And Cervelo P4 spotted on the roads of Austin today
So here’s your problem: You like the clean setup and simplicity of your single speed with road drop bars, but you’d really love to have more gear choices for when the rod tilts upward. In the past, your only option was a flip-flop wheel which involved having to remove and flip the wheel to change gears.
Well, single speeders Jtek now has you covered with the introduction of their bar end shifter for Shimano’s 8 speed internal Nexus and Alfine hubs. This is a very cool development as I’ve been thinking about building a touring/commuting frame with internal gearing on a road platform, but have been limited to shifters that only fit mountain bike handlebars.
Jtek offers the new shifter for $80 either directly from them online or through your local bike shop via distributors Quality Bicycle Products or Bicycle Technologies International. I’m ordering one of these to try out. Look for a review in the coming weeks.
Cervelo P4 Time Trial/Triathlon bike finally coming to market
This morning I headed down to the Austin Tri-Cyclist to join them for their regular 8:30 Saturday ride. I’m really out of shape right now, so it doesn’t take me long to get dropped on these rides but at least I get to start with a group.
Before I went off the back however I got to see Austin Tri-Cyclist owner Don Ruthven riding a brand, spankin’ new Cervelo P4 on its maiden voyage. Don is one of the first Cervelo dealers to get one of these time trial/triathlon bikes that created quite a buzz at Interbike this fall. I couldn’t keep up to see Don put it to the test, but I did hear his initial impression: “This bike feels really fast!” I’d think Don would know.
If you want to pre-order one of these bad boys, you can stop by the Austin Tri-Cyclist at 923 Barton Springs (across from Palmer Events Center). The staff at Austin Tri-Cyclist are also F.I.S.T. certified bike fitters so even if you aren’t laying down nearly $5000 for a P4 frame-set you can still get a great tri-bike fit.
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 10:28 am
That shifter is pretty expensive. Couldn’t you just use an Ultegra 8 speed bar end shifter? Are the index points different in the Alfine/Nexus as compared to “standard” shimano index points?
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I believe the pull ratios are different for the internals versus the road derailleurs, so no, I don’t think that would work. You could use non-index, friction system shifters, but I don’t think you’d be saving that much money.
on Feb 4th, 2009 at 8:11 am
[...] things have changed. Two weeks ago, we let you know about road bar end shifters from Jtek that are compatible with Shimano Nexus and Afline internal hubs. Whoop! Now, it looks like we have [...]