Vintage Bianchi: possible to move shift levers?

[merlin]

I am looking at a Bianchi with a 1986-1987 campione sticker. Not sure of the model, but it is white with red lettering. A touring bike, 47cm. I cannot find it on the web.

If the Bianchi fits me, and the price is right, I will be happy. I have been wanting a steel bike.
One drawback: I would prefer to have shifting levers on the handle bars. I am not mechanical and would ask my LBS to do this. Is it a travesty to modify a vintage bike in this way? My ancient Motobecane had those levers and I never thought twice about it. But I was younger 35 years ago when I got that bike!

BTW, the asking price is $125 on CL. Shimano shifters and deraillers. Reasonable, or a bit high?

I am sadly realizing that I now prefer the ease of certain things mechanical, like an automatic transmission in my car and shifting levers near the brakes. Must be that last significant birthday that made me lazy!

Thanks.
beth AKA merlin

[Shellyrides]

I am a noob but I have seen where they have replaced and moved the sifters.

[Trek420]

I am looking at a Bianchi with a 1986-1987 campione sticker. Not sure of the model, but it is white with red lettering. A touring bike, 47cm. I cannot find it on the web.

If the Bianchi fits me, and the price is right, I will be happy. I have been wanting a steel bike.
One drawback: I would prefer to have shifting levers on the handle bars. I am not mechanical and would ask my LBS to do this. Is it a travesty to modify a vintage bike in this way? My ancient Motobecane had those levers and I never thought twice about it. But I was younger 35 years ago when I got that bike!

BTW, the asking price is $125 on CL. Shimano shifters and deraillers. Reasonable, or a bit high?

I am sadly realizing that I now prefer the ease of certain things mechanical, like an automatic transmission in my car and shifting levers near the brakes. Must be that last significant birthday that made me lazy!

Thanks.
beth AKA merlin

My namesake Trek 420 had downtube shifters. Eventually when I upgraded front and rear der my shop changed them to brifters pretty easily, you could not tell downtube shifters used to be there. Yes, it can be done.

[pinsonp2]

Yes, it can be done, but it will be pricey. New brifters alone will cost about $300, not to mention derailleurs. I'm with you, I prefer indexed shifting and the brifters.

P2

[OakLeaf]

How many speeds in the rear? IIRC, if it's fewer than nine, there will not be compatible brifters ... and changing that out will require a new rear wheel and cold-setting the frame to accommodate the wider hub.

I'm still thinking about updating my 1987 race bike, which has a 6-speed freehub. But it's a BIG job, and yes, expensive - brifters, rear derailleur, rear wheel with cassette, and the frame work.

My old bike is a good enough frame to deserve it. It sounds like yours might be, too. But it's not for the faint of heart or wallet. At least this is a good time of year to be contemplating something like that (if you're in the northern hemisphere).

[Biciclista]

sounds like a cool bike. I didn't know the old ones came that small. When do we get to see a photo?

[Artista]

I had a vintage, steel, Terry frame updated with brifters. Most of the drive train and rear wheel HAD to be replaced to accommodate brifters. I allowed a few other, optional, drive train components to be updated to improve the final performance. The stuff that HAD to be replaced was quite expensive. The optional components added little to the final cost. I chose Shimano 105.

In the end, I'm glad that I did it but the whole project turned out to cost much more than I had anticipated. I'm thinking that it was in the range of $1,400 with parts and labor but don't quote me on that.

[Rebecca19804]

Following this thread with interest as I've been mulling over the same sort of changes on my 1970s Puch mixte. However, OP hasn't mentioned wanting/needing brifters, simply re-positioning shifters to handlebars. Is it possible to simply move the existing downtube shifters to somewhere on the handlebars? Or fit something like Paul thumbies? Seems to me that, absent any desire to change the actual gearing of the bike, that would do the trick. Or am I missing something?

[Artista]

It might be possible to convert to bar end shifters without altering any of the rest of the drivetrain. My upgrade was so extensive because I was set on brifters. I would have been happy to keep the original gearing but that wasn't possible when converting to brifters. Now I believe that the additional gearing contributed to my satisfaction with the update.