uh-oh. 2 votes for, one vote against.
Personally, I think rapid-rise is the bee's knees. I think ti makes loads of sense for off-road riding, where we often encounter sudden short-and-steeps, and need to downshift in a hurry under load. I read alot of aged reviews where they dis the 960 group for not being able to handle multiple downshifts, but when you rock barcons with thumbies, you can dump the whole cassette, either way, with little problems. I have a rapid-rise lx on my tour bike, because a heavy load coupled with some climbing is better handled by a reverse spring. The only problem is, the right shifting action is reversed on my tour bike versus my roadie, which can get weird when switching bikes. Especially when you're drunk. =P
The rapid-rise thing isn't scaring me. Nor are the controversial shifters, b/c i won't be using them. I'm mostly nervous that i'll be missing shifts or ghost shifting due to the finicky nature of the component itself. However, I'd be danged surprised if the thing were less precise and reliable than my LX r.derailers, so I'm probably not worried. I can set-up and maintain derailers pretty well these days, plus the thing is already ordered, so i guess i need to just do my best.
thanks for the feedback, y'all.
-rob