Srem mounted shifters

Anyone any experiences? Saw any nice bits of kit? I'm looking to fit them to a bike with cable stops on the downtube, i.e typical mtb set up . I have a crop barred mtb and was thinking of adding some gears. quite like the look of the stem mounted type. The stem is 1 1/8 quill and has a sizeable reach if I could mount a downtube version on there.

Any help greatly appreciated.

The only issue is that if you go over the bars they do tend to snag your scrotum. :shock:

I am not joking. It is one of the main reasons that they vanished.

stem shifters

Ive been thinking about the same problem. I've just bought a Condor touring bike with indexed 6-speed rear and friction front derailleur levers on the down tube.
Not sure whether to a) get used to them (I wobble horribly and it's a stretch to them - I've fitted a stem raiser), b) change to stem mounted shifter (a Shimano TY20 from SJS?), or c) a band-on shifter on the top tube.
I've never seen the latter, but it would solve the problem of having to use cables from the down tube stops. Would it matter having the bare cables going up parallel to the steerer tube, but a couple inches behind it? Also I likely to be able to get away with just buying band-on cable stops, and swapping the stops for the gear levers? (will the threads be compatible?). I guess another solution is to put old "thumbies" on the drops - will they fit? Ideally I want to get away with minimum refitting of stems, handlebar tape etc.

Whether or not they are any good to you depends on your favoured hand position. If you ride mostly on the tops or hoods then stem mounted shifters are probably easier than downtube shifters. If you spend most of the time with your hands on the drops (and I see no reason to fit drops if you don't use them) then you'll be better off sticking with downtube shifters, or better yet barcons.