Both Shimano and Sram seem to have gone stupid lately...at least where bicycle touring is concerned. Sram has never been all that touring bike friendly...they don't make a triple shifter for their Double Tap shifters...but Shimano really seems to be going out of their way to make our touring lives complicated. The cross compatibility of their systems doesn't exist any more and they are even messing with the cable pull ratios for 11 speed and for brakes. Low gears also seem to be a thing of the past as far as the two big S's are concerned.
Adventure Cyclist magazine has an article on the drivetrain problem this month. One of the bright spots they mention is a little derailer/shifter parts company out of Taiwan called
Microshift. I've been noticing them for a while but have thought of them as only a parts knockoff company that makes low quality parts. I haven't seen too many of their parts but I'm beginning to think that I have to reassess my thoughts on them.
The product manager from REI mentioned that they are making a bar end shifter that is compatible with the Dynasys system. I'm not a fan of Dynasys (because of the cross compatibility issue) nor of bar end shifters but I am impressed that Microshift has addressed a need for us bicycle tourists. Kudos! The rest of their line has 8, 9 and 10 speed shifters and derailers as well as variety of shifters including 10 speed thumb shifters.
They are worth a look and are undoubtedly going to get my business in the future