My first post - been away from MTB'ing for a while having lost my bottle following a big smash in Les Gets a few years back. Got back in to the 'dark side' of cycling 18 months ago and now the off road bug has bitten again and this summer cycle to work saw me get a Boardman Pro HT. I've done a couple of skills sessions, one a paid course the other will a mate and whilst I'm still as timid as a timid thing, ridiculous as I'm a great big lump of a bloke (six two, 15 stone, 49 next birthday), I'm back out on the trails of old overcoming my fears slowly, slowly, slowly.
Enough blather - How weird would it be if I ditched the front X.9 trigger shifter and put an X.O or X.9 twist shift on instead but left the trigger shifter on for the rear? The front shifter just 'kills' my ageing thumb joints, I just can't seem to get it set up in the right place to stop my thumb joint hurting for days after any riding.
Whatever works for you.
If you're riding along thinking about how much your thumb's hurting then you're not having as much fun (or riding as well) as you could.
Have you tried grip shifters? Do you know they help?
If they do, go for it- if you want a deal on some gripshifters, send me and e-mail, I think we have some older X9/Rocket ones in the shop that are a slightly lower profile than the new ones which may help more. E-mail's in my profile.
It's not unusual to have a left gripshifter/right trigger- some Norco freeride bikes used to come specced with it.
Higs - on long 5 - 6 hour rides I've been actively looking to avoid shifting to the big ring for the last couple of hours
rolfharris - up to the stack I used gripshift exclusively so am used to it
workhard - I understand quite a few rider use this configuration as the grip shift on the front mech allows fine tuning while riding so you dont get any chain rub on the front mech.
I run gripshift front and back and love it.
I had exactly the same problem with a SRAM front shifter, left thunb is still not right after weeks.
I did exactly what you describe and it's fine, I got used to it during the 1st ride. And to tell the truth I don't know if I will go back when the thunb heels.
It has an additional advantage that you can trim the fromt mech to avoid any chain rub at the extremes of the cassetts (cue post about proper use of gears)
You should deffo do it.
Alex
I used to use that setup but I didnt like that half of my grip was a)a different pattern and b)twisted (I think my mild ocd is to blame) it worked well tho and as mentioned above you can trim the front mech so setting it up properly isnt as vital.