Originally Posted by
Korina
Okay, which bozo thought it would be a good idea to flip the gear shifters so that my right thumb gears down, and my left thumb gears up? I'm constantly getting them mixed up, and it's ANNOYING.
Aaah, I feel better, thanks.
Like Patrick said they both pull to larger cogs and release to smaller ones. This was important once, but it's just convention now with indexing.
Shimano tried last decade to introduce rear derailleurs that were sprung the other way, but they didn't catch on.
Some SRAM grip shifters are the same unit left and right, just with different clicks, instead of a mirror of each other; and therefore they are "reverse-reversed" on the left side.