Originally Posted by
Velo Dog
You know, this isn't rocket surgery. Anybody can learn to shift--my kids could both do it when they were five or six.
I like the idea of an IGH because they're simple and bulletproof, but even if she winds up with a triple, just put it on the middle ring and tell her to shift the other one. She'll figure it out. Don't encourage women to be incompetent--society does enough of that.
That's what I've done with my kids. Start with just the RD then work up to both.
Easiest to hardest in my experience with the kids:
Bar-ends/thumbies
triggers
gripshifters- more a hand strength issue with kids
downtube (although they all wind up using downtube shifters on their road bikes (they're all from the 70's)
No experience with brifters so I can't comment.