Originally Posted by Al.canoe
It's a personal thing, however those who prefer them must be a small minority or SRAM would not have developed pod shifters to compete with Shimano.
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Al
SRAM started making just Gripshift. This one product has been successfull enough to allow SRAM to make strategic acquisitions and catapult them to the #2 bicycle component manufacturer in the world.
I think it's VERY clear that Gripshift is a VERY popular product. Given the fact that Shimano virtually owned the OEM shifting market till recently, Gripshift must have been a VERY good product to compel so many people to make this after-market addition.
Despite the fact that Gripshift is wildly popular, not everyone prefers them. SRAM would be stupid to just let all those customers go. So they developed trigger shifters that are widely considered superior to those of Shimano.
Oh BTW. Shimano isn't stupid. They developed their RevoShift to capitalize on the throttle style of shifting.
I've been in different crowds. Some crowds look down on Gripshift. Some swear by them. Some pros prefer triggers. Some prefer SRAM X.0 Grip Shifters. I've done both, I prefer Gripshifters do to their versatility and unparallelled durability.
Oh yeah, and some people really, really like Shimano integrated shifter pods. Horses for courses.