rear derailleur controlled by Left shifter?

photocodo
photocodo Posts: 6
edited November 2015 in Road general
So I recently ordered a Sram force shifter off eBay for parts to repair my broken shifter. It is the pre 09 model I believe. When I got the shifter today I started taking it apart, when I got the triangular cover plate off the side to view the internals I realized that the shifting mechanism didn't look like what my other one looked like. It looked like my rear shifter with 9 individual notches. I pulled my right shifter off the bike and looked at it and they looked almost identical. I double checked that I in fact had the Left sided shifter and I did. So basically I have a LEFT sided REAR shifter. I can't find record of this on google (maybe I'm not looking hard enough). Im thinking that maybe other countries shift with the opposite side as we do in the US. I know some European countries use the right lever for their front brake and the left lever for the rear brake, but that is easy to change by just changing the cable routing. But this shifter was designed to be a rear shifter in a Left shifter body. Has anyone heard of this or know why the shifter is like this. It actually worked out perfect because I was able to salvage what I needed out of the shifter so this is more just wondering what is going on with that shifter.

Thanks for any help

Photocodo

Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    If you ordered off ebay, consider it to be more than likely fake.

    Have they got any product code you can query with Sram themselves?
  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    I've never heard of anyone doing a LH rear shifter. What would the demand be ?

    In the UK we ride on the opposite to you - but our shifters are the same.

    I can't imagine anyone faking a shifter - they seem pretty complicated to make. Have they just covered it with the other brake hood by mistake or on purpose ?

    Maybe you could sell it on ebay as a rare mistake - like the Penny Black or something ;-)
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    [url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19744247#p19744247]Fenix[/url] wrote:
    I can't imagine anyone faking a shifter - they seem pretty complicated to make. Have they just covered it with the other brake hood by mistake or on purpose ?

    Trouble is, shifters aren't symmetrical - the hood wouldn't stop the levers working in the wrong direction. It sounds like a mating of a rh mech in a lh lever body.

    If I were the OP, I'd ask the seller if he has the other shifter and use both to a very confusing bike to sell!
    Faster than a tent.......
  • keezx
    keezx Posts: 1,322
    Some time ago a handicapped person (unusable right hand) asked for this, so maybe you can help him....

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