I have moderate osteoarthritis. Sharp pain in my shoulders and hips sometimes wakes me and I have to roll over and take another dose of Ibuprophen. All this is okay for a man about to turn 75.

However --- I ride bikes with thumb shifters and my thumbs are my ‘worst’ arthritic feature. It, often, hurts to shift!

I recently spent a couple of hundred to convert my daily bike (2008 Gary Fisher HiFi Deluxe) from SRAM 3x9 to Shimano 3x10 – because of my thumbs!

I truly love the feel of the SRAM shifters, but – they require much more thumb pressure, which hurts and interferes with the pleasure of riding.

The conversion was a success. Shifting-pain is substantially less.

However, I got to thinking --
Why not eliminate the pressure altogether? The Shimano Di2 system uses switches instead of levers. It has proven itself to be reliable and stable.

I don’t have the money to build such a bike but I would if I did.

Would any of y’all consider such a bike?

Joe ;o)