Aaron turned me onto this product – Retroshift. It essentially allows you to mount a bar end shifter on your brake lever so you can get the benefits of the bar end shifter [which I love] without taking your hands off the brakes.
If anyone out there has tried a Retroshift drop me a line I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Retroshift Two in red...
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Does the shifter get in the way of your fingers when it’s in a middle gear? The clearance b/w the brake lever and shifter looks tight.
I don’t have one to test, but I use the bottom of the brake lever with 2 or 3 fingers to brake and the Retroshift is up top so I don’t see an issue.
I use Paul Thumbies adapters with Dura-Ace downtube shifters when I tour and commute. The light weight & mechanical simplicity are tops. To combine the brake lever & shifter into a very ergonomic package makes me slap my head and say ” why the F#&$ didn’t I think if that. Not to say Shimano/SRAM/Campagnolo aren’t ergonomic, they’re just comlex mechanisms with many tiny parts. The more going on, internally, make me slightly uneasy when I’m many kms from civilization. If I ever get a line on a set from a supplier I’ll be scooping up a pair immediately.
i was thinking of going brifters when i re-build my cross check. this would definitely save me some bread.
sweet, they have a v-brake version in the works as well….
You know shimono already made STI levers and have for quite some time
That’s just too damn cool!!! Where can one order these?
The DC
Looks like a great idea, I just have a problem spending well over $100 for shimano bar end shifters again after the last pair fell apart.
You can order them directly from the Retroshift website.
Michael – STI levers aren’t easily fixable when they break. That’s one of the things that attracts people to these.
Thanks for the ordering info,I’ll check em out
The DC
That does look amazing. It’s one of those things I’d have to try before committing to it for a new bike. I’d hate to order those things, get some bar-end shifters and then find out that the shifters get in the way of the brake levers in some way I find unacceptable, and then have to go and buy the STIs I’m used to.
@Ben – if you buy ‘em and don’t love ‘em I’ll help you sell them via this blog. It’s not hard to find a buyer who wants to try them and your loss won’t be huge. It could be a long wait to try such a niche product.
Plus think of the benefit to other randonneurs/cyclists your review would provide…=-)
My $.02, I have Shimano bar ends on both of my trikes. What bar ends give you that brifters/twist shifters and click shifters don’t. Is the ability to see (and feel in non-winter lobster gloves) what gear you are in. I like the shifters so much I upgraded my NWT to friction shifting using some Paul component thumbies. Oh and my Bacchetta was the first that had bar cons. I hope that Shimano doesn’t get crazy and stop making them.
Brian
Hi lazy Randotypes!
Thanks for noticing us here in little old Portland, we are all thrilled at the response. Just 40 days into having the product available and we have shipped to 10 different countries! Wow the wonders of the intra-web-ulater! Has also been amazingly interesting reading people responses.
I hate to ask favors but I was wondering if anyone here ‘cough cough bencoli’ would like to test a pair for the benefit the others?
It’s a big favor and I can understand if it might be a bit much to ask, but I thought I would just toss it out there…
Cheers!
The Goats
Retroshift
I’m sure we could find a couple bike geek gear tester types at Lazy Rando HQ that would be happy to test out some Retroshifters… =)
Wow! That was easy
Send us your shipping info and we will get a set off to you asap.
Cheers!
The Goats
Retroshift
I’d try them if there was a linear pull version. I’m VERY interested because I hate taking my hands off the breaks when shifting before a light… I’m used to it, but having the brifter at the brake would be soooo ideal.
@Dell500 – they have a linear pull version on the way. Email them and they can give you a head’s up when it’s ready.
I’ve been a mechanic for eleven years. I’ve told a lot of people all about how I can’t fix their STI lever and how they need a new one and how much it’ll cost and how they don’t make nice 8 speed ones anymore so you’ll have to settle for these plastic jobs or you can “upgrade” to 17 speed but you’ll need a new this and that and everything else and it’ll cost $XXXX.XX. You know what happens? They get sad. Then I get sad. Then I saw these and I got happy. Then I got some and I got happier. Now I think everyone should get them too and we can all be happy again.
@Casey – having some real choice in shifting options is awesome. If people want STI brifters I think that’s fine, but they shouldn’t have to use them because they are the only choice.