i have recently bought a front magura hs33. when i came round to fitting it i realised that my right gear shifter is attached to the old brake. there is no way of fitting the new magura brake unless i snap the old lever but that might look messy, is it better to buy a new gear shifter or snap the lever?also do u recoomend any specific new shifter?

Flat handlebar, right? Most shifters for flat handlebars come either integrated with the brake levers or by themselves separately. A local bike shop should be able to get you a separate shifter right side shifter that matches what you have now. The only advantage that I can see to the integrated shifter/brake levers on flat handlebar bikes is that it's quicker to assemble at the factory.

In the for what it's worth department, in the US at least, the common practice is to operate the front brake on bicycles with the left hand.

I have a set thats about 4-5 years old. Around 1000 miles on them,a complete set. I think they are HS 11's.30 bucks.