It's very possible I am simply setting up my stuff wrong... although I think I'm doing it correctly. Here's the deal. On the right side I have my handlebar grip, then the brake lever, then the shifter. Ideally, I want my fingers to have access to the entire handlebar grip comfortably with nothing sharing that space... as it stands now, my shifter levers protrude in the space that would otherwise be occupried my my pointer and middle finger. Yes, I can wriggle them in there but I really like to have the whole handlebar grip to spread out on. Hope this is makin sense. Also, due to the screws and mounting stuff on the lever and shifter, they are unable butt up against one another unless I put them at the right angle... anyways, basically my problem seems to be that my shifter is way too bulky for me.