Ritchey 2x9 shifters any good?

[syncrosfan]

I'm currently working on my Ritchey P23 ('94 as far as I know) bike and in the course of acquiring components I did get a Ritchey 2x9 set of Grip-shifters with the matching Titanium 33t cog and the 42t big Ritchey ring. Does anybody on here have this setup? Is it any good? When just dry-shifting the Sachs shifters they seem well kind of cheap/plasticky... would they work any better when fully set-up? I usually swear by Shimano trigger shifters. I do have a set of XT 8-speed shifters that I can set-up with some gorilla billet perches (this way I can use the Ritchey brake levers) and then I could go for a 3x8 setup instead of the 2x9. I'm kind of on the fence right now which way to go. 3x8 setup with Shimano shifters? or 2x9 setup with the Ritchey/Sachs shifters?
What do you guys think?

 

[cce]

Shimano for riding, Ritchey/Sachs for looking at.

 

[Mike Muz]

Re:

Don't know about Ritchey versions, or the differences between them, but I find the Sachs Wavey ones work really well. I did a 100km mtb ride on a bike equipped with them in the Spring, didn't miss a beat

Mike

 

[secret_squirrel]

Done lots of miles on Sachs waveys and Quarz shifting has never been quite as crisp as M739's but that I suspect is just part of the nature of the 2 different mechanisms.

Barring cable stretch the Sachs have never missed a beat. I'd go with it but then non-obvious shifters have always amused me for my builds. If you want perfection go for Shimano, if you want an interesting build Ritchey/Sachs all the way.

 

[syncrosfan]

I think I'll prep the XT shifters with the perches this weekend and do a mock up build with both. I'll see which one I like better. Which reminds me now I need some Ritchey grips...

 

[syncrosfan]

Tried to set up the Ritchey 2x9 shifters this weekend... Stopped at the attempt to get the shifting cable going. I'm using a nice Shimano Dura Ace 1.2mm stainless cable but those Sachs shifters seem to require a much more flexible cable (the cable would require significant force to come out when shifting, too much for your average derailleur spring tension). Took them apart looked at the "mechanism" inside, laughed, put them back together and then wen onto fitting XT shifter pods onto the Gorilla Billet mounts I have. After cleaning the gunked up mechanism on the XT they shift as good as new. I don't think the Sachs Wavy system is up to snuff (cumbersome cable routing through the insides, too much internal friction, maybe could work OK with a more flexible shifter cable?). The amount of engineering in the Shimano shifters is staggering compared to the Sachs ones. Shimano all the way for me at least.

 

[secret_squirrel]

Re:

Odd. I've set up 3 different sets of Sachs with none of those problems.

 

[Mike Muz]

Re: Re:

Odd. I've set up 3 different sets of Sachs with none of those problems.

+1 Normal cables though, nothing fancy