voila:
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This is our crappy shop bike. That's a GripShift 3.0 Comp. Spring removed, ran a road brake cable through the shifter cable routing--you can see the round head on the shifter, just below the number 7. No drilling needed, shifter orifices accepted larger diameter brake cable. Ran these to canti brakes because that's what was on this bike.
Pull is minimal to brake contact, about one shift from 7 to just beyond 6. And it works. Kind of. Yes you get stopping power, but nowhere near what you'd need in an emergency situation at speed. Very smooth action with more than adequate spring return at the cantis to get the pads off the rim. You'd need a monster grip to lock up the front. Stopping power seems mediocre at best, bordering on perhaps dangerous.
Would definitely not recommend this to someone who bikes anywhere there are lots of steep hills. Grip shifts are actually pretty robust, so I wouldn't bet against longevity, but not even sure this will last long enough for any kind of long term test... some other tech will probably switch this back to a boring lever when they almost run into a car...
AYHSMB