Bicycle Mechanics - Affordable Derailleurs/Shifters

I recently bought a lightly used Bianchi Avenue to use primarily to commute to work with. It currently has Altus deraillleurs and shifters that, frankly, I'm not sure I care for. So anyone have any advice on reliable derailleurs and shifters that won't dent my wallet too bad?

The Bicycle...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v307/huhwhat/bianchi2.jpg

I recently bought a lightly used Bianchi Avenue to use primarily to commute to work with. It currently has Altus deraillleurs and shifters that, frankly, I'm not sure I care for. So anyone have any advice on reliable derailleurs and shifters that won't dent my wallet too bad?

That is the same setup my son has on his Trek MTB. I was very skeptical of them at first. After I rode his bike I found that they actually shifted pretty nice. Ride the bike for a while and see how they perform. Try not to dump too much money in a bike that you won't be able to recover your investment in. IMO, just ride and have fun.

Tim

Find some used LX or XT shifters, and an LX rear derailleur, and you can keep the cost low for a good set of shifters. Hard to find much better value than Shimano XT 8 speed. Of course, I don't know how many cogs you've got there.

High end and low end derailers are pretty even for commuting. It's when you do dirt jumps, mud slinging etc that the high end gets on top. If after a while you get sloppy shifting that no amount of adjustment will fix, then go for it.

OTOH, picking up an LX rear derailer on ebay is a relatively low cost exercise.

Even the cheap stuff works if properly tuned and not wore out. Save your money till it goes TU.But one place to often score big is Nashbar clearance stuff teamed up with a coupon.