Monday, February 21, 2011

DIY Thumb Shifters


After the Flacon thumb shifters failed last week, I had put stem shifters back on. I found that I missed thumb shifting, and looked around for some more but I'm impatient. I wanted them back NOW. So I made some. :)


Well, I guess I didn't actually make them. But I did take the original stem shifters and put them on the handlebars. I reversed the levers (the left lever on the stem became the right lever on the handlebars and vise versa) and I used two stem clamps (the original and a matching spare clamp for the other side). I bought some new cables and housing, and some screws and put together something that works.



Actually, they work better than any shifting setup I've had on this bike!




I've had it this way for about a week now, and have had no troubles. I like that the levers are a bit longer than what you typically find on thumb shifters. I suppose in a way this is kind of like a po' folks Paul Thumbies set up, only with using stem levers instead of bar end levers.




4 comments:

  1. I was about to say, you've invented a poor man's Paul Thumbie, but you beat me to it. :)

    That's awesome, BTW. Well done!

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  2. And...you still are rocking! Awesome Hack!

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  3. That looks great!!
    And I also prefer the length of bar-end or stem shifters to actual thumb shifters.

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