Why does nobody like gripshift?

[24pouces]

I hate plastic.
I had the really first Grip shift on my EST, 20 years ago.
Very difficult to adjust. The day I removed them for thumbshifter, things became better.

When I owned my 91 SM1000, there were original gripshit.

But they still work very bad

 

[Xesh]

I've had gripshift ever since the SRT500 days. On my SRT800s I used those new fangled Gore-tex cables. They shifted trouble free for two whole race seasons with no maintenance. My Avanti currently has ESP9.0 on it at the mo.

 

[93hero]

I had a set of X-rays. To get them to work well in all weathers I had to buy a stronger spring for the shifter, then a stronger spring for the rear mech, then some 'grippier' grips for the shifters, then some Gore 'Ride On' cables to help keep things smooth.

Gave up and fitted RF+.

 

[Tazio]

I just don't like them, I can see why some people like them but it's RF all the way for me.

 

[jax13]

i simply don't get along with the reduced grip area as i have fairly wide hands. I also find it a bit vague at the back end, to go from one extreme to the other it is nowhere near as quick as a rapidfire shifter.

I am a big fan of the x9 shifter i've got on my gringo, it just seems a bit quicker and slicker than previous shimano offerings i have used whether they are gripshift or RF BUT i have to admit i've never been blessed with regularly using XTR RF's or a higher end gripshift system.

 

[old_banger]

I like using gripshifters. Over the years I've had bikes with Gripshifters, Rapid Fires & Thumbies. I like the way the Gripshifters feel & work, and as for thumbies....you could never go wrong with them and they were shifters that were minimalistic & work well all these years ( do away with the SIS & go friction that is...) . A Pity the XT and Deore thumbies can only take up to 8 speed cassettes max.

So as for Thumb Shifters vs RFs vs Gripshifters ..... to me it's all the matter of personal preferences & opinions. I would use whatever I feel comfortable with.

 

[T'boo Ted]

Oh seeing the old original ones or at least with foam stuff on them)... didn't gripshift come from triathalon?
If it wasn't for the fact that I can't swim, I would have gotten into triathlon, well duathlon as I like to run and ride and they were the thing to have on the end of aerobars back in like 90-91, before I ever thought of getting a mountain bike

 

[Geoff]

My Kilauea came with SRT-600s. One winter with them was enough to put me off gripshift for life. Trying to get those bastards to move when your hands are cold, numb and wet/muddy is a misery I could do without. As soon as I could save up enough for some RF+ (could only afford LX sadly, which didn't match the XT already on there) they were gone.

As people have pointed out, they do have the plus point of adjustability for the front mech for chainline, but that's all they've got going for them in my book.

Oh, one other good thing was they taught my 13/14 year old self to get very good at stripping cables, removing grips, opening and regreasing shifters, putting everything back together again and sorting indexing out... :roll:

 

[merckx]

i rode them BITD. they were ok, but i much preferred a trigger or thumbshifter. its very un natural to ride holding on to them, so i needed to runa full grip beside them. this meant the brake levers pushed waaay inboard, and out of reach of my hands. well easily anyway... and in the wet, with slighlty old cables, they became very stubborn things to try and operate. at the end of an xc race, this could become very very annoying. that is why i dont like them, and never will ride a twist shifter ever again..

 

[novekili]

I love it!