What is RSS?
Get our articles in your inbox:
Grip Shifters vs. Trigger Shifters
January 29th, 2007 by Tim GrahlThe importance of shifters is obvious. You can have the top of the line drivetrain and everything tuned perfectly, but if you aren’t in sync with your shifters everything else is worthless.
Trigger shifters are by far the most widely used. Almost all of the bikes I’ve ridden come with these stock. However recently I’ve been reviewing a set of forks for twentynineinches.com and they’ve been hung on a bike that has grip shifters installed.
Now from what I hear, you either love or hate grip shifters and the first couple rides… I definitely hated them. Having triggers gives you the freedom to develop the habit of moving your hands around on the grip without consequence, however you get punished severely for that on the grip shifters.
There were several instances where I shifted accidentally while adjusting my position on the bike. Most of the accidents happened when I stood up to hammer hard up a hill and I would slide my hands forward on the grips which would then change my gears at a very inopportune time. There were also a few instances where I ran the bike into an obstacle (i.e. a log or rock) and the jarring would move my hands enough to shift the gears. Then there was the couple times I went over the handlebars and as I’m halfway into my front flip I hear the distinct clicking of the gears getting changed.
However I’m wondering if this is showing some bad habits I’ve developed. Most people would agree it’s a bad to have a tight hold on your grips. Should I be holding the handlebars so tight that a hard bump on the trail causes me to shift? And when standing up to pedal… again should I have that tight a hold on my grips? Not to mention, why am I still holding on to the bars when I’m flipping over them?
All good questions I think.
And a clear advantage of grip shifters over trigger? Less breakable parts. I’ve smashed or bent a few sets of triggers and the odds of you doing the same to grips are much less.
All that to say that I am starting to get used to the grip shifters and I definitely need to since that’s what’s currently spec’d for the Bombproof bike.
So what are your thoughts? Have you used both? Got something against one or the other?
I started with triggers and eventually converted to grip shifts and would not go back. I use a previous grip shift made by Sachs; the quartz model. It has a greater resistance and very stiff click into each detent, so it is difficult to indvertantly shift. But it is not made anymore since SRAAM bought them out. Up here in Alaska we winter bike with thick insulated gloves for warmth. The only shifter to use then is a grip shift.
I have used grip shifts for as long as I have been mountain biking.I tried triggers recently because they were specd. with my new bike. The main reason I swiched back was because I can tweek the front dereailer a little with a grip shift,you can not do this with triggers,so if your bike is a little out of tune your stuck with that anoying clatter.As far as accidently shifting while riding,I have never had this problem,if you do you really need to think about relaxing your grip.Relaxing your grip will also do wonders for your back and shoulders.
I currently have Grip Shift on my Catamount. I’m considering switching to top-mount thumb shifters, old-school style. My first mountain bike was a 1990 Bianchi Grizzly, which came with full Suntour XC Pro. At the time, Bianchi spec’d it with X-Press trigger shifters. I much preferred thumb shifters to the triggers, so the first chance I got, I swapped them out. I’ve never ridden a more perfectly shifting bike than that Grizzly.
When I ordered my Catamount, Suntour was no longer in business, so my only options were Grip Shift or Shimano RapidFire triggers. I detest RapidFire shifters, so I went with Grip Shift. I’m very comfortable with it, but like I said, am considering switching to thumb shifters. If I do decide to do it, I’ll have to track down a front shifter, as all I currently have is a rear.
The main benefit of thumb shifters is the ability to switch to friction should something untoward happen to the drive train while riding.
@manogodo
Speaking of thumbshifters, I’ve never tried ‘em, but Paul makes these:
http://www.paulcomp.com/frmthumb.html
. . .if you’re looking for that option.
I’ve used both and for sure you are going to have ardent fans of both. For me, Grip Shift just seemed the easier of the two options and I’ve never looked back. Another thing that’s good is that I never worry about the “newest” version of grip shifting: its the same yesterday, today and tomorrow!
I ditched my XT triggers for XO twist shifters last summer. No going back. I was concerned about certain scenarios, like braking and shifting simultaneously. Turns out, in a summer of riding and racing it never happened. I can’t think of a single circumstance in which I prefer the triggers.
I will say that my wife’s late 90’s mtb had some grip shifters on it and I hated them…they did shift inadvertantly, etc. The new versions don’t do that…a nice positive click from one gear to the next. The ability to trim the front deraileur is another nice benefit.
I’ll go against the crown and say that I definately prefer the current crop of SRAM trigger shifters. I went from Suntour top mounts (way way back when) to grip shift that I ran for years and years. About 5 years ago I bought a bike with LX triggers, which were good enough it seemed. Being a SRAM man for so many years, I wanted to go back to the 1:1 shifters, so I went out and bought some X7 triggers, and have since upgraded to X9.
I cracked every pair of Grip Shift I’ve owned. Usually the barrel adjuster, or some other part of the case. I’ve also broken the left side X7 in a crash, but the X9 has been durable thusfar.
Luke:
Thanks. I’ve got a Shimano Deore 7-speed rear shifter (that has enough clicks to work with 8-speed), I’d just need a front, but that looks like a good option, too.
I started mountain biking with thumb shifters, and later went straight to Grip Shift. I’ve used SRAM’s stuff on all my mountain bikes since. It’s reliable, simple to use, and easy to service.
After using trigger shifters on borrowed bikes a few times, I’ve always been happy to get back to my Grip Shifts.
I was very skeptical about grip shifters when I first started using SRAM’s X.0 grip shifters. I experienced a lot of what Tim is talking about with the accidental shifting etc. Now it is weird to ride with trigger shifters. The grip shifters have yet to let me down. I’ve used them for months and haven’t had to adjust them once. I also like the look of the grip shifters.
