Originally Posted by
canklecat
I got so tired of messing with the balky RapidFire thumb shifter on my mountain bike I switched to a cheap Sunrace friction thumbie a month ago. Works great, no more chain rub on the triple.
Only a bit less convenient, but good enough. Still keeping the RapidFire thumbie for the rear derailer. Works fine, and quick RD shifts are more important for my riding.
I have a bad left thumb, so I can't use a RapidFire for the FD very long. Tried a few things like Gripshift but I grip it well enough. Then I picked up an old XCD 6000 left shifter. It is so massive I can shift with my palm. Works great. My mountain bike is a 2x so I can't say how well it works on the middle gear, but for me it is great.
I also still use a trigger shifter for the RD, but I run it as a rapid rise. Thankfully they never caught on, so I have aquired an adequate supply pretty cheap.
John