cbresciani

I really like mine, have grip shifters on my 97 Giant and they still work great, just bought a nice MOOTS YBB-SL with SRAM X0 and it works great too!

Lascauxcaveman 

Whichever ones they put on my 1996 lava Dome are just fine and dandy. It took me a while to figure out how to take them apart and put them back together the first time I messed with them, but they are precise and reliable as heck.

I mi have had some trouble with lower-end trigger shifters getting gummed up and working badly, however.

Barchettaman

This is the reason the nice Tiagra 10-speed STi are coming off my commuter, and the cheap Sora 8-speed are going back on. The little paddles are a bugger to 'flick' with lobster mitts on. The unloved Sora thumb button- no problem.

kingston 

They sued Shimano for anti-trust violations in the early 90's and settled for an undisclosed amount while opening the doors to the OEM market which was nearly completely locked up by Shimano; especially mountain bikes. It's a very interesting story.

mstateglfr 

https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-Handle.../dp/B001L5Y1GC

there is always these if your setup is 2x7. They are low end, but shift accurately, at least after a season with a bike that got probably 400 miles.

rhm

Just so the history of these things isn't lost in the fear and loathing, here's a Cyclo twist grip shifter on a bike from the 1930's.

It shifts a "Cyclo Standard" derailleur over three cogs, using a looped cable (pulling one way to upshift, the other way to downshift). It shifted very nicely without any of the malarkey OP complains about.

likebike23

I generally prefer thumbies or trigger shifters, but grip shifters are good in some cases. I like them on a bike with north road style bars, triggers don't feel as good on that type of bar to me. I also like the fact that you can get a micro ratcheting (friction) front shifter. The friction front is nice if you are running flat chainrings or a mixed setup, they'll shift just about anything.

fietsbob

All depends on what is on the other end of the cable .. The Rohloff 2 cable grip shifter is a study in precise simplicity .

because the whole gear selection sequencing is sorted out within The Hub, itself.



Single cable + a return spring, and the klicks and the shifting action on opposite ends of the cable are what most People cope with.

there you have housing compression cable friction and friction within the shift grip itself, and the synchronization adjustments ..

all of which may only be Optimal when New.

Wanderer

You forgot the one I hate the most - when they shift by themselves, whenever you stand to pedal, or sit afterwards..........

LesterOfPuppets

They can be made not to do that. Is it because your hands are partially on a shifter and the movement shifts? If so try longer stationary grips. Are they Halfpipe Gripshifts? If so, get the standard short Gripshifts. Halfpipes are awful.

Wanderer

I've got big hands, and it is impossible to not be gripping the darned shifter portion........ arm position changes, so does the shifter...

LesterOfPuppets

Yeah stock grips are typically awful grips in the first place, reason enough to scrap 'em AND, as you mention WAY too short to give one enough room for moving your hand out of the shifting zone.

So you gotta skootch your shifters in a bit and put some full length grips on there, as such:

SJX426 

I really don't have any big problems with my OEM ones. I was able to move everything over to add the Bar Ends without cutting the grip shorter.
[IMG]P1240588 by superissimo_83, on Flickr[/IMG]

My complaint is the direction of shifting. It is opposite DT shifting. rotate back for higher gears on grip shift and push lever forward for DT shifters.

Kobe 

I think kids have an easier time figuring out twist shifters than trigger shifters, at least mine did. The only reason they got a chance to try them out is because I "broke" 2 separate sets while fixing them. Not my favorites.

yipyipyip

I don't like them either. Which is part of the reason why the handlebars on my next project are going to look something like this:

Hideously expensive, though

rgver

I spent many childhood rides on a Raleigh Grifter with a 3 spd sturmey archer hub and grip shift. Still hate grip shifters though

miamijim

Campy's version was horrid.

SpiritCyclist

The original Grip Shifts on my '97 Diamondback Sorrento worked pretty well for a long time. A little while ago, something in the rear shifter busted, rendering the ratcheting mechanism basically useless. It sort of functioned like a friction shifter, which was kinda cool (except annoying, since my hand would often accidentally shift the gears). I was going to replace it and even ordered a new SRAM unit, but the damn thing was too bulky to fit properly next to my brake lever. And in any case, while I had the bike torn apart, I decided to convert it into a single speed. Anyone need a 7 speed Grip Shifter?

seedsbelize 

Once upon a time? I was doing it yesterday.

drumbent

Both Sturmey and Shimano 3-speeds had these (though the triggers were far more common). They were reportedly so problematic that when the new generation of gripshifts came out old-time mechanics recoiled and said "please... no...". And except for higher-end versions they were quite right.

FarHorizon

My biggest gripe is my first - "I hate thee for thy imprecise shifting. Every time I think I've got the noises out of one part of the range, another noise starts."

Shimano should call their twist-grip system "almost-indexed shifting." If I adjust the shifter cable tension such that the lowest and highest gears are quiet, then the center of the range is noisy. If I adjust such that the middle gears are quiet, then the highest and lowest are noisy. I've tried a different Shimano cassette - same result. The problem IS the grip-shifter. Are ALL Shimano indexed shifting products so imprecise?

At least I don't have the design where the shifter and brake lever are in the same plastic housing... I understand that grip shifters must be made to a price, and that because of this, accuracy must sometimes suffer, but I'm beginning to suspect that all the grip shifters that I've ever been afflicted with are ones that are at (or beyond) the bell-curve limits of manufacturing tolerances.

I further note that the shifters quickly become worn and that their shifting accuracy suffers significantly with wear. I had to readjust all of mine repeatedly in the first 500 miles of use. The "adjust frequency" has dropped somewhat once the plastic abortions become "broken in," but that doesn't mean that the shifter becomes more accurate with wear (to the contrary...).

I repeat my summary conclusion from the first post: "ANYTHING has got to be better than the grip shift!" and I still stand by that conclusion.

LesterOfPuppets

I've never had great results with Shimano Revoshifts. They're better than Falcons and about the same as the newest MRX.

Older White body MRX are much better than Revoshift.

No, not all Shimano index shifters are that bad. Lowend shimano triggers like the EF-51 are barely better, but up ftom that level Shimano shifters get much better than Revoshift.

Of course there could be other problems causing poor shifting. Non-parallel dropouts, bent derailleur or bent derailleur hanger, for instance.

There's no way Revoshifts can be made to work well, however. Super sloppy and imprecise.

arex

What's that mean?

arex

Given the size of my hands, that's what I had to do, too. Not a big deal, and the GS's on my bike have held up reasonably well. Not awesome, but they could be worse.

rootboy 

What are we talking about?

Oh. New-fangled technology.