Recreational & Family - Silly question about the 7.3FX...

Does my new bike (Trek 7.3 fx) have the shifters on the handlebar grips or is it a switch (for lack of a better word!LOL).

You see, I never got to test drive an actual 7.3fx--I tried the 7.3 and the 7.5fx, but I didn't think to ask about the shifters and I thought I read somewhere tonight that they are not the "gripper" type. I would actually prefer if they weren't on the grips but it wouldn't be the end of the world if they are.

Thanks!

It looks like the Shimano Alivio shifters are trigger shifters. They could either be separate from the brake levers, or a shifter/brake combination.

They are triggers...same as my 7.2fx.

Do you like the triggers as opposed to the grip shifters? Not that I can do anything about it now and the truth is that this is my first bike in a loooong time, so I will just learn with what I have and it will be all I know :)

Triggers are better than the grip shifters; the shifting is generally more precise. You shift the front rings up with your forefinger, down with the thumb. You can have your other fingers on the brake handle at the same time. On the rear cogs, you shift up with the thumb, down with the forefinger. The gear shifters have a red line indicator that moves to the left or the right, across an area divided into three sections to give you an idea of what gear you are in. As the indicator moves to the right, you are going into higher gears.

To change the front gears(which are called chainrings or just rings), click the shifter while the left foot is at the top of the pedal stroke and when the right foot comes around the top, the gear change will be made. Try to be "light" on your pedals when shifting gears, particularly the chainrings. This may be hard to do at first when climbing hills so when you see the hill coming, plan ahead on your gear changes. Better to be in too low of a gear and shift up than to be in too high a gear, barely able to get the pedals around and then try to shift to a lower gear.

When you get the bike and start shifting the gears around, you'll notice that if you are in the little chainring and the smallest cog in the back, the chain is diagonal. Likewise, if you are in the big chainring and the biggest cog, it's at a diagonal. This is called crosschaining and is to be avoided as it causes excessive wear on the gears and the chain. These gears are also duplicated using the middle chain ring so there's no reason to use these combinations.

It's better to pedal in an easy gear at a higher cadence(rpm's) than to "mash" a higher gear, which can be tough on your knees. As you build up speed, you can go to higher gears without hurting your knees. You can pedal longer and ride longer, too.

Wow Bbattle--that was a lot of great info you gave me about shifting...now I'm going to have to print it out and study it!! LOL I think all of this will be easier once I have the bike and can "see" what you are talking about.
I know that my LBS has a free class once a month to teach us newbies how to change tires and other maintenance stuff, but I sure wish there was a class on just basic cycling for those of us who are new to the sport (or just took a loooooong time off) !
Thanks again!

I caught on to my shifters really fast, after switching from grip shifters. The only benefits I found for the grips were the ability to fly all the way through the cassette (like with a friction barcon on downtube) and the lack of extra stuff hanging off the bar.

But I grip shifters a PITA to work on. And you can't really move them around so much without getting gaps in the grip.

Properly adjusted, the triggers on the FX are nice and consistent, though I get some trouble in the front.

The 2006 7.3 FX has rapid fire shifters on the handlebars directly behind each brake lever and they even tell you what gear you are in (from low to high).