Shimano SL-BS78 Bar-End Rear Shift Lever Boss Cover

doesn't fit on the shifters as nicely as the original dura-ace but it does work after some wiggling. I had brand new dura-ace down shifters that I was installing.;

Arrived quickly! Worked great for moving a set of Shimano indexed downtube shifters (7x2 speed Shimano 105 in my case) from a cromoly steel bike with a brazed on post that was curved with the frame to an aluminum bike with a post that had a square base under it. This is the Shimano SL-BS78 intended for the rear (right) shifter. You will also need the front (left) version of this if you are replacing both shifters dont just buy two of these. These will work with just about any number of indexed gears and friction shifters as long as they are downtube mounted. Installation was a snap just mounted them on the new bike and screwed on the shifter mechanism with the original bolt.;

I bought this (and the "front" boss cover) to adapt my downtube shifters onto a pair of Paul Thumbies. The problem was that downtube shifters come with rounded boss covers which allow them to fit against the rounded frame of the bike. (Thought I'd mention that since it wasn't readily apparent to me.) Paul Thumbies are designed to work straightaway with bar-end shifters only because bar-end shifters come with flat boss covers like these.

Verdict? They work. They're of the same diameter as the rounded boss covers so they fit snugly and perfectly to my Shimano downtube shifters (that came on my Bianchi Campione). And they also fit the Paul Thumbies with very little wiggle (the wiggle should be a non-issue when finally tightened).

One more thing: there are slight (in my opinion) cosmetic differences between the front and rear boss covers the most significant of which is the height or thickness of the piece. The rear is shorter by about 1.5 mm; the rear is about 5 mm tall and the front boss cover about 6.5 mm. I bought two because I thought there would be functional differences for the rear and front derailleur shifters but there aren't any differences. As I like thinner better if I could redo this purchase I'd have bought two rear boss covers for both shifters.;