Also known as barcons, bar-end shifters are placed inside the hollow ends of handlebars. When I replaced the stock handlebars on my Long Haul Trucker, the barcons had to be removed from the original ‘bars and installed on the new Nitto Noodle bars. With the generous and helpful advice of folks on the Surly Long Haul Trucker and Cross Check Group, I discovered that the procedure was easier than I feared, but only because everything was done properly. Mess up, and the job becomes a lot harder. So, to pass on what I learned, here’s how I removed then reinstalled the bar-end shifters.

First, there is NO need to disconnect the shifter cables from the derailleurs or levers. Remove the handlebar tape and set it aside. Now shift the chain so both bar-end levers point DOWN as far as they as they can go. Once in this position, DO NOT rotate the levers until after you’ve reinstalled them.

Remove the two cable stops on the downtube (most likely you’ll need an allen wrench to unscrew the bolts). To avoid losing the bolts which hold the stops in place, I reinserted them into the braze-ons. You can see that removing the cable stops slackens the cables. Just let them dangle there while you’re working on the shifters.

With the cables slack, you can now unscrew the bolts holding the levers in the shifter pods. My bolts were tight, but once loosened with a little elbow grease, they unscrewed very easily.

As you remove the locking bolt, be observant to the orientation of the various elements of the lever. Once the levers were removed from the pods, I reinserted each lever component and retightened the screw to hold it all together as I worked on the rest of the job—see the picture below. Everything fits together only one way with these shifters (yours might be different), and they slide into place easily. Pull the levers away from the pod, and allow them to hang there as you proceed.

Look inside the pod, or body of the shifter inserted into the handlebar end. You’ll see a large bolt head. Insert the properly sized allen wrench and loosen the bolt just enough to slacken the pod’s grips on the bars. BEWARE! You do NOT loosen these bolts like others. TO LOOSEN, TURN THE BOLT CLOCKWISE.

If changing your handlebars, remove the brake levers and anything else in your bike’s “cockpit.” Swap handlebars. When the time comes to reinstall the shifters, do this after the brake levers are placed. If you forgot, then you’ll be reminded as soon as you try to reinstall the brake levers. I know. I did it that way and had to remove the shifters before replacing the brake levers.

Now reinstall the shifter pods, align them properly (levers pointing straight down). Tighten the bolt holding the pods in place. TIGHTEN COUNTERCLOCKWISE. This pushes the expanders out against the inside of the handlebar. Tape the handlebars. The picture below shows the tape already in place, but that’s only because this shot was taken to illustrate the tightening procedure. You cannot remove the pods without displacing the cable running along the bottom of the handlebar, which is why the handlebar tape has to be removed when you take out the entire bar-end shifter assembly.

Insert the levers into the pods, being sure to align all the components correctly. Now reinstall the cable stops on the downtube.

Test the shifters by running the chain through all the gear combinations. Adjust shifters if you have to—I didn’t need to, luckily, and if you are careful, you might not have to, either.

For more on servicing barcons, visit the Park Tool Website and check out their “Bar End Shifter Service” page.