Grip Shifters

ljs1977
ljs1977 Posts: 247
edited January 2011 in MTB general
Another one of my late night short ramblings...

Here is me a newbie to this game thinking that the above item is only applicable to Apollo bikes or simular, but I have seen a couple of rather tasty bikes with top end shifters i.e XO grips.

Is this just a fluke or is this a shift in thought process?

Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    Grip shifters belong on Grifters. Top bikes. Nuf said.

    Strange that those old hub gears and shifters are coming back.
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,673
    ljs1977 wrote:
    Another one of my late night short ramblings...

    Here is me a newbie to this game thinking that the above item is only applicable to Apollo bikes or simular, but I have seen a couple of rather tasty bikes with top end shifters i.e XO grips.

    Is this just a fluke or is this a shift in thought process?

    blah blah blah....

    gripshift is a model of shifter made by Sram. see their pages for the models and see web sites like CRC for prices.

    twist grips of many makes can be found on many bikes.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
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  • ljs1977
    ljs1977 Posts: 247
    edited December 2010
    Is that a no then Nick, or just a subject you are bored with?

    Have I missed something?

    Edit

    Just did a search - sorry guys, this one has been done to death.

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  • Does anyone like grip shifts? I hated mine.
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  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    I hated mine, but then they were rubbish. Not sure I'd get on with good quality ones now, my head might be too tuned to thumbies (it took me months to adjust to having the levers under the bar. What madness is this? UNDER?)
    Uncompromising extremist
  • Would be interested to see what some good quality ones were like. The cheap ones are horrible.
  • pastey_boy
    pastey_boy Posts: 2,083
    xo
    grip shifters are superb. they are light, reliable and if you get on with them the best shifter out there. you can rip through the entire cassette with one twist and you can also trim the front mech. i do think that they are more suited to bigger hands. to be honest there are not many bad shifters out there at the moment and it all comes down to preference
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  • Only had grip shifters on one bike and I never really got along with them, however a lot of entry/mid range bikes come out with them
    I have a mate who prefers them on his all duty hardtail too!
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,666
    They were cool when you were a kid though, even if they were crap.
  • njee20
    njee20 Posts: 9,613
    X.0 ones are very good, and have always been popular in XC racing. Sadly 10 speed looks to stop that! Aside from the reasons mentioned above, they're also very tolerant of gritty cables and very reliable. Personal though really, If you don't like the ergonomics it's fairly irrelevant. Don't judge all Grip Shift on what comes on £50 Tesco bikes though!
  • turpinr
    turpinr Posts: 255
    grip shifts=crap and what you'd expect from an aldi bike
  • scale20
    scale20 Posts: 1,300
    Is this another case of some judging stuff they have never tried?

    I have just bought some XO gripshifts for my new build, I never have been a big fan of the trigger shifters, just used them because they were on the bikes I bought.

    I have never used gripshift before so I am not going to judge until I have some miles on them. I have kept hold of my X9 triggers just incase!

    They make the bars look so much tidyer.

    2010_12300023.jpg
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  • I want to buy a hardtail and build a nice light build and try out a few things I normally wouldnt. That would be cool.
  • lemoncurd
    lemoncurd Posts: 1,428
    I have 8 speed grip shifters on my 11 year old HT, many thousands of miles later they still work faultlessly.

    Never really understood the resistance to them.
  • njee20
    njee20 Posts: 9,613
    X.0 Grip Shifters are vastly superior to their triggers which, IMO, are crap. The key point being IMO.
  • cooldad
    cooldad Posts: 32,599
    I loved them on my first real MTB, but had to get used to triggers. Still think they were less hassle, and more intuitive.
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  • scale20
    scale20 Posts: 1,300
    I have had issues with my RH X9 trigger, every now and agin it sticks and wont change down the cassette. Stripped it and cleaned it plenty, probably just a dodgy one!
    Niner Air 9 Rigid
    Whyte 129S 29er.
  • JonKula
    JonKula Posts: 27
    I recall they were really popular at the end of the 90s. I had them on two or three of my bikes over several years, but went back to normal shifters about five years ago after borrowing my brother's bike with "normal" Shimano shifters. Immediately went onto CRC and ordered two pairs of XT shifters ;)

    I guess it's down to personal preference, but I don't know anyone that still uses them, which does tell you something I guess.
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  • bike-a-swan
    bike-a-swan Posts: 1,235
    I'm a big fan of grip shifts for anything that isn't too rough. Personally, I find the moment I go anywhere rattly I either start shifting accidently or losing my grip on the bars. As a result I don't have them on any of my bikes anymore- of the two that would be suitable, one doesn't have gears and the other is a road bike. Shame really.
    Rock Lobster 853, Trek 1200 and a very old, tired and loved Apollo Javelin.
  • Northwind
    Northwind Posts: 14,675
    You still see the X0 ones on quite a lot of race bikes- they're pretty light IIRC. But other than that fashion's moved against them so most people will never even try them.
    Uncompromising extremist
  • crevs
    crevs Posts: 24
    I loved mine, easy to strip down and service with only about 8 moving parts.
  • I run both XO gripshift and trigger shifters on the same bike.
    I love the accuracy and the ability to jump the width of the cassette in one flick of the wrist so run Gripshift for the rear. However, the Gripshift wasn't overly accurate for the front so I run a trigger shifter for that.
    Gripshift can be a bit of a 'Marmite' component (you either love them or hate them) but I've been using this set up for years and I'm a big fan.
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  • sefton
    sefton Posts: 98
    been using 0x twisties for around 6months....I love them, never let me down (never twisted by mistake)!

    cheap too!

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    IMG_1082-1.jpg
  • Steve_F
    Steve_F Posts: 682
    My mate loves them, I haven't ridden his bike enough to know which way to twist so always get it wrong!

    Only time I feel I'd benefit from them is when coming round a corner to an unexpected hill and hearing him making the quick twist dropping 9 gears in one simple move.
    Current steed is a '07 Carrera Banshee X
    + cheap road/commuting bike