Afternoon….
Is there any way to make the shifting on minivaders bike any easier (it’s a 7 speed gripshift thingy). Going down the gears is fine but he struggles to shift back up. Any suggestions?
Cheers

I have some trigger shifters you can borrow to see – mixed results with mine if I am being honest- but they could change up by forcing the lever with their pal, . They had to stop to do this but it did “work”

Thumbshifter and really good quality cables.

di2 😀

Yep, easy, full length sp41 outer and 1.1mm inner cables.

Alongside good cables, these seem to be the easiest of the options.

I’m liking the idea scardypants!! 😀 not sure mrsvaderwill go for it tho!!! junky cheers, pm me please, I’d really like him to be able to do it on his own

Nice one jameso, just read some of the reviews for those and they seem to be getting good feedback by parents, looks like that, along with a new lid, pedals and a mini camlebak are on the shopping list!!!

I got an old school 7 speed shifter from SJS cycles. It was only a fiver or so. Also got a megarange block with a massive bail-out gear for similar money. Made riding so much more enjoyable for him. I don’t understand the fascination with gripshift on kids bikes. Their hands aren’t big enough to get enough purchase on them.

Is it SRAM? Shimano gripshift is looser from my experience and fine for kids.
Shifter and mech cheap as.

I bought some 7spd sram x3 shifters from crc. Been spot on ever since

It’s a shimano so going with jameso suggestion and probably a new cable too

That is what I tried – those exact shifters* !!! ….not meaning to piss on your chips

* the one on the right be aware it is fixed and moves round as you shift gear unlike proper ones. The button for release – 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 is easy to use though

Just looked on crc again.
X3 mech £11
Shifter £10

How old were your kids when you tried junkyard?

5-7 – I can lend it to you if you want to try [ actually I think mine is 6 speed] – I did use a new gear cable but did not do full outers – I was disappointed with it TBH.

Changing mech did not help either and I gave up there 😳

Could you check for me please… If it’s a 7 speed then I’ll happily buy it off you….

Shimano should be fine. Try new cables.

6 speed just checked
I was disappointed with them but YMMV

Thanks for looking…. Will have a chat with my lbs and see what they have…. Thanks everyone for the help.

If youre close by to me then feel free to give me a shout. Your child is more than welcome to try either of my kids’ bike

CRC have XTR gear cable set for £10.99, I’ve found them to be really slick compared to basic stuff. You might be able to get 2 full rear changes out of a set for a kids bike (£5.50 each being reasonable), tho check inner/outer lengths first maybe so you don’t end up with an expensive single gear cable change. I’ve no experience of grip v trigger for kids mind. I’d be interested to hear what your successful outcome is?.

Utterly clean cables needed, and faff with the run up f them.
Pull the shifter apart and clean it. No grease or oil, it just attracts dirt into the shifter.

As soon as hands are big enough, trigger shifters from Shimano.

Clean cables… and the best shifters you can afford. Not sure about gripshift – in the end my son got XT shifters for Christmas (age 10 at the time).