operating 8 speed nexus with downtube shifter - possible?

i am trying to built a 1960's roadbike with an 8 speed nexus internal hub gear, now:

since the original nexus shifter looks quite shite, i thought i could maybe use an 8 speed indexed downtube shifter, does anybody have any idea if this works/could work?

cheers

could this be an option

http://jtekengineering.com/jtek_bar-end_shifter.htm

costly but could be quite elegant, cheers for the hint.

but surely if the indexing on the downtube shimano 8 speed shifters is roughly the same it might work as well???

First refer to http://www.ctc.org.uk/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3946 , (keep for future reference, it's an excellent work).

Then find out how much cable pull per click is given by the Nexus shifter, and if it's the same amount for each gear (I think it should be) then see if any of the Shimano or other levers give the same amount.

Sorry I haven't any Nexus 7 or 8 stuff to measure it for myself, but what I've given you is at least half the answer.

If it isn't spot on or very very close don't waste your time. (I'm using a Shimano SIS thumb lever with a Sturmey 4 speed and it's fine provided I skip one click for the false neutral between 3rd and 4th)

Also see someone else with the same question: http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5360&start=0 . From this he says it's 0.204" or 5.2mm per click, so the answer is "no" because none of the other shifters pull anything close.

hi henry, thanks for that, that is really helpful

chris