OK, i'm putting this out there, i'm likely to get toasted

[MarinMartin]

Re: OK, i'm putting this out there, i'm likely to get toaste

I don't ride competition, only leisure so can't say I've compared them in difficult conditions but I have bikes with gripshift, thumbies and rapidfire.

I prefer the feel of the rapidfire but also love thumbies (so much easier to set up as well). hate gripshift though. I have turned down so many bikes purely because they have gripshift. just cant get on with them. I prefer some form of lever there.

each to their own though. I hold no grudges against anyone that likes gripshift, (just wouldn't be their friend )

 

[paddy311]

Re: OK, i'm putting this out there, i'm likely to get toaste

I'm a very simple person.

I learned to ride with thumb shifters. Using anything else since then has always felt un-intuitive.

Recently I retro-modded a bike for the first time. 9 x 3 - Just to try out the new mechs out there TBH. I bought paul thumbie mounts and dura ace TT shifters to make a set of modern thumbies out of...... and if I'm honest I don't like them. The extra arc that the shifter needs to move through to get the extra 2 rear speeds makes the shifter totally un-ergonomic. My thumbs don't reach that far!

So for me - thumbs for keeping it simple. 7 speeds max.

I know **** all though - my next bike will have friction only. On thumb shifters :mrgreen:

 

[Woz]

Re: OK, i'm putting this out there, i'm likely to get toaste

Shimano XT thumbies fine and reliable. Gripshit marginally better shifting than the Raleigh Grifter Sturmey Archer one, but far more fugley.

 

[Thunderchild]

Re: OK, i'm putting this out there, i'm likely to get toaste

Raced with XT thumbies on my 92 Alien this past year. 7-speed too. Great set-up. Not sure if this was mentioned as I did not read all 5 pages of posts, but the durability of thumbies is worth mentioning. Broke the pawl in the left shifter of my second set of XT rapid fire plus and couldn't buy part anywhere. They are disposable.

I have original deore thumbies on my 89 Miyata Terra Runner (raced it in its day now it is my commuter); they still work fantastically.

I really don't have problems with any shifter type, but I like stuff that lasts...like our retro bikes!

Thunderchild

 

[makster]

Re: OK, i'm putting this out there, i'm likely to get toaste

All of this is irelevant.
A mountain bike isn't retro without thumbies.
The end

 

[feetabix]

Re: OK, i'm putting this out there, i'm likely to get toaste

I think I'm leaving to go to find a hobby restoring old toasters or something.......we just don't have anything in common anymore!.....we're all so different!......


(Folds sandwiches into a red spotty tea towel.... mournfully)...

 

[legrandefromage]

Re: OK, i'm putting this out there, i'm likely to get toaste

thumbshifters turned me into a newt!

 

[cce]

Re: OK, i'm putting this out there, i'm likely to get toaste

(Folds sandwiches into a red spotty tea towel.... mournfully)...

Red spotty teatowel? get out of my forum, EVERYONE knows you have to like blue stripey teatowels to fit in on retrotoaster.co.uk

 

[The History Man]

Re: OK, i'm putting this out there, i'm likely to get toaste

Ok i'll bite. What's with the newt? You've dropped it a few times now.

 

[legrandefromage]

Re: OK, i'm putting this out there, i'm likely to get toaste

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzYO0joolR0