'bent specific shifter?

Very nice! I've just sent them an email. Thanks!

Rocketman58.

Phil Wolfe <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Check out these 9 speed thumbshifters!
forge-mtb.comshifters.aspOpen ↗

Philip Wolfe West Allis,WI

rocketman58 said:

I don't catch what you mean by thumb shifters...

... I thought everyone knew what thumb shifters are. I guess if you are sort of newer to cycling
or never saw an older mountainbike, you may not know. Thumb shifters were the mainstay of MTB
shifting from the late 70s through the early 90s. They were pre-rapidfire and pre-grip shift.
You will still find a select group of people who hold them to be the best shifters ever made -
the holy grail of shifters. They still demand a premium on ebay.

Thumb shifters are simple and rugged. Maybe too rugged. I am still using two pairs of Shimano
XTs on MTBs (mountainbikes). They have out lasted dozens of frames and every other component I
have ever purchased. (I personally think Shimano killed them off because they would never wear
out!) They were phased out for the less durable rapidfire.

They also had a friction option. This let you use the friction mode incase you had a problem and
the indexing did not work. I've used this a couple of times after smashing a rear deraileur.

As far as what they look like - they are just a simple lever. The lever sits across the top of
the bar. The pivit point is just in front of the bar. You shift to a lower gear by pushing the
lever forward with your thumb, the palm of you hand, or even your whole hand. You shift to a
higher gear by pulling back on the lever with a finger or two, or any other part of you hand.
Since you are not limited to shifting with just a thumb or one or two fingers, your
hands/fingers do not get tired or cramped so easy.

I can not use grip shift or rapidfire shifters due to a wrist/hand disability. I can use thumb
shifters however. The only problem is they have not been made for a number of years. They are
only 6/7/8 speed - depending on model. No 9 speed. A number of us are still waiting for those 9
speed thumb shifters.

--

Phil Wolfe <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Check out these 9 speed thumbshifters!
forge-mtb.comshifters.aspOpen ↗

Philip Wolfe West Allis,WI

hey guys the fancy thumb shifters are nothing more than normal tube

shifters mounted on top...i know some of you riders can figure out how to transfer them from a down
tube bike to a bent or even a mtb. once i had a bar end break i just got a down tube shifter and it
mounted plumb...break out the torches 🙂 might just give that some thought... btw om my rocket i put
spd pedals, 34 tooth rear cog computer..the cog and pedals are the most important..i live near the
nc mountains..with mt mitchell be 6800ft i needed all of them.

Quoted message said:

rocketman58 said:

I don't catch what you mean by thumb shifters...

... I thought everyone knew what thumb shifters are. I guess if you are sort of newer to cycling
or never saw an older mountainbike, you may not know. Thumb shifters were the mainstay of MTB
shifting from the late 70s through the early 90s. They were pre-rapidfire and pre-grip shift.
You will still find a select group of people who hold them to be the best shifters ever made -
the holy grail of shifters. They still demand a premium on ebay.

Thumb shifters are simple and rugged. Maybe too rugged. I am still using two pairs of Shimano
XTs on MTBs (mountainbikes). They have out lasted dozens of frames and every other component I
have ever purchased. (I personally think Shimano killed them off because they would never wear
out!) They were phased out for the less durable rapidfire.

They also had a friction option. This let you use the friction mode incase you had a problem and
the indexing did not work. I've used this a couple of times after smashing a rear deraileur.

As far as what they look like - they are just a simple lever. The lever sits across the top of
the bar. The pivit point is just in front of the bar. You shift to a lower gear by pushing the
lever forward with your thumb, the palm of you hand, or even your whole hand. You shift to a
higher gear by pulling back on the lever with a finger or two, or any other part of you hand.
Since you are not limited to shifting with just a thumb or one or two fingers, your
hands/fingers do not get tired or cramped so easy.

I can not use grip shift or rapidfire shifters due to a wrist/hand disability. I can use thumb
shifters however. The only problem is they have not been made for a number of years. They are
only 6/7/8 speed - depending on model. No 9 speed. A number of us are still waiting for those 9
speed thumb shifters.

--

I would like to see recumbent specific shifters, derailleurs, chainring/cranks, and cassettes. By
that I mean the ability of derailleurs to accomodate the wide gear range needed on recumbents. I
would really like to see a front derailleur, chainrings, and cranks that would use 4 chainrings and
half step shifting for the two middle chain rings. This would allow for a close spaced gearing, and
a low and high ring for the extreme climbs or downhills.

