Top tube shifter

Read it first as "Tube top shifter".

Was going to make a crack about someone in drag wearing a '90s outfit.

Good thing I caught it before posting.

Bill (slow evening) S.

meb said:

About a month or two ago I spotted a Schwinn road bike on auction on
ebay that had top tube shifters. They looked like down tube shifters
but were on the top tube. Were OEM bikes made that had top tube
shifters or is this likely someone's modification using top tube
shifters or stem shifters?

Dear MEB,

I think that they came on some Schwinns in the '70's, possibly
Paramounts, but the Consumer Protection folks sensibly declared them
an obvious hazard in a crash and they disappeared.

I suppose that a metal lever pointing at your crotch could have been
like the apocryphal 8-inch metal spike on the car's horn button--a
wonderful safety device as long as the operator was aware of the
danger.

Searches will have trouble distinguishing between true top-tube mounts
and steerer tube mounts.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

[email hidden said:

"]On Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:56:26 +1000, meb

Quoted message said:

About a month or two ago I spotted a Schwinn road bike on auction on
ebay that had top tube shifters. They looked like down tube shifters
but were on the top tube. Were OEM bikes made that had top tube
shifters or is this likely someone's modification using top tube
shifters or stem shifters?

Dear MEB,

I think that they came on some Schwinns in the '70's, possibly
Paramounts, but the Consumer Protection folks sensibly declared them
an obvious hazard in a crash and they disappeared.

I suppose that a metal lever pointing at your crotch could have been
like the apocryphal 8-inch metal spike on the car's horn button--a
wonderful safety device as long as the operator was aware of the
danger.

Searches will have trouble distinguishing between true top-tube mounts
and steerer tube mounts.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

One could change the design of the orientation of the levers if impalement was the concern.

The bike I saw it on wasn't a Paramount, it was a model I was unfamiliar with. Something like a Firenze or thereabouts.

meb said:

Were OEM bikes made that had top tube shifters or is this likely
someone's modification using top tube shifters or stem shifters?

these were really popular on 70's dimestore bikes (e.g. huffies and
AMF). Only low-quality shift levers came in top-tube (and stem)
versions.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

meb said:

About a month or two ago I spotted a Schwinn road bike on auction on
ebay that had top tube shifters. They looked like down tube shifters
but were on the top tube. Were OEM bikes made that had top tube
shifters or is this likely someone's modification using top tube
shifters or stem shifters?

Shimano made such a device. Basically, they were downtube levers on a
1" mounting clamp. I've only seen these on a couple of fairly
inexpensive 70s era bikes.

"meb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

About a month or two ago I spotted a Schwinn road bike on auction on
ebay that had top tube shifters. They looked like down tube shifters
but were on the top tube. Were OEM bikes made that had top tube
shifters or is this likely someone's modification using top tube
shifters or stem shifters?

Although Schwinn has been around a long time, these were probably a recent
(circa 1970) version.

Top-tube shifters were made and used in earlier times - Huret and Simplex
made them, I seem to recall, and quite likely other mfrs. such as
Sturmey-Archer, Cyclo, Belenux...

Exactly. I came across a Firenze with top-tube shifters. There were no mounts on the down-tube. Here are a couple of photos...

infogardens.netFirenze1.htmOpen ↗
infogardens.netFirenze2.htmlOpen ↗
[CENTER] [/CENTER]
It seems like this could be pretty dangerous under the wrong unforeseen circumstance. I opted not to buy the bike.

Hi Everyone, I notice that this is a kinda old thread but I thought someone might be interested.

I bought a Sun 'Misty' two weeks ago, and it has, what I believe would be described as a 'tube tube gear shifter'. I think it's from either the the Mid-Sixties or maybe the early Seventies. there seems to be a lot of changes made to the bike and I'm trying to find a pic of what an original bike of it's type would look like, but no luck so far...

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by wurzel mike [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Hi Everyone, I notice that this is a kinda old thread but I thought someone might be interested.

I bought a Sun 'Misty' two weeks ago, and it has, what I believe would be described as a 'tube tube gear shifter'. I think it's from either the the Mid-Sixties or maybe the early Seventies. there seems to be a lot of changes made to the bike and I'm trying to find a pic of what an original bike of it's type would look like, but no luck so far...

Nice bike, I ride a similar bike to work each day, nobody dares wasting their time trying to steal it.