Shifters for small hands

AMcD

Hi, I'm on my 2nd set of gear shifters and would appreciate advice before splashing out again. I need a set that are suitable for small hands / shortish fingers. I have a Rockhopper Pro Disc and the original thumb shifters(XT?), particularly for the front rings, were too stiff and too far from the bars for my thumb to reach comfortably (I used to take my hand off the grip and reach underneath to change the front rings).

I changed to a ladies' Santa Cruz Juliana riser bar with narrower grip area but at the same time had grip shifters put on. This was a waste as the grip shifters, although much easier to change gear, are so wide in circumference and take up most of the grip area that my hands now ache trying to hold on!

I'm keen to go back to non-grip shifters and get the benefit of the narrowerr bar I have, but I'm not very technical. I would like advice before I take it to a bike shop. My husband thinks he has heard of gears that shift the opposite way that might be suitable? Or are there any that are known to be easy to shift and could be adjusted nearer to the bars?

Thanks for reading if you've gotten this far!

nicklouse

tough one.

i would have to sugest a trip to a good old bike shop for this as it is going to need some testing on your part.

i guess your biggest problem is with the left hand shifter?

there are only really to other types of shifter to try. the sram trigger and the shimmano Dual controll set up where the brake lever is used to change the gears as well.

which maybe the best option.

but it will be worth the time spent at a proper bike shop going through the options and seeing what works best.

AMcD

Thanks for your thoughts - I did take it to a well known bike shop in Edinburgh who fitted the grip shifters and the ladies' bar at the same time after I explained what problems I was having with the original shifters. That's why I really wanted some advice before going back or somewhere else.

My husband has the dual control levers on his bike but he says you still need some strength to change them and he thinks I'd find these difficult too (or perhaps he's thinking of his wallet !). He's adjusting it for me to try tomorrow.

You guessed right, my biggest problem is moving the left hand shifter. The right one was not so bad but it still made me overreach with my thumb.

Is the Sram trigger the one that works the opposite way? Also I seem to remember Shimano X.0 being raved about a while ago but can't remember if it was for being easy to shift?

dsmiff

Have you tried putting the shifters the other side of the brake levers? I did this on my son's bike. He was struggling with the front ring he is only 8 and it made all the difference, he has no problems now.

nicklouse

the other way round the hubby is thinking of is only the rear mech and how the cable pulls the mech. the levers are the same.

Sram X0 is a expensive bit of kit and if you got the shifters you would have to have a Sram rear mech front could use your existing one.



my X0 with adaptor allowing direct mount to my avid brakes.

the big silver lever can be adjusted as to how far from the bar it is. and the black lever is also ver close to your natural hand grip and only needs a nudge.

sram do do triggers that work with shimano rear mechs and they are named. (rocket and attack) but they do not have the adjustable lever.

i have just had a play with my RH X-7 trigger with X-gen front mech and i would say thay it is a lightish shift. But definatly test time for you.

AMcD

Thanks very much, it's give me a lot to think about. I had tried adjusting my original shifters but hadn't thought of changing them to the other side of the break lever - I'm sure I've thrown them away though so can't try that for now. It's interesting to hear about how you sorted the bike for your 8 year old as I often wondered how children coped with the gears.

I do lilke the sound of the X.0 and at the moment I'm willing to pay whatever to get this sorted. It really stops me from going out for more than an hour as it gets so uncomfortable.

I'll take all your suggestions to a fairly local bike shop as I've read that the owner's wife is a serious MTBer and hopefully he'll be more in tune with a women's set up and can let me try a few different sets.

nicklouse

if you have a look at both the X9 and X0 you will see that they dont have any gear indicators that can allow interesting positioning. the X7 (as do the rocket and attack triggers) have indicators on the clamping band but still allow multiple positioning.

good luck and anymore Qu's ask away.