I’ve started getting pretty bad pain in my thumbs when riding more than a few hours. I suspect this is aggrevated by shifting, especially with dirty cables at this time of year. I’ve bought some sealed outers which has helped a little.

Has anyone else experienced this type of issue, and I wonder whether a switch from SRAM shifters / deraillieur to XT or XTR might help? From memory, Shimano shifters require less pressure to push? This started recently with my left hand (at a time when my front mech was particularly hard to shift) but now seems to have spread.

Options ruled out already; brake and shifter angle as nothing has changed recently, singlespeeding, new forks amd I’ve tried a variety of grips (but not Ergon yet).

I think the cold weather aggrevates things and I’ll go and see the Doc this week in case it is something I ought to be worried about.

Have you tried the Shimano dual-control shifters?

I think they work well with rapid-rise rear mechs and need very little effort with a clean full-length outer.
It is a hand push or thumb release rather than a thumb-push downshift, so effort is minimal.

As for grips, I have foam on XC hardtails, but BBB Ergos on full-sussers for all-day comfort.

PaulD

have you put your shifters in a location that is natural for you hands to operate?

If you can’t work something out, might be worth getting Sram gripshift.

Thanks

Not considered dual control shifters, would mean quite a bit change to my bike (and habits, if I went for rapid rise – wouldnt rule anything out currently though)….even grip shift!

Thing is, I havent really changed my bike set up at all. In the last year or so I’ve had trips including 3 weeks in the Alps riding mainly DH, a couple of pretty techie weeks in Spain and 10 days of rocky loveliness in the Lakes, no issues in any of those places. I’ve changed from Pikes to Revelations over that time (any maybe need to fine tune the negative pressure). The main change I can think of recently is the cold weather (but I didnt notice this last year).

I need to go on a long ride on my hard tail, which has XT transmission, and see how things go.

I’d recommend Gripshift regardless.

schmiken – do you use Gripshift? How do you find them, much accidental shifting, do the front and rear shifters work equally well?

To be honest, I’ve always looked at them as a bit “special needs”, but having taken a look at some X0 Twisters, they are cheaper (and better looking!) than I expected. And they might actually work too! You just dont see many around.

schmiken – do you use Gripshift? How do you find them, much accidental shifting, do the front and rear shifters work equally well?

To be honest, I’ve always looked at them as a bit “special needs”, but having taken a look at some X0 Twisters, they are cheaper (and better looking!) than I expected. And they might actually work too! You just dont see many around.
Yep, on all the bikes (bar the roadies!). I bought them originally as they were lighter than Rapidfire, but found I loved them to bits. The X0 ones have a very definite shift, it’s not easy to mis-shift. I love being able to fine tune the front, and the shifting on the rear is great. I disliked SRAM pods, but the positive shifts are the same on Gripshift, without the annoying levers. They’re even quite good even with gritty cables. The only downside is that they take up quite a bit of bar space, however I run them with ESI Chunkys so it’s not really an issue for me.

If you get Gripshift, X0 are the only ones to go for. The others are a bit cheap and nasty.

i used to get left thumb pain fron shifting, then used to get shooting pain doing random stuff like grabbing a door handle opening doors. Full cable and shifter change sorted it out.

Do you have a bit of carpal tunnel developing?

I use middleburn cable oilers in my SRAM shifter set up. Makes em always sweet to push. I prefer SRAM shifter/rear mech setup because it needs less calibration…

Going to get an x-ray done this week to check there’s no arthritis, but no hint of CPS.

Bar space might be an issue with Hope X2 levers maybe?

can’t you just stop changing gear so much?

I found X7 and X9 shifters have more play before the shift ratchet comes into contact with the lever arm. X0 shifters are incredibly smooth, have zero play in them and have the lightest action of any shifter I’ve used, and I think I’ve used them all (Deore, SLX, XT, XTR, X4, X5, X7, X9, X0) they are a worthy investment, especially given your health concerns.

XT has a much lighter action than X9, but not as good as X0, so it may be worth swapping to those if you want to save a bit of cash – but given you’ll need a new rear mech to match, it’s debatable whether it’ll be cheaper to just go X0 – personally I’d get some secondhand X0s – they last an age, and are brilliant in mud.

The biggest factor will be cable friction, whether that be from mud or tight outers. I’d recommend the Shimano SP41 outers with some teflon coated inners – it again will reduce the effort required to shift. I’d also advocate giving your outers a squirt of gt85 after each ride to drive out any water or dirt and keep things running well.

IMO gripshift in the winter isn’t ideal – as when they get muddy and wet they become hard to use – and again this is my experience of using them for about a month in the winter, your experience may vary.

Good shifters are key – the rear mech doesn’t play a part – it moves the amount the shifter indexes it to – so don’t bother upgrading the rear mech from x7 or x9 to x0, you really wont notice the difference.