kennj123

I had a 21speed hybrid bike with sram mrx plus shifters and I loved them. I was in an urban environment and when I had to stop I could instantly coast pedal and put the bike in gears 2-4, in a milli-second, from there I get max acceleration from a dead stop. The front shifter had 3 clicks, one for each gear, the rear had 7, one for each gear. I recently had to replace them and got the 'new' mrx comp shifters. the front has a bunch of clicks, around the middle is gear 2 and I have to mash it up or down for 1 or 3. the rear now has lots of clicks, sometimes one click changes a gear sometimes 2 click. its pathetic. it gets even worse, in hot weather when I'm changing rear gear a lot after about an hour or two I can tell the plastic gets soft and loses its shape and gets very hard to turn. I had to invent a little cheater bar that I clamp on when that happens. I suspect the plastic is PVC not ABS. The bike shops all try to get me to switch to triggers. I've tried them on other bikes. I think they are completely inappropriate for street biking when you come to a complete stop frequently. I can see they are popular with mountain bikes but they don't come to a complete stop often, at least not on purpose. sram does have an xo series they require more than 7 gears in the rear. basically they are trying to upsell. I have found a vendor in china selling the mrx plus's and I bought a pair, for $30 including shipping. I have argued with quite a few bike shops about the whole issue, but I don't hold them responsible, its the parts manufacturers trying to upsell more expensive crap. that and hybrid bikes are the stepchild in the bike industry which is stupid because that's where the growth potential is.

kennj123

Here are the shifters I'm talking about:

dynaryder

Sorry you don't like your shifters,but this is pretty much your opinion. I live in a congested city,and have to frequently stop,and have no issues with triggers. Note that the multiple clicks on the left shifter are for trimming the derailleur;these move the front derailleur in small increments to prevent the cage from rubbing in certain gear combinations. As for the quality of the shifters,that's do to the low number of speeds. Shimano/SRAM/Campy just don't make quality bits for anything below 8spd anymore,because on modern bikes only lower end models use them.

Have you tried looking around on eBay for NOS shifters? Might also want to look into other companies like SunRace. Or consider going to thumbies,Paul Comp makes some nice ones.

jskash

I have been really happy with the trigger shifters on my Giant Escape. I had twist shifters on the Giant Cypress I rode for 2.5 years. I would not go back to the twist shifters again. The trigger shifters are much easier to use.

kennj123

what is it with the push for more than 7 speeds rear? about 20years ago George Carlin did a bit making fun of 21 speeds and who needs them. is any of the greater than 7 speeds emerging as a standard? I agree that 21 speed equipment is crap and whats really sad about it is that kids have a hard time getting into biking or enjoying it without paying a lot of money. I did some googling and a lot of parents were complaining about the terrible quality of shifters for kid bikes.
I have a set of mrx plus's coming from China. if they work as good as my last pair, I'm ordering 3 or 4 more pair and putting some in a vacuum bag in my freezer so I have a lifetime supply.
who knows why I love grips so much. maybe when I first got them in the 90s they just made such an impression on me I can't give it up. If I was a stone age guy when metal came along I would probably have just laughed at the passing fad.

kennj123

what is your definition of easier? say I come up on a stop. i almost always pass the stopped cars and come right up to the pedestrian strip so everyone sees me, plus I'm not choking on exhaust fumes. I'm almost always going straight, I work all the left turns at busy intersections out of my routes. I switch to gears 2-4 in just the last couple feet. At 2-4 I have max acceleration. when the light changes, I stand on the pedals and pull down on the handlebars. meanwhile I can slowly up the rear derailleur to 5 and then 6, and by then I'm going pretty fast. if there is any incline i'll start at 2-3. All of that is trivial with grip shifters and tedious with triggers.

Wanderer

You do KNOW, that you are supposed to be pedaling gently when you shift? Right?. Derailleurs shoud NOT be shifted when you are stopped or just coasting!

Personally, I like trigger shifters better!

kennj123

>>supposed to be pedaling gently

I said I'm coast pedaling when I go to a stop and shift into 2-4. coast pedaling means 0 strain on the chain. Bike is coasting and I'm changing gear and just spinning the crank. When I'm accelerating from the stop, I don't shift while I'm bearing hard down on the pedal.

Bryan C. 

I hated the grip shifters i had years ago. Always slipped out of gear when i was least expecting it.


My current bike has Shimano SL-RS700 RapidFire Plus that will upshift 4 gears with one push of the lever. Downshifts happen 2 gears at a time if needed. Of course with light pressure you can move 1 gear at a time easily. Might be worth looking at some higher end trigger style shifters.

fietsbob

The Lower end bikes dont have the Best Grip shifter. in their build list ..

In the LBS when the customer has trouble a New one is fitted , they are not worth repairing.




I stick with thumb shifters, & bar end , for their simplicity .. on my derailleur bikes.

my grip shifter came with my Rohloff Hub..