My son is having trouble going back up the gears – twisting the gears backward. Is there a way to adjust them to make it easier?

It’s probably a crappy cable. New cable (Inner AND outer) should make a difference.
That said, Shimano RevoShiters are a lot lighter action than SRAM. And they’re cheap too – £30/pair.

Nope, cheaper actually
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-Revoshift-24sp-Twist-Gear-Shifters-RRP-24-95-/201101941481?_trksid=p2054897.l4275
They come with inner cables, add some new outers and you’re away.

What rear mech do you have on? Is it SRAM MRX shifters operating a Shimano mech? (That’s pretty normal on kids bikes)
If you, bolt those on and you’re sorted 🙂

IME no matter what you use your kids can struggle

Mine are on X0 9 speed and x0 mech* and still struggle with the front mech

What PP May help but it may just be too hard for them

I advise what he said and twist exercises.

* could not use triggers except for downshifts

I had this and made a thread about it..

In the end I stripped the softer, replaced the cable, and put it back together.
Mini P can now shift back up the cassette!

DrP

My nine year old girl tried a multitude of gripshifts for her last bike. She found them all too difficult to shift up the gears except for the Shimano Revo`s.

What PP May help but it may just be too hard for them

True, but I service a LOT of kids bikes and cheap bikes with these shifters on them, 6/7sp stuff.

Trust me, Shimano Revo Shifters have the lightest action. 🙂

Oh I believe you now is the same true for the front/left shifter before I buy two from Ebay ?

Another vote for the revoshift. Failing that the cable routing will make a difference. We have a certain bike that out of the box is really bad at shifting. Changing the route makes a massive difference. That’s if you can of course.

Same problem with my daughters Islabike. I shall investigate the Shimano option.

I found that once the cable gets sticky, that is the end of the shifter, they are practically unserviceable.
My lad has been running SRAM triggers on his Islabike since he was about six. Apparently young kids can’t do trigger shifts, he’s had no problems and claims to prefer them to Gripshift.

I took the grip shift of my lads bike and popped an X5/X7 trigger on for about £8 from CRC. he found it much easier.

If its a 7spd Islabike then there is nothing you can adjust to make it light inside the shifter, it seems as though some have a light action and some don’t.

The answer for us was to replace it with the SRAM trigger shift alternative:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sram-x3-7-speed-trigger-shifter-set/rp-prod41153

Annoying that you have to do this on an expensive bike but making it such that he can actually change gear and enjoy the bike its worth it.

SammyC – Member
If its a 7spd Islabike then there is nothing you can adjust to make it light inside the shifter, it seems as though some have a light action and some don’t.

The answer for us was to replace it with the SRAM trigger shift alternative:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/sram-x3-7-speed-trigger-shifter-set/rp-prod41153

Annoying that you have to do this on an expensive bike but making it such that he can actually change gear and enjoy the bike its worth it.

Thats the issue, on an Islabike also.

It’s probably a crappy cable. New cable (Inner AND outer) should make a difference.

Definitely do this first, couple of quid, and two of ours went from me not being able to shift to the youngsters perfectly happy with it.

Another trick I use (though I’m sure this will be frowned on) is to run gear cables for the brakes – makes the lever action much lighter. Does depend on the levers, but I bought some Tektro ones for £6 a pair they work well on.

Ours was on a brand new bike. After taking the grip shift off I could see from how it works that you will get light action and heavy action shifters depending on manufacturing tolerances. We were just unlucky I guess.

Likewise (on one of them anyway) – the cable outers were packed solid with grease, even I struggled, but replacing the lot made it usable.

You’re right though some just are a lost cause. I’m guessing those triggers are more expensive in bulk as they seem a better idea for small hands anyway. Might pick up a couple and try them out.

If it’s the MRX shifter then yes some are very stiff out of the box.

As above either replace with the revoshift or when these come into the shop I tend to take them apart and bend the spring slightly to soften it which makes quite a difference.

I took the grip shift of my lads bike and popped an X5/X7 trigger on for about £8 from CRC. he found it much easier.

Same here and issue sorted.

Same thing here with my 6 year old’s Isla Beinn.
Dumped the Sram gripshift, tried trigger shifter, thumbshifter and now on Revo shift (Revo definitely the lightest). He can shift up but not down, I suspect he’s gripping the entire grip though, not just the shifter…

I put my kids on SRAM triggers straight away, the front mech can still be stiff though especially on upshift, couple of other things to try;

Rotate the shifter so they can get more thumb leverage on the lever, pushing down rather than through is easier for small hands.

Also it’s not all about the shifters – most front mechs have a lot of spring tension. They are not really adjustable but you can bend them, though it can then make the downshift less reliable as it might to derail the chain, though I’ve found the old SRAM 7.0 front mech the spring location / design is such they are much, much easier to shift. You can still get them £10 on ebay.