Mitchell Gass responded:

"I don't remember when they came out, but there were small chromed steel housing stops that threaded into the shifter bosses. They were aftermarket bits; I believe mine came from Palo Alto Bicycles. They didn't cover the bosses or have adjusters for cable tension. Not terribly elegant, but they did work."

I have never seen those fittings, but I faced the problem with my early 70s Hetchins Spyder, which came with DT braze-ons; I wanted to install bar-ends. Here are three alternatives:

1) Cheat. Use modern DT boss covers with adjusting barrels. That's what I've done for now, and I think it looks great. Just don't mention it to the Cirque Judge.

2) Fudge. Use the proper Campgranola double cable DT stop, but rotate it a bit so one cable goes over the DB boss and the other passes under it.

3) Create. Look in your spares bin for old DT lever assemblies which came with cable stops. Take these off and mount the backing plates on the square parts of the braze-ons. I'm pretty sure that Simplex (with the wonderful mini-adjusting barrels) and Campy both have the right size boss. Of course, you'll have to swap right for left to get the cable stops pointing in the right direction, but this isn't rocket science. Space it out with a stack of washers... I'd guess, but haven't checked, that rear hub spacers would do, or hardware store stuff, or whatever, capped with something to hold them in place and the original tension adjusting screw. This approach appeals to the funkmeister in me, and would be absolutely "righteous" in the sense of using parts of the right era.

harvey "scrooginess is the mother of substitution" sachs mcLean va