i tried the cx1 on a bike in a workstand yesterday and it was a nice crisp feel. something reassuring about indexed shifting. the mechanic said the shift lever itself was microshift. the finish looked nice too. i can see the allure of a product like this though, especially here in the NW where roadies and sasquatch tend to resemble one another and road conditions are wet and leafy 8 months of the year.

Some confusion (sure we are to blame for some of it!).

Some points I hope will help.

Left Shifter - Left/Front shifter is FRICTION only and can be used with a double or triple. It can also be trimmed which is one of the advantages it has over using Shimano.

9/10 Speed - 9sp only works with 9 speed cassettes, 10 speed only works with cassettes. My apologies for brain fart. A 9sp System can be upgraded to a 10 speed system with little pain or cost. Our system can also be used as a friction only system if the CX levers are purchased without 9 or 10 speed option and you instead mount some friction levers (Rivendell Silver Shifters work great).

Kona – Personally I think Kona are one of the smartest companies with bike design and spec but I would say it is unlikely that any major brand of bike will pick up our system this early in the game. We are certainly not talking to anyone about such. Major issue would be that we do not have production capability yet that could fill such an order and it is just not really our focus. We are exceptionally busy keeping up with demand from our dealers in Japan and have not yet started to market to US bike shops (but we will soon). We have also had offers from US distributors but for now plan to sell directly to shops to offer shops better margin. This is important for us as well as making a US product we are keen to support the core foundation of the industry – Bike shops.

Retroshift brifter vs Campy/SRAM/Simano brifter – Sure we use a bar end type shift mechanism in our system which we see as a plus due to its reliability but really the similarity ends there. CX shifters are just another option in brifters (which all basically do the same thing):

Basic operations:
STI - brake lever and inboard sub lever
Ergopower – inboard sub lever and thumb button
SRAM – inboard sub lever (bi-directional)
CX – outboard sub lever (bi-directional)

Pricing – You can look at this many ways but keep this in mind: CX are half or less the cost of a set of Ultegra and 50 grams lighter as well as offering faster shifting ability in both directions as well as ability to shift more gears at one time. CX shifters provide a less restrictive shift cable routing which results in lower friction which results in a higher threshold to contaminates and better shifting under adverse conditions. If a unit is crashed (or dies somehow) we will re-build it to operational condition for $24. Much of the product is made from high quality US made machinhed parts (aluminum and stainless) and involve much US labor.

Downside – CX levers are not as pretty as a set of STI like Ultegra and do not shift from the drops. For a road rider with a beautiful road bike we are going to recommend (hell - even tell you) to use your STI! For a CX bike we are going to recommend you consider the cost savings and added performance capability offered by CX shifters. The money you save alone will buy you better tires and likely result in a faster bike.

Sasquatch – Happily we are not a corporation that is beholden to stock holders and under pressure to develop products to meet market sales numbers. Our goal is to make shifters to perform as best as possible in the very small market of ‘cross. People are not going to buy our products for looks but rather for performance and or performance advantages that come from saving money that can better be spent on other components.

CX shifters are still virtually unheard of and a tiny percent (of a percent) of the market. That said people are buying enough of them for us to be required to move production to a higher volume milling machine (still machined in the USA). We are also thrilled with the demographic who are using our shifters which tends towards the hard core racer and knowledgeable industry personal. These include everyone from staff at Cyclocross Magazine to local racer Ron Strasser (kudos to you sir!!!) who just won the Masters series of our local Cross Crusades series.

Will be working on a video (sooner than later it is hoped) that will better introduce those who have not tried the system to its function which telling from much of what is being mentioned is still not obvious. It is totally the case that people can have a CX shifter equiped bike right in front of their noses and still say stuff like "That won't work". We need to do a better job explaining and I think short of a test ride a video will come close.

Happy to be involved in explaining our product but do hope most of all that you are able to try it.

Cheers,


The Goats

Thx for the clarification -- you should maybe mention on your website somewhere that, for the shifters you sell, left/front is friction-only, and right/rear is indexed-only (9sp or 10sp version); and of course, whatever other levers somebody install onto naked retroshifters will be friction and/or indexed according to the capabilities of those levers. Maybe also mention that your levers are rebranded ("customized?") microshift levers, that would maybe help potential customers look up their tech specs -- depending on your partnering relationship with microshift, how you want to publicize that.

