Thumbies for Silvio

[Doug Burton]

I love thumb and bar end shifters. They are simple, elegant, direct, light, and have a wonderful "snick-snick" action when you shift them.

It's been hard to use these on the Silvio because road bars, even our beloved Origin 8 Gary's, put the shifters in an awkward position. Using Paul's Thumbie adapters put the cables in an unfortunate position.

So I cut and cobbled some stuff and came up with this:

It uses a set of Bacchetta tweener bars that I cut off at the bend and turned around, with a pair of Performance Bike "Forte" bar ends, some FSA Vision aero brake levers (or tektro, but the FSA's are nicer) and I put the Dura-Ace shifters in the ends of the cut off bars. The shift cable will route theough the clamp space in the bar-end, and pick up the housing on the other side of the clamp, which I will relieve to accept the housing. The whole thing will get wrapped in bar tape.

You could substitute a cut-off set of road bars for the tweeners; you might need to open the clamp up on the bar end a little to accomodate the typically larger diameter of the road bar.

 

[Gromit]

What a great idea Doug. That looks brilliant.
Please post another picture and your riding (shifting?) impressions when you've got the bar tape on and ridden a few miles.
Which Bacchetta Tweener bars did you use? 18.75 or 22 inches wide?

 

[Mark B]

Nice Job! I like the looks of that!

Mark

 

[Doug Burton]

Gromit wrote:
Which Bacchetta Tweener bars did you use? 18.75 or 22 inches wide?

Hi Gromit,

These are a pair of 18.75 bars I got cheap a few years ago. That width clears the knees nicely without placing the bar ends too wide apart. Centers of the handgrips end up about 24" apart.

Best,

 

[Mark B]

How do the brake cables run?

Mark

 

[Doug Burton]

The brake cable housing fits in a boss that's just ahead of the button-head cap screw visible on the lever retaining band. I will route it up the bar end, curved to the inside and pass it along the lower side of the bar, parallel to the shift cable housing...

 

[Mark B]

Hardtailcruzer wrote: The brake cable housing fits in a boss that's just ahead of the button-head cap screw visible on the lever retaining band. I will route it up the bar end, curved to the inside and pass it along the lower side of the bar, parallel to the shift cable housing...

So, will you wrap those pretty CF bar ends to tie up the cables, then?

Mark

 

[Mark B]

Doug....

Think there might be knee/shifter issues? I was thinking that could cause some serious issues.

Mark

 

[Mark B]

Doug,

Any updates on how this modification is working? More pics of the finished and wrapped bars? C'mon, man, you're killing me here!

Mark

 

[Doug Burton]

Sorry, Mark,

There's a lot going on outside that picture such that the bike isn't ready for the bars and cables to be completed.

Hint: That's not a picture of a Silvio.

 

[Mark B]

Hardtailcruzer wrote: Sorry, Mark,

There's a lot going on outside that picture such that the bike isn't ready for the bars and cables to be completed.

Hint: That's not a picture of a Silvio.

You know..... I go back and look at the picture a little closer and I see.... Now, I must go back and review the films of the lunar landings a little closer. :lol: :lol:

No fair!

Mark

 

[JonB]

Mark B wrote:

Hardtailcruzer wrote: Sorry, Mark,

There's a lot going on outside that picture such that the bike isn't ready for the bars and cables to be completed.

Hint: That's not a picture of a Silvio.

You know..... I go back and look at the picture a little closer and I see.... Now, I must go back and review the films of the lunar landings a little closer. :lol: :lol:

And after that you can review the JFK assassination videos.

 

[Gromit]

Doug

Any updates? Have you taped the bars on the "not" Silvio?
Though I heard that bar taping isn't your favourite pastime.

 

[Doug Burton]

Gromit wrote: Doug

Any updates? Have you taped the bars on the "not" Silvio?
Though I heard that bar taping isn't your favourite pastime.

Sorry Gromit,

Between business travel and a couple of projects John and Jim have me working on right now, the reborn red bike has slipped to the rear of the que right now. I promise an update as soon as possible.

Yes, I hate handlebar taping, but I'm committed to improving.

 

[Gromit]

Hardtailcruzer wrote:

Gromit wrote: Doug

Any updates? Have you taped the bars on the "not" Silvio?
Though I heard that bar taping isn't your favourite pastime.

Sorry Gromit,

Between business travel and a couple of projects John and Jim have me working on right now, the reborn red bike has slipped to the rear of the queue right now. I promise an update as soon as possible.

Yes, I hate handlebar taping, but I'm committed to improving.

Hi Doug

Has the thumbies project been taken off your "back burner" because they just didn't perform too well?
I just wondered, because, as you know, there is a bit of debate regarding cruiser bars/alternative controls at the moment.

 

[spanky]

I don't really get this, and so I assume I'm missing something about the way the bike works (I don't have one yet, but I'm collecting parts for one. . . )

Why didn't you just use the tweener bars with the ends pointing downwards with the barcons mounted on thumbies? Surely you could reverse them for a bit of forward reach if that's what you want. Wouldn't that be more ergonomic?

What am I missing that makes me wrong about this?

 

[Doug Burton]

I bought a pair of Volae tweeners intending to reverse them just as described.

The angle of the grip tubes is such that they place your arms very low, and interfere with your knees on tight turns.

Plus, the're pretty flexy compared to the bars we usually use. If the grip angle were a little more acute, they'd work very well in this arrangement.

 

[defjack]

I have Wald touring bars and Sram gripshifters on my Silvio everything works just fine. Jack

 

[John Tolhurst]

Doug Burton wrote: The angle of the grip tubes is such that they place your arms very low, and interfere with your knees on tight turns.

This translates to a less effective posture for stabilising the MBB. Recumbent experts often come unstuck applying what they know to MBB, because with MBB, so much of the common truths about recumbents don't apply.