Rapid Fire Shifters on Trek 7500
 

I am thinking about buying either a Trek 7300 or 7500. I like the 7500 better but I have never used rapid fire shifters. Does anyone have these on their bike? Do you like them? How do they work and are they easy to use?

Thanks,
Kathy

Had the rapid fire on one of my prior bikes and loved them. Must better, in my opinion, than the twist grip shifters. Go for the 7500 or the 7500FX if you don't want/need the shock for your type of riding. I just traded a bike with a shock for the 7700FX - no shock and even better shifters. Can't wait till it arrives. Hope this helps.

I use them on a Diamondback MTB, which were an upgrade from Grip Shifters. I used the bike for commuting and trail riding, and found grip shifters to hurt my wrists after a long ride.

I had been riding a Raleigh C-200 for several years, and it had SRAM grip shifters. I loved them.

I recently got a Trek 7500 with the rapid fire shifters. When I test rode the bicycle, I at first didn't like them, probably because they were different than I was used to. After a short time I thought they were okay, and now after having the 7500 for about a month I really like them. They are much better than the grip shifters in my opinion.

They are fairly easy to use but I still like my SRAM grip shifters better.

I purchased a 2005 Trek 7100 and purposely had them put on Rapid Fire shifters. I'm SO glad I did too. Just the fact that you have full grips makes it even better, not just the much more fun shifting. IMHO

I'm new to rapid fire shifters (used down tube shifters for many years), but they seem to work fine for me on the rear derailleur. I'm not crazy about the indexed front derailleur shifting, as there isn't any way to 'trim' and I get some chain rub on the middle ring.

That's definitely one of the drawbacks of Shimano front shifters. You can't trim the front derailleur. It is by design on the grip shifters however (2 or 3 detents between gears). I own both kinds: XT rapid fire shifters on the mtb and grip shifters on my Giant Cypress SX commuter. They both shift. But there are 2 things I like better about grip shifters: front derailleur trim and one twist top->bottom/bottom->top gear shifting front or rear.