Bar end shifter = brake lever

[Paul]

I think I'm going to have to bring the drag brake lever up front. Not that letting my stokers operate the brake has caused any problems yet, I'll just be happier having control.

I want a bar end shifter (and have put an ad in wanted).

I'm assuming I'll have to use gear cable? Is there anything else I need to know about this, mechanically?

Cheers,
Paul.

[rogerzilla]

See if a brake cable ("road" nipple) will fit first.  Bar-con to control drag brake is fairly standard practice.

[HTFB]

See if a brake cable ("road" nipple) will fit first.  Bar-con to control drag brake is fairly standard practice.

We have a brake cable that just sits on top of the hole in the barcon, rather than snugly into it. This works fine.

[rdaviesb]

+1. Use a brake cable if you possibly can.

[fruitcake]

Just a thought that may give you more options.

As it is for a brake, a bar top shifter (MTB) would work just as well.  Obviously it does not matter what make/how many speeds.

[damerell]

SJSC (and others?) sell brake cables with gear nipples, ideal for using a gear shifter in this application.

[Paul]

Thanks all - there's some useful stuff here. I was a little nervous about using gear cable for the brake, so I'm relieved to know that I don't have to. Useful to have the option of a thumbie as well, which I hadn't thought of.

[aidan.f]

Never had any problem with using gear cables - after all it's a gear lever
= less leverage - and a brake cable doesn't curve snugly round in the slot.

But you will find some of the MTB bar top shifters won't fit road bars, you have to file out the square holes in the stainless steel band with a warding file.

Friend had an SJS tandem. They (SJS) had filed down the lugs on the base plate - it broke in the alps

[damerell]

Never had any problem with using gear cables - after all it's a gear lever
= less leverage

Um. Whatever kind of lever you have, a given amount of braking requires a given amount of tug, and brake cables are made thicker than gear cables to withstand that tug.

I'm not saying a gear cable _will_ break - obviously not - but you are using a cable that's underspecified for the job.

and a brake cable doesn't curve snugly round in the slot.

Depends on the shifter - I've got J. Random MTB gear shifter mounted on the stoker's stem and the cable fits it perfectly.

Friend had an SJS tandem. They (SJS) had filed down the lugs on the base plate - it broke in the alps

How alarming! But not, perhaps, a reason not to buy a cable from them.

(Also, search me as to what the "base plate" is. Enlighten me?)

[aidan.f]

I will have to post a pic - the thumb-shift gear lever has a steel fixing band that clips into two lugs on a steel plate, they filed them down to fit the larger diameter bars, and one of the lugs broke.

(gear) cable was fine