Regarding price, I think it is not quite a fair comparison for xenologer to criticize retroshifts for being as expensive as a used pair of brifters off of eBay. Let's wait until retroshifters also trickle into the resale market, then we can compare new-vs-new cost or used-vs-used cost.

Also, your $24 rebuild policy, even if it broke from a crash -- this is even better than a warranty! Is there any other bike component out there with a policy like that? I'd like to see somebody try that with a fork, "uh, Mr. Rock Shox customer service, so I totally bit it on this jump, or I had a run-in with a car, my fork now looks like a corkscrew, as you can see because I mailed it to you with a $24 check, please repair/replace, thanks!" I would speculate that Retroshift, being a new operation, is offering this kind of coverage to attract customers to a radically different product, give them more peace of mind, but do you intend to maintain this kind of super-warranty forever?

Anyways, as for me, I'm sold! I plan to buy a pair of CX-2 9sp in 2013 -- I hope that qualifies me as an early-adopter!

PS I think the side-by-side shifter/RD video on the front page already says it all. Not sure why there would be any questions left (except of course, all of MY questions! thanks for your feedback)

Hey one more thing, Mr. Retroshift, check out the ad copy from Rivendell where they sell microshift levers; they buy left-only and sell them as friction-only pairs. Retroshift might consider the same deal and offer not just 9sp and 10sp, but also an all-friction version. That would also appeal to a certain audience, old-school touring nuts (who are also into hyper-reliability)

Buy the complete bike and take advantage of Surly's/QBP's low component pricing. Sell stock shifters or just get shifter-less Retroshifts and do the conversion/retrofit.

An ibis / retroshift collabo could lead to the ultimate marketing slogan...

RubeRad – There is MUCH we should get on the site when we have time. Also need to work on documentation to go with product. One step at a time.

$24 for us to re-build a crashed lever is something we do not plan to discontinue. We need to be profitable so that we can continue to be a viable business and develop our products. We do fel however that if a customer has bought into our system that we have a responsibility to support them in its use (which is primarily racing cx). We may lose a little in a re-build and may have to adjust it a little in time but think it is well worth it.

Front page video is neat and gets point across of basic operation but still does not address people fears that shift levers will interfere with braking, ease of shifting while braking, shifting with palms of hands resting on very top of hoods etc (this one is really nice for when JRA) and various ways to shift etc.

Rivendell copy. A left bar end shifter can quite easily be mounted to a right bar end. A left bar end shifter can be mounted to a left CX system but not to a right one. We generally recommend the Rivendell down tube friction shift levers (sold in a pair) to customers to achieve a friction set up. It is really quite super.

Early adopter – maybe, but if you buy before December 15[SUP]th[/SUP] you will at least be able to say were a user from our fledgeling first year of business.

MileHighMark – I might suspect from the emails we receive that a good percentage of our units go to CrossCheck’s and Vaja’s etc to do just this.

Goats

I saw these shifters in person at a fundraiser for the Alpenrose Velodrome. It's a pretty cool system and perfect for CX or even touring.

ColonelJLloyd - Our 9 and 10 speed shift levers are what you might call 'micro index' or even better 'teeny weeny index' and basically feel like a friction lever with smooth motion one direction. Very like a Dura-Ace 7800 left bar-end shifer just a bit ligher in weight and action. Very nice.

Fietsbob - Regarding cost. Appart from the bare brakes from Tektro the whole thing (producing the system) takes place in the USA. Dissasembly, machining of parts, anodizing, laser engraving, assembly etc. We absolutely could sell them for cheaper if we did so direct. We chose to sell them via bike shops to do our part to support the industry. We also (I suspect) have ridiculously large R&D budget as compared to our competitors (as a percentage of actual sales). Many parts and sets of shifters are given to local and national riders to test and provide feedback. Our goal is to provide the best possible shifters for CX and as such we see Ultegra as a good bar to beat. We are more than happy with the price when compared head to head with 6700. You are very right on the economy of scale - we are just for now at least choosing to follow a different path from the bigger is better. :)

The Goats
http://www.cxmagazine.com/retroshift...-levers-review

PDX alone will have a big market to serve..

racing always made getting a Car, to drive, when I was younger.. so un affordable..
so I just owned the bike type.. then.





Cross crusade abandoned the County Fairgrounds Halloween weekend
in favor of Bend.. from what I see you get drier weather, there [wealthier town too]

so I cannot even say, "see you on the Beer tent"