oupoot

Hi there,
Boyfriend isn't very fond of twist shift gears & wanted to change over to thumb shift gears. Someone did this for him on his folding bike, & he recently bought an Apollo Cafe 2 bike, identical to one I was given, & I wanted to find out if this is a job best left to the local bike shop, or if it's do-able for a person with good mechanical skills (he does a lot of the work on his car).

Lars Honeytoast

It can be done at home with some basic tools and knowledge. You just have have to find the right thumb shifts for your bike, and possibly new shift cable and housing.

corrado33

While it isn't too difficult for someone who knows how to work on bikes, it may be beyond the reach of someone who has never worked on a bike before.

You'd have to:

1. Remove the grips
2. Disconnect the shift cables
3. Remove the grip shifters, pulling the cables out with them
4. Buy the correct thumb shifters
5. Install the thumb shifters, using the same housing if it's brand new. (Shifters usually come with new cables.)
6. Make sure the housing is mounted and seated correctly
7. Connect the cables to the correct derailleurs
8. Adjust the tension of the cables so that the derailleurs shift correctly
9. Install grips.

Do you know how to fix a derailleur if it doesn't shift properly? If the answer is "No" then you'll probably have significant trouble with this project.