Compatible Bike TypeTime Trial/Triathlon Bike, Racing Bike, Folding Bike, Electric Bike, Touring Bike, Universal, Dirt Jumper, Trekking Bike, Road Bike, Recumbent Bike, Cyclocross Bike, Tandem Bike, Mountain Bike
Takes some effort to make sure you have the right handle bars and a compatible cassette. I had to change my handlebars *and* stem to get these to fit in the handlebars because I apparently had some non-standard sized handlebars. I'm actually using the right shifter with a 7 speed cassette right now without any serious issues. I'm planning on upgrading to a Nashbar 8 speed Ultegra compatible cassette soon that will hopefully work even better with these shifters and I can use straight indexed mode. Right now, I'm using a variation of friction mode on the right with my 7 speed cassette. Unfortunately, I'm not a bike mechanic though so take my thoughts with a grain of salt, pepper, paprika or whatever.
I prefer these bar end shifters over STI for commuting. I really appreciate having my brake levers separate from my shifters for *heavy* non-racing use. I was originally running STI shifters with cantilever brake levers on a V-Brake setup and my braking was pathetic. I switched to these bar end shifters with separate V-Brake levers and now my RIM raking is *AWESOME*. It cost me more than I wanted because of the stem and handlebar upgrade but I'm REALLY glad I made the change. I feel much safer now and worry less about something breaking. This feels like the right way to go for "touring" or commuting bikes.