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I wish to adapt down tube friction shifters to my frame. As shown in image 1, the frame is equipped with eyelets for this purpose.

Image 1 My down tube enter image description here

Image 2 shows the shifter in question (I assume this is the correct order of the rings). Note how parts D and E have a snake-eyed shape---intended, I presume, to prevent external rings from rotating as the lever itself is turned.

Image 2 My friction shifter parts enter image description here

My problem is that parts D and E find no match in the frame's down tube: the eyelets are perfect cylinders, with no protruding "slot" at the tip to fit the rings' snake-eyed shape. As a consequence, movement of the shift lever inevitably and almost immediately removes any friction in the system by loosening the external bolt (part F). Slippage prevents high gears from holding.

Two questions arise.

  1. Can anyone recommend an easy fix/tweak to the problem?

  2. Does the barrel's cylindrical shape suggest what specific tension shifter model I should look for in case answer 1 is negative? (The frame is a French C.N.C., from the 1960s I believe.)

Thanks!

Edit

Shouldn't eyelets look thus? (Note the shape, but also how the picture below's is longer than my frame's eyelet.)

enter image description here

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    I think you're missing a part. I haven't had one of these apart in about 20 years, but there needs to be a (square?) washer thingie with a flattened tube attached, to engage the oblong cutouts in the two outer washers.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Feb 1, 2017 at 20:12
  • Thanks @DanielRHicks. Internet pictures suggest that the lever itself (Campagno 1013/5 Record) is missing no part (eg. picclick.ca/…). What does the washer with tube attached look like?
    – emagar
    Feb 1, 2017 at 22:52
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    The pieces in your second picture look like what I was expecting. The particular lever you have may not be what you need.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Feb 2, 2017 at 0:24
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    You have the problem that French bikes were always even weirder than Italian ones.
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Feb 2, 2017 at 22:29

2 Answers 2

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I don't know anything about the history or whys, but I have seen shifters by huret that match up with this type of mount (as @danielrhicks was getting at):

enter image description here

As you can see they have a square baseplate that acts as a stop for the shifter. I had always just assumed it was some sort of French standard that didn't last very long. I have also seen simplex shifters that have a similar design. Often times I've found these frames have a different thread pitch than shifters designed for non French frames as well, making it extra difficult to mount another shifter.

obviously a second, less than ideal option would be to use a clamp on shifter set lower on the downtube.

thanks, France.

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  • Thanks @Paul ! So far, answer 1 remains negative. Would anyone venture a possible tweak to adapt what I have before I go ahead and search for the Huret shifter? (Problem, as you indicate, was different thread pitch in my frame. I re-tapped the eyelet to the standard pitch, so chances are that the Huret's D-bolt will no longer fit...)
    – emagar
    Feb 2, 2017 at 15:05
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    it's possible that you now might be able to use this shifter with the campy D bolt.. but you're entering uncharted territory, let me know what you end up with
    – Paul
    Feb 3, 2017 at 4:11
  • Hi @Paul, I can report that the Campy D-bolt works just fine with the Huret shifter that I installed in my re-threaded frame. Too bad that I learnt all this the hard way... zen and the art of vintage bicycle building. Cheers!
    – emagar
    Mar 18, 2017 at 0:03
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You can re-thread the old Huret/Simplex mounts and install a Shimano downtube shifter as shown in this video:

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  • Link to video appears to be broken: An error occurred. Please try again later. (Playback ID: uNIEdUqZ8bTg1J24)
    – emagar
    Dec 14, 2021 at 22:10

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