Jesse Smith

Which of these systems perform best in winter cycling? I'd imaging twist shifters work best with heavy gloves. Do either of these have a mechanical advantage over the other as far as the mechanism resisting sticking. I'm considering either SRAM Rocket twist shifters or dual thumb trigger shifters.

jakub.ner

I would recommend neither, and suggest you go with a fixed gear. I'm not sure if you get a lot of snow where you are, but I had enough dealing with frozen cables. I had SRAM twists on the bike.

Jesse Smith

Nope, the terrain makes a fixed-gear impractical. It's a shame because I have a nice Open Pro rim laced to a Campy Record high-flange track hub collecting dust. I'm saving it for when I can move back to Tucson.

ChroMo2

I ride in snow a lot, because I live in Minnesota. I never uderstood grip shifters, because I wouldn't want any part of my handlebars not being completely solid when i'm riding on a dangerous trail. If you ride in snow your derailers will get stuck with snow and ice (unless you don't ride that far) If you don't ride that far a single speed would be cool, although your limiting yourself. I have to dissassemble my componentry a few times in winter to make sure it stays operating properly, but you have to do that to any bicycle you ride in the winter, if you want it to work properly. One thing i've learned is after riding a bicycle through a season of winter riding, you should replace your cables after the snow is gone. They obviously get corroded. Trigger shifters are cool. The shifters don't freeze as much as the fact that your deraillers are gonna get packed with snow. Bring your bike in a warm place at night and spray your chain and derailler with wd-40.

Portis

Sort of like comparing brands of bottled water...

Cranks

I'm in Seattle, so it's rarely snow/ice weather. Yet I found grip shifters unworkable here when it gets cold - couldn't grip them well enough through gloves to action them. So I switched 'em out.

2manybikes

I ride in the snow every winter. When it's down to about 20f or below I use thick goose down lined leather mittens. I have Shimano rapid fire on that bike (trigger shifters) they work fine. I do not fit my thumb on the buttons they way you could in the warm weather, but it does not matter. A friend that rides with me all the time uses a twist grip shifter. They both work OK. As mentioned before you have to take care to treat the derailleur and the cables just right in the snow, either shifter works fine.

If your bike is in a warm place like the house leave it out side so the cables and derailleur get to outside air temp before riding. This will help prevent snow from sticking to the derailleur and sticking to the wheels quite a bit in MOST (not all) snow conditions.

If your bike is damp or snowy don't bring it inside and then go right out again, you may melt snow into water while inside and then freeze the cables when you back out. If your bike is wet or snowy dry it off as much as possible and bring it inside at night to dry off. Be sure it is dry again before going back out.

This method has kept me from ever having a cable or derailleur stick since 1994. Not so the brakes, the heat from the brakes will melt snow and then it can freeze on the wheels and brakes. Sometimes you can clear the brakes by riding for a while with the brakes on gently to warm the wheels if you are on the road or a dry area. As soon as you ride in the snow again it will come right back.

ApolloCVermouth

I suppose it depends how cold it gets. I live in Western Canada and I found that going from thumb shifters which you could sort of crank with your hand to Deore trigger shifters left my thumbs exposed. It might sound strange but below 20c I definitely noticed a difference. Numb thumbs. No good. Maybe grip shifters would be better. I recommend an old school thumb shifter if you use a dérailleur.

Jesse Smith

Since I've originally posted this, I've found a couple possible solutions. I'm planning on using Moosemitts and Lizard Skinz derailleur boots to help solve snow and ice buildup on the shifters and derailleurs.

Portis

I don't see where those grunge guards are going to do anything positive. Well, ok maybe they will make you feel better so that might be one thing. First of all it appears that you are preparing for some VERY extreme winter conditions. Keep in mind that if you are going to run a derailleur in deep snow, those grunge guards are not going to help your drive train, which will be your primary problem.

YOur pulleys are still going to be exposed and so will your chain/cassette/rings. On top of that, the rubber boots seem like they would trap moisture and snow and not allow it to fall off or to dry as it should. The rubber also might get very hard in cold condtions and impair your derailleurs.

You simply don't need those gadgets.

The mits seem like they would be ok but many people ride in many very cold conditions very comfortably with standard gloves/mittens. Those mits look very cumbersome!

These are just my observations after riding daily through two Kansas winters. YOu can take my advice or leave it.

Cyclist0383

Is this your first winter riding? I wouldn't worry so much if I were you.

I keep a hair dryer in my garage for when stuff gets really iced up. It works just fine as a de-icer

mike

As far as which shifter to use IN WINTER, I think you could make an argument either way IN THEORY, but not in practice.

As a general rule, I like trigger shifters rather than twist shifters because it is too easy to accidently shift with twist shifters.

ChroMo2

it's more the derailler not the shifter. the shifter is up on the handlebars not down where the snow is. And you have to perform lotsa maintenance on your drive train. singlespeed is always the easy way out. personally i think people who ride single speeds don't wanna put enough dedication into biking to keep 24 or 27 speed bicycle functioning. i've ridden in a blizzard where i had to pick a gear and leave it there, because the deraillers got "caked" with snow, but i'm talking about real winter riding in snow! and as far as your brakes warming up with kinetic energy, that don't happen, there is't enough braking surface to combat the ambient temperature. Your main components in winter riding (if your gonna ride in the snow) are your deraillers and cables. obviously you'll know if your chain gets washed out of it's lubrication. A favorite winter protection is WD-40.

2manybikes

Exactly, don't worry so much. You may not have any problems.

Coda1

I prefer the old thumb shifters for winter riding. They are nearly indestructible. I did use trigger shifters for part of a winter without any problems but they are harder to use with heavy mittens. The thumb shifters also allow me to put a lot of pressure on the cable to break it loose if it freezes up without worrying about breaking the shifter.

smurfy

Ditto. I've ruined a ft. derailler in the ice/salt/slush. It was a Suntour Hero which is all steel and it just froze solid, couldn't get it to budge ever again after removing it and doing everything I could think of to loosen it. Had to just throw it away. From now on it's either fixed/SS or forget it!

CBBaron

I perfer fixed gear for winter. If gears are a must I think I'd go with a hub gear. That way the only thing you need is a little grease on the cable to keep everything working. Salt does nasty stuff to any unprotected metal. Al maybe worse than steel.
Craig

ghettocruiser

My XT trigger shifters started acting up around -25C. At that point shifting tends to be the least of my problems, most of which are related to rolling resistance from grease thickening.

If I was ambitious I guess I could put a low-temperature grease in all this stuff, but for six or seven days a year it ain't gonna happen.