MTB Shifter/Lever combo on Road Bike

Posted on Tue 6th, February 2018

• #1

wayaway

i want to put some mtb shifter/brake levers on a bridgestone rb-1 with cruiser bars.

the issue i'm having is finding a 2x8 set of shifter/brake levers. if anyone knows of anything that might work it would be greatly appreciated.

the other thing i'm considering is just running at 3x8 set. other than avoiding shifting to the 3rd gear, would there be any reason to avoid this?
• #2

freezing77 in reply to @wayaway

For the front derailleur just set the high and low stops. You will not then be able to change into the 3rd chainring even if you wanted to..
• #3

frankenbike

3x8 will work if you set the limits properly as @freezing77 says. Any Shimano 8-speed shifters will work (both road and mountain) as they all have a derailleur pull ratio of 1.7.

You could also use downtube/bar-end shifters, there's plenty of 8-speed indexed ones about.
• #4

wayaway

@freezing77 @frankenbike

thank you guys. i will probably give setting the limit option a shot.
• #5

Bearlegged

Should be fine with the gears, but any recent combined brake/gear levers may well be long pull for the brakes. These won't play nicely with road brakes, they're intended for v-brakes or MTB cable discs.
Keep a look out for short pull brake levers, potentially separate brake and gear levers.

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