Raven87

I've got to admit that I have not had a problem with my M500's trigger shifts. Given that, right now I am leaning toward them on my next bike, even if it does not come with triggers (assuming it can be changed) only because I shifted gears twice inadvertently on bikes I was trying out that had the twist grips.

Thanks for all the great replies. Keep 'em coming.

jimblairo

I built up my MTB with trigger shifters b/c I ride long distances and use ergo grips.

jaxgtr

+1

mattotoole

After ~20 years of mountain biking I prefer Shimano trigger shifters, but I'd ride happily with either. Though I'm used to the Shimano triggers, I've borrowed and rented bikes with Gripshifts and never had a problem.

sinner

I have twists on my current POS bike and cant stand them. At least once per ride I accidentally shift. I wont buy another bike with this style of shifter, way too easy to shift when you dont really want to.

mike_s

I'll be contrarian.

I like gripshifts, no problems. Much cleaner, less stuff hanging in the wind.

hermanchauw

I like and dislike both for different reasons:

Trigger
Like: Precise and fast shifting.
Dislike: There is only one place and position you can activate the levers in.

Twist
Like: Can be activated from any angle. Less force shifting to a bigger cog. Can skip more cogs in one movement while shifting to a bigger cog.
Dislike: Thicker grip. Cluttering the handle bar and pushing the brake lever away from the grip.

Dave Horne

My vote goes for the rapid fire trigger though my bike came with a twist shifter.

chasm54

When I volunteered as a mechanic at a bike co-op I hated refurbishing the bikes with twist grips. Much less serviceable, much more difficult to repair and put back into working order, much more prone to failure.

xenologer

can't stand grip / twist shifters
bunnyhopping and finding yourself in a different gear on landing is very bad

have bar ends and trigger/brifters on my bikes
while in theory, the 'random access' of bar ends is nice, in practice the delay in hand motion means my XT rapidfires shift faster
utility bike - bar ends
mtb and cross - trigger/brifters

Sullalto

Put me into the same camp of 'grip shifts hurt my hands' but I have carpal tunnel. I like trigger shifters, prefer them to shimano/SRAM brifters. I really should convert to bar ends or campy. Or stem/top tube mounted levers would work for me just fine as well.

John Redcorn

My db hardtail is my 1st bike in 20 years and it has shimano revo twist shifters, I thought they were awesome compared to the non-indexed thumb-push friction shifters my huffys as a middle and high-schooler had.

Now I have a new hybrid with triggers and they are so great. I didn't realize until riding a month on new bike with triggers then riding DB with twisties for the 1st time in a month how much of a "major" hand-re-positiong + weight re-positioning it requires to operate them. Ok maybe not major but it's 2 less thing to think about.

WrightVanCleve

I realize this thread was a necro but...

I like Grip Shift twist shifters.

fietsbob

the 2 cable grip shifter for Rohloff (& Nuvinci CVR hub) is a universe different from the indexed ones
That are supplied for the derailleur shifters by Sram and such .. on the Lower cost end..

BlazingPedals

I guess I'm the contrarian. All of my bents use mountain-style shifting, and I like the twisties best. At one point, all of my recumbents had GripShift. In spite of that, I'm slowly converting them all to triggers, because the rubber on the GS wears out or gets gummy, and then there's no way to replace it short of new shifters. Lately, I convert when that happens. The disadvantage of triggers are twofold: It's a long throw to shift the chainrings up, and the triggers hang below the bars, forcing me to raise my bars to clear my legs. (I try to keep the clearance minimal, to keep the bars low and out of my line of sight.)

mobilemail

I think twisters feel cheap, sometimes imprecise, and its a pain finding replacement grips for the shifter part when the originals get nasty. And if they have indicators, I don't think I have ever seen a front shifter where the numbers even come close to lining up. With button/trigger shifters, I have had issues running out of middle chaining trim with wide rear cassettes. I prefer thumb shifters (Microshift is making Shimano compatible 8-9-10 speed ones) or bar end shifters. My .02

Jax Rhapsody

Uh...trigger shifters can do that too. With a single downshift, you can go from say 7 to 2.

Jax Rhapsody

Thumbshifters, brifters, trigger shift/mtb brifters are loads better than gripshifts. I think the main reason they use them, is cheapness. They break, separate, get in the way.

catonec 

I have rapidfires on my mtb, love them. Crisp easy shifting. No need to alter your grip on the bars. They do require some attention every now and then.

My wife has some twistgrips. I dont really like them but they have worked perfectly for years, very reliable although they require a little more effort when shifting.

JanMM

Switched from twist shifters to SRAM triggers on two bikes, but have left the SRAM twisties on the tandem. Will probably go to triggers on that, eventually. Rode that bike home from downtown Indy yesterday in a light rain and it was difficult to grip the gripshifters to shift because they and my hands were wet. Gloves would have helped but would have been no problem with triggers.

Canker

Here is the thing with grip/twist shifts they mostly come on cheap REAL cheap bikes stock and are there for low quallity **** gripshifters. I personally don't care what kind of shifters I have. They all seem to work fine to.
My good mtn bike has Sram x0(highend) gripshifts and they work awesome and never ghost shift. The best feature of them is the front derailleur shifter is non-index so you can adjust it on the fly.
My beater rigid mtn bike has a shimano trigger shifter for the front and an older XTR dual control(brifter) for the rear.

yote223

My Deore XT's shift 2 gears up, and 4 gears down. All with a single throw of my thumb. I am shifting a dozen times a mile riding in town and the Rapid-Fire's are flawless.

LesterOfPuppets

Dang. My xtr triggers only go down 4 up 1. I can run the derailleur all the way across the cassette with my X ray or Attack Gripshifters.

Accidental shifts can usually be cured by running full length grips with Gripshifters. And never get half pipe gripshifters.

I like the Sram xxi trigger better than my xtr s - right thumb and forefinger are occasionally uncomfortable on the shimano setup. The xxi gripshift is solid, too. Nice upgrade from my Attack gripshifters. I'm still on the fence when it comes to 1x11 shifter choice.

I think most gripshift haters never got used to them

okane

...trigger, thumb(index), thumb (friction), stem(index), stem (friction), two speed kickback, positron, single speed (no shifters), twist grip (ugh)

chaadster

Exactly. Use crappy components, have a crappy experience.

I've run both high quality triggers and twisters, and depending on the type of riding one does, either can provide excellent results. The main condition that favors triggers (or thumbshifters, for that matter) is off-road riding, where braking and shifting often need to happen together, and that can be difficult with twist shifters. Not impossible, but definitely more difficult than triggers.

I use SRAM Gripshift on two bikes, each about 9 years old, for road riding. One is my commuter/utility scoot, the other a folding bike. Both work fine and dandy, and have never caused any problem. They're durable and reliable, and easy to use.