I’m probably the weirdest of the lot of ya. I use both, at the same time!
I use a SRAM x.7 trigger shifter for the rear changer and an old circa 1996 grip shift for the front changer (how bluecollar is that!?!). I hated the x.7 shifter in the front. There was no “inbetween” on shifts. So I pulled an old grip shift out of the parts bin and replaced the front changer.
The micro-indexing (click,click,click,click) on the grip shift allows me to shift between gears and make minor adjustments to the chain line, depending on where I am on the rear cassette. This keeps the front derailluer from rubbing the chain at either extreme on the rear cassette. Run a tall gear, go up a click. Run a low gear go down a click. Rubbing gone. This is important because I run a two-ring set up and can’t always have a perfect chainline (i.e. sometimes you have to cross-chain it a bit).
First-gen Sachs twistys. Love ‘em!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimg/292774564 … First-gen Sachs twistys. Love ‘em!
Having been around cycling since the early ’80’s, I have seen all the shifter types, top mount friction, top mount index, under bar push-push, triggers, grip-shift, etc. and I have used all of them. I ran the very first set of Grip Shift, which were decidedly not very good, but I enjoyed them. I ran the first Grip Shift performance shifters, the SRT-500, which were much better. I have run XT and XTR triggers for about 8 years and in the last couple have gone back to X.0 Grip Shift. I love them. I have accidentally shifted with the Grip Shift, but once I got used to riding with my hands further out on the grips, I have had no problem.
I think for performance reasons, there isn’t much difference between the Grip Shift and triggers, but after a person is used to Grip Shift, it is more intuitive. Plus I think it gives your bars a cleaner look than triggers hanging down.
I run XT thumbshifters upside down and backwards. A small minority of riders did this back in the 80’s before trigger shifters came out. Unfortunately you can only make it work with 7 or 8-speed. Pauls Thumbies with bar-end shifters may work like this, but the rear shifter swings through a 90 degree arc, making this hard on the left thumb. I would like to see some more development of this idea.
Wow. After having read for the last year or two in the cycling blogosphere, I thought I was the last of a dying breed — those who love GripShift — but I’m glad to see my compadres coming out of the wood work!
If you’re making shifts in error, then you’re gripping the bar way too tightly. In cycling, you’re supposed to be as relaxed possible north of the waistline.
BTW - to the Dave with the mixed setup… when I got my latest Cannondale and had the shop swap the triggers for GripShift… the guy mistakenly thought I only wanted one side changed. I said “who would ever want that?” I thought he was a total bone head. Then he said “I have that setup.” Ohh… but it makes sense since a GS gives you much more control over the front rings.
I use GS because I feel the shifting is more telepathic. Very little physical movement needed to shift, just one well placed intentional wrist twitch away from the ideal gear.
It’s gonna take a lot of convincing to get me away from X9s.
My new bike (stump jumper) uses trigger shifters.My new Karate Monkey is going to
have good old thumb shifters in the friction mode to untrain this bad habit of mine of shifting too much. Once I start shifting “right” with the friction shifting I’m going with the psudo indexing as mention at the Rivendell store.
I used to have first gen GripShift and they worked fine until I raced an event in Central Florida which become a mudfest. After taking a spill where both my grips and gloves became saturated in the slippery clay-like Central Florida mud I completely lost the ability to shift. Afterwards I switched to rapid-fire shifters and haven’t looked back.
anyone out there, engage my believe on why many bicycle shops try and sell you grip shfter to replace your rapid-fire shifters/thumbshifters.
Told that rapid shifters would not fit with older bikes……….. what! HAH!
Is it about consumerism and not about customer’s choice….
anyone knows the ratio of Grip Shifters and Trigger Shifters? are these same ratio when shifting the gear.
thumbs up for the grip shifters …only figuratively speaking though, and that’s the beauty of grip shifters. You can keep a full handful of fingers on the bars at all times !
Back in the day when i used trigger shifters, there were always heartstopping moments when i’d be frantically pushing levers with thumb & finger, only to lose my grip on the bars after hitting various objects…
hi i dont know a darn thing about trigger or grip shiffters . but i want to learn , i do not do any mountain climbing , i would be riding around tioow or very low angle graded roads . so i dont know what would be best . and dont know how to decide before i get one or the other . as bike shops are not going to go let you drive the bike around for twenty minutes or so to try them out . any advice you can give me would be great thank you have a great d time , bye
I started with friction and index thumb shifters. My bike was stoled and my new one had grip shifters. I love them! Shifting quickly is all about the grip shifter. Where I ride there are occations where I must shift from the small sprocket to the large sprocket in an instant. I have riden bikes with trigger or speed shifters and they just do not shift as quick. It sucks not making it up a hill because you could not shift quick enough.
Triggers all the way for me, have had both and far prefer them over grip shifters.
I use a gripshift or Shimano Revo shifter on my mtb. It works great. The reason with this shifter is I can shift into skip gear in a single rotation.
Ok, so I love the input by all. I am as old school as it gets. I started riding in the 80’s with XT thumb shifters. Then in 1997 bought a Trek with XT grip shift and Loved it. So now I’m looking at a new 2011 Stumpjumper which has Rapid Fire. I tested it out over the weekend and they’re ok. I like the ability to be able to shit the back rings with either a push or pull of the trigger. I do love the ability of the grip shift to manage the front ring in between gears to eliminate the chain rub. So if it were up to me, I would still run Grip Shift. I’ve never shifted accidentally and they seem more responsive and faster than the triggers. However the current status quo says that grip shifters are only for cheaper bikes and no one races with them. I wonder if they’ve ever really tried them.
So I will be stuck with triggers for a while. I also like that there is less clutter on the handle bar with grip shift.