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In your opinion, what's the best way to install drop bars on a bike with a Pinion gearbox, in particular the C1.12.

Some of the options I'm aware of:

  • shifter on bar end
  • split bars with shifter next to the stem
  • a stubby accessory mount attached to the fork.
  • the Cinq Shift:R Road kit, listed on cinq.de for a lovely 700 euro and possibly not even out of the kickstarter phase yet.

The following links are about the Cinq shifter:

https://cinq.de/en/shifting-technology/434/shift-r-road-for-pinion?c=136

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1769923126/cinq-shift-r-for-pinion/posts/2625804

https://pinion.eu/en/eurobike-news-2/

Also of great interest is the link below, which lists various ways to install a Rohloff shifter on a drop bar, the Rohloff shifter being not entirely unlike the Pinion shifter. They're not identical, though. Cinq has more finished products for Rohloff and there appear to one or two other manufacturers that produce shifters for Rohloff (but not for Pinion).

Thank you.

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  • What's your question here? SE is not a general chat forum, and answers work better as provable facts, not opinions. Are you looking for how to shift a pinion gearbox from dropbars ?
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 7:17
  • Yes, indeed. Looking to hear from other people who are you using dropbars, so that I can decide the best way for me to convert from flat to drop. That's not proper here?
    – Michiel
    Commented Jan 6, 2020 at 14:05
  • @Criggie I believe the question is hidden in the phrase "What would be the best way to install the shifters for the C1.12 on a drop bar?"
    – ojs
    Commented Jan 7, 2020 at 12:23
  • I think I understand your concern, @criggie. You're protective of the StackExchange and that seems like a valuable cause.It just took me a little while to get it... and then to find a few minutes to edit. Apologies for rejected the other edit, it didn't seem exactly right.
    – Michiel
    Commented Jan 8, 2020 at 6:13
  • @ojs: that phrase was not in my original question. The original question was a request for opinions rather than the type of question that would have a right/wrong type answer as appears to be favored here. This may not be the best forum for things that are not entirely final and require a little tinkering and a level of uncertainty.
    – Michiel
    Commented Jan 8, 2020 at 6:14

1 Answer 1

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Specifically addressing the second of your suggestions

split bars with shifter next to the stem

This is a bad idea and would strongly recommend against it.

The GMC Denali uses this method in order to fit grip shifters to a dropbar.

enter image description here

enter image description here

The dropbar has been cut through in the middle, allowing the maker to fit the twist or grip shifters. These will be generally similar in design to your rotary shifter for a flat bar. The two parts of the bar have been reattached with a two-part clamshell, which holds the bar-halves with set screws. However, in order to get the thickness in the clamshell, the maker used thinner bars and left a larger hole in the stem.

The beginner rider might not notice the problems. Once you start putting a bit of power through the bike, you push the bike down with your hands to raise the pedal and eek out some more power. To have your bars connected to the bike in this manner is not good, and any failure at any speed will have serious consequences.

Somewhat related example of bar-failure. (ok its a pro whose carbon TT bars failed at speed, not because they were cut in half, but its hard to find relevant video)
https://road.cc/content/news/229200-video-pro-rider-takes-nasty-fall-handlebars-are-snapped-clean

Upshot - don't cut your bars.

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  • 1
    That does look sketchy. I wasn't thinking of cutting them myself, although I think if I would I would reinforce the cut with a piece of tube or bar on the inside, not a sleeve on the outside. This article, which I failed to include last night, mentions two split bars (Van Nicholas and Utopia). Hopefully those are a bit stronger but I think you have a good point about the stresses put on bars. cyclingabout.com/rohloff-hubs-with-drop-handlebars
    – Michiel
    Commented Jan 10, 2020 at 2:11
  • Those production split bars are safe but really not very nice. They come on very cheap bikes. It is not a "homemade" option but i have never seen them for sale aftermarket. Barracuda road bikes often have this system
    – Noise
    Commented Sep 14, 2023 at 12:47

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