They were better made because they were purely hand-machined, one at a time. They were used on some triathlete bikes and you'd have to ask a tri-guy if they were durable. Big clunky pieces, should have lasted.

I'd guess there were not more than a couple hundred made. Then MTB, could have been some handmade for that market but very quickly they had big OEM sales and you know the rest. If you look at the history page at the SRAM site the 'original' shifter pictured is the last handmade model. Originals were bigger, clunkier.

For road use I knew two guys who finally gave in to the sales pitch and the free. Rudy installed his, brought them out one morning, turned around early to go home and take them off. Mike was having some racing success and there were big promises if he could be photoed winning with Grip Shift. He rode them maybe twice, maybe three times. Training, not racing. There was just no way. They shifted the gears well enough, just too darn big and pointless. A solution in search of a problem.