New to me Shifter Idea?
 

Anyone even see or use these bad boys? Seems to be a simple and strong old school way to update or change out current brifters. Price is good.
http://www.cxmagazine.com/retroshift...-levers-review

I don't quite get why they are better than STI\Ergo etc ... But I don't race cyclocross.

Neither do I, I've never seen a brifter fail in cyclocross race up until now.

I've been eyeballing these for a few years now, and have come to the conclusion there's a good chance I'd go with them when my SRAM Apex brifters wear out/break. I don't ride cyclocross, I just like the simplicity behind them.

The most interesting thing about these is that Retroshift is about to release a version with a shifter attached to a TRP Hylex hydraulic lever:

http://thesetbackpost.com/cyclocross...ews-wait-what/

(my blog, because they don't have it on their website yet)

The idea was to re-use the very inexpensive bar shifters out there and allow riders an option that has a "my shifter is loaded with mud and my rear derailleur is bent so I want to friction shift now" option.

Oh my...

The retroshifters suddenly became very interesting. This combined with hope brake calipers would make one awesome road bike.

" ... $189 Retroshift CX2 ... "

For that price, I would just buy replacement shifters if mine broke.

The placement doesn't seem very convenient to me. I would think from the hoods they would get in the way and from the drops they would be out of reach.

I asked on facebook and apparently they are only planning to sell them as a set with the Hylex calipers. And they'll be mineral oil only. Presumably you could swap in a Shimano caliper but you'd lose money selling on the TRPs.

Wow. I didn't know what they cost. I think the idea was "hey, I have an old mountain bike with some thumb shifters, I'd like to use them on my cross/road bike".

even better. I assumed it was going to be DOT fluid but I like shimano brakes a lot at the moment.

Hey all thx for noticing our CX shifters. Yes they look odd and yes you can be excused for thinking they will not even work as they look so unusual. It is quite likely this system has not been adopted before as they look so counter intuitive (putting shift lever in front of brake lever). That said if you do give them a try you will like many others be in for a great surprise. While they do not shift from the drops (and are focused at CX and shifting from hoods) they will leave your STI well behind in both speed of shifting and ability to shift as many gears to get to exactly where you want to be instantly.

Couple more reviews if interested:

http://bicycletimesmag.com/retroshift/
http://www.bikerumor.com/2013/10/27/...ng-term-review

Pricing is we feel pretty fair. Parts are made in the USA and system ships complete at $189 which is a good deal less than Ultegra (our previous go to favorite) and also lighter. We also provide a no questions asked damage re-build or replacement service of just $34 to fix one side (that is far less than cost to replace a single 6700 unit).

More products on the way for CX!

Cheers,

Goats

I am going to give them a try. Right now I have barends on my Crosscheck with Cowbells and I am going to put these on Woodchippers and make it so I can just undo the cables and switch them out without having redo tape.

I won't be racing on them but I think they will be perfect for Gravel Grinders.

I see why they call them Retroshifts. Essentially, they are the same as the very first crude integration of shifters and brake levers. Shimano, Campy, and Sram have been refining that concept for close to 25 years now. Why go back a quarter century.

Only possible advantage I can see is the ability to run in friction mode, but when was the last time you had a derailleur issue that you couldn't fix with the turn of an inline barrel adjuster?

I suppose you could bend a hanger in a CX crash and this could keep you going. But if you're serious enough about CX that you need to keep racing after crashing, and fing up your derailleur, you probably have a second bike in the pit.

To me, it looks awful and I would never own it. An albatross.

I put these on my touring bike last year and love them. It cost me a bit less because I could reuse the bar end shifters that were already on it.

I normally ride with my hands on the hoods, so they feel very natural to me. If you're always on the drops they won't be as convenient.

Ordered directly from Retroshift, and the communication with them was great. They answered all my questions (my tourer has mechanical disc brakes), and shipping to Canada was very brisk. Simple to install, even with my "Tab A into Slot B" mechanical aptitude. Built with [to me, seemingly] very high quality materials and workmanship.

I wouldn't call them an Albatross, but I wouldn't replace the brifters on my road bike with them. For an application where you want simplicity and ruggedness (like touring or cyclocross), or you have a bike with bar ends that you want to make more ergonomic I think they're great. I highly recommend the product and the company.

merlinextralight - really quite different to the systems you list. Yes same in that they are an integrated shifter but we put the shift lever on the leading edge of the brake lever. In this position we are able to offer much quicker shifting with less hand motion than the competitors and the ability to shift more gears in either direction. Pretty they are not but they are not built to be pretty but purely for performance.

Campag4life - They are not for everyone and certainly not for you if looks are important. As far as the term 'Albatros', I looked up the definition and found this was given as one of the meanings: Something that greatly hinders accomplishment : encumbrance

While it might be a good term for the cosmetics this would be highly inaccurate for the performance of the system. We had riders using our system take numerous wins at our local CX series (Cross Crusades in Portland is not a small series, believe it is still the largest in the world) the past two seasons including a series win in the Masters. Riders with CX shifters could also be seen at this years Nationals.

As always thanks for the feedback!

XOXO

Goats

cvskates - Thank you for the comments on the quality of our parts. We make all the crucial parts here in Portland, OR and are proud to be the most 'Made in the USA' integrated shifting system that we are aware of.

XOXO

Goats

Right, that's the problem for me. If they were $50 it'd be much more compelling.

Bah Humbug - Yes, you could say under half the price was a steal. Feedback on price has been super especially for those who brake parts.

We also do our best to provide derailleurs at prices that racers can live with. Our rear derailleurs are $69 and have a $34 no questions asked re-build service.

http://www.cxmagazine.com/retroshift...sh-replacement

Review by CX Magazine coming in March we think.

Cheers,

Goats

I wanted to try them on my vintage bikes, but the price is ridiculously high. I would be willing to try them at $50, not almost $200.

I can easily find 5700 105 or SRAM Rival shifters for under $200.

It's not just that being much lower priced would be "a steal"; it's priced way too close to a normal brifter for me. Can get an Apex or 5700 brifter and have the same degree of caring if it breaks. That said, I'm glad you have a market that appreciates your products, but it's not really a budget option in comparison to others, so a lot of riders will avoid it.

Bah Humbug - Good point. We are still seeing it bought however not just on performance but for price. If one of our CX units is crashed and wrecked we will replace or repair it to 100% functionality for $34, which is much cheaper than a new Ultegra or even 105. Next to mail order or used it is very hard to beat the price. We also provide bike shops with a product that they can sell for a good margin (it has become hard to make a profit on STI etc with online discounters -We are unabashedly PRO BIKE SHOP). The main focus however is performance. We are talking CX here which is just a very nasty place to put STI.

Another option, if you happen to have a bike with some Shimano bar-end shifters on it then we also sell a system which will accept your existing levers. This is just $129/pair.

We will note full heartily however that most all the riders we see race cyclocross with our shifters will use STI/SRAM/Campy etc for their summer road racing. These systems perform better for road racing with ability to shift from the drops (a must for road racing). They are not mutually exclusive, but a compliment to each other. In the past we have raced STI for a season and then dumped it on ebay to get a fresh set for the road season and following cross season. CX shifters now make this whole game much cheaper.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=365294

Cheers,

Goats