Terry Gold Rush rider. "Seth Jayson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hey folks,

Just got back from a visit with the folks at SRAM headquarters here in Chicago. During the course
of conversation, it came up that I ride 'bent, and one of the folks there asked me if there was
something "they could do" for bent riders, (shifterwise, anyway). Anyway, I thought it was an
interesting question, and I'll forward any ideas in this thread to the appropriate folks that way,
just for fun.

I was thinking that, for "normal" bars, like say, the T kind on a Rans, grip twisters work darn
well. But on bars that are swept back, like those on a Bacchetta or Volae, or those that stick
straight up in the air from a USS system there might be room for improvement on the twist or
bar end.

Maybe some kind of trigger shifter that's set up a bit like the trigger on a jet joystick (or a
computer joystick)?

So I say, submit ideas here, and we'll run 'em past SRAM. Can't hurt.

Sj

My R-40 came with Shimano 9-speed Rapidfire shifters w/integral brake levers (just the
run-of-the-mill Deore models, not LX or XT) and I love them. The barrel adjusters even allow
fine-tuning on the fly. Though they are, strictly speaking, MTB components, they serve me well in
both USS and OSS set-ups. There are some days when I wish for something a little bigger than my 52T
x 11T "downhill/downwind" gear, which tops out at around 40 MPH, but that doesn't really concern the
shifter itself.

One gimmick that would be cool, however, would be the ability to install two sets of shifters and
brake levers, one on the USS bars and another on the OSS bars. For brakes, this would be easy
enough, but it would be more complex for shifters, since the upper and lower redundant shifter
levers would have to be synchronized somehow. Perhaps the solution would be a servo-actuated shifter
with a remote control on each set of bars. I think Mavic makes something like this and are quite
proud ($$$) of it too.

Bill Anton 2001 Vision R-40 SWB OSS Lubbock, TX, USA

[email hidden] (Seth Jayson) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Hey folks,

Just got back from a visit with the folks at SRAM headquarters here in Chicago. During the course
of conversation, it came up that I ride 'bent, and one of the folks there asked me if there was
something "they could do" for bent riders, (shifterwise, anyway). Anyway, I thought it was an
interesting question, and I'll forward any ideas in this thread to the appropriate folks that way,
just for fun.

I was thinking that, for "normal" bars, like say, the T kind on a Rans, grip twisters work darn
well. But on bars that are swept back, like those on a Bacchetta or Volae, or those that stick
straight up in the air from a USS system there might be room for improvement on the twist or
bar end.

Maybe some kind of trigger shifter that's set up a bit like the trigger on a jet joystick (or a
computer joystick)?

So I say, submit ideas here, and we'll run 'em past SRAM. Can't hurt.

Sj

FWIW SRAM is showing _new_ thumb shifters for 2004. They are in the trade press (BRAIN) and were
apparently shown at the Sea Otter.

JohnRiley1 (at) rogers.com

Quoted message said:

FWIW SRAM is showing _new_ thumb shifters for 2004. They are in the trade press (BRAIN) and were
apparently shown at the Sea Otter.

I played with these on a bike on the track in their headquarters. They were nice, but I don't know
how they'd do in 'bent application. It would depend on the bars, I suppose, as that would determine
finger leverage, etc.

How about a link to a photo?

[email hidden] (Seth Jayson) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

FWIW SRAM is showing _new_ thumb shifters for 2004. They are in the trade press (BRAIN) and were
apparently shown at the Sea Otter.

I played with these on a bike on the track in their headquarters. They were nice, but I don't know
how they'd do in 'bent application. It would depend on the bars, I suppose, as that would
determine finger leverage, etc.

Quoted message said:

How about a link to a photo?

I'm not at liberty to post the photos I have yet, but I'll mention to the SRAM folks that people
are interested in taking a peek at them. I will probably be road testing a set of these starting
next week.

Seth J

If these are the ones I have seen, they are not "Thumb" shifters. They are more like Shimano
Rapidfire clones. Too bad, I really had my hopes up.

[email hidden] (Seth Jayson) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

How about a link to a photo?

I'm not at liberty to post the photos I have yet, but I'll mention to the SRAM folks that people
are interested in taking a peek at them. I will probably be road testing a set of these starting
next week.

Seth J