Grip Shifts - what happened to them?

"Phil" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Now, I haven't been in the mountain bike scene for a few years. When I was into it, I noticed
that grip shifts were all of the rage. The other day I was at the LBS and could not find any
grip shifts.

While this didn't bother me as I was never an advocate for them, I'm curious to know what happened
to them or rather why has their popularity died off.

Phil

They became SRAM, I think. Jim uses an old grip shift for the rear derailluer on his trials bike.
Its nice and light and out of the way on the handlebars.

- CA-G

Can-Am Girls Kick Ass!

Carla A-G said:

Quoted message said:

Now, I haven't been in the mountain bike scene for a few years. When I was into it, I noticed
that grip shifts were all of the rage. The other day I was at the LBS and could not find any
grip shifts.

While this didn't bother me as I was never an advocate for them, I'm curious to know what
happened to them or rather why has their popularity died off.

They became SRAM, I think. Jim uses an old grip shift for the rear derailluer on his trials bike.
Its nice and light and out of the way on the handlebars.

Gripshift is a bit like Marmite. You either love it or you hate it.

adownhiller said:

Carla A-G said:

Quoted message said:

Now, I haven't been in the mountain bike scene for a few years. When I was into it, I noticed
that grip shifts were all of the rage. The other day I was at the LBS and could not find any
grip shifts.

While this didn't bother me as I was never an advocate for them, I'm curious to know what
happened to them or rather why has their popularity died off.

They became SRAM, I think. Jim uses an old grip shift for the rear derailluer on his trials bike.
Its nice and light and out of the way on the handlebars.

Gripshift is a bit like Marmite. You either love it or you hate it.

Where would Vegemite fit into this analogy? It's clearly superior to Marmite.

Matt

In "]news:[email hidden],
Carla A-G <[email hidden]> scribbled:

Quoted message said:

They became SRAM, I think. Jim uses an old grip shift for the rear derailluer on his trials bike.
Its nice and light and out of the way on the handlebars.

- CA-G

Can-Am Girls Kick Ass!

Same here. Grip shift on the trials bike. But trigger shifters on all other bikes.

--

FlyingCoyote boarsgut.comboarsgut.comOpen ↗

--

"adownhiller" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Carla A-G said:

Quoted message said:

Now, I haven't been in the mountain bike scene for a few years. When I was into it, I noticed
that grip shifts were all of the rage. The other day I was at the LBS and could not find any
grip shifts.

While this didn't bother me as I was never an advocate for them, I'm curious to know what
happened to them or rather why has their popularity died off.

They became SRAM, I think. Jim uses an old grip shift for the rear derailluer on his trials
bike. Its nice and light and out of the way on the handlebars.

Gripshift is a bit like Marmite. You either love it or you hate it.

Disagree. I had it on a couple bikes and it worked fine. I have have Shimano on a bike now and it
works fine. I've also got a bike with thumbies. There's advantages and disadvantages to each system.
If there's one thing I get excited about, it's when my Shimano front derrailleur won't shift into
the granny, which is a bad thing. I might switch to a SRAM front shifter because of it. /s

FlyingCoyote said:

Same here. Grip shift on the trials bike. But trigger shifters on all other bikes.

That would drive me insane.

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

adownhiller said:

Carla A-G said:

Quoted message said:

Now, I haven't been in the mountain bike scene for a few years. When I was into it, I noticed
that grip shifts were all of the rage. The other day I was at the LBS and could not find any
grip shifts.

While this didn't bother me as I was never an advocate for them, I'm curious to know what
happened to them or rather why has their popularity died off.

They became SRAM, I think. Jim uses an old grip shift for the rear derailluer on his trials
bike. Its nice and light and out of the way on the handlebars.

Gripshift is a bit like Marmite. You either love it or you hate it.

Troot Mon.

I went from thumbies to gripshift back in '95, when gripshifters were apparently pretty bad. I never
liked shifting that way, but truthfully I've never given it a fair try.

Some time in the late 90's "gripshift" did become the core of a company that calls itself SRAM. They
wound up buying Sachs, a European company that made all kinds of components, but most Americans only
knew about their chains.

I still don't get excited about twist-style shifters, but now you can buy a 9-speed drivetrain from
SRAM that has either gripshift or rapidfire-style triggers. And it's really good stuff. I hear the
best SRAM triggers are better than any RapidFire pods ever sold by Shimano.

I don't own any SRAM drivetrain stuff, but my friend the shop wrench loves it. He's let me try it on
his bikes. Very precise, very crisp.

SRAM just recently announced that they're buying out Avid, the very fine maker of disk and rim
brakes, and brake levers. I've owned a bunch of Avid brakes and levers in the past 8 years. They
have great products.

I've been using Sachs (now SRAM) chains exclusively for the past decade+.

I'm steering wide around Shimano's new style drivetrain parts (after years of defending big S as a
maker of high-quality bike stuff, despite their irritating habit of refusing to allow any standards
to become established). So SRAM has become my vendor of choice, should I need to replace my 8-speed,
RapidFire-based drivetrain (heaven forbid).

SRAM also bought out Rock Schlox last year. I couldn't possibly have a lower opinion of Rock
Schlox, but I have a high opinion of SRAM. Perhaps SRAM will be able to coax some actual decent
products out of RS.
--
Tom Purvis - arkansasvalley.nettpurvisOpen ↗
Salida, CO

Quoted message said:

SRAM just recently announced that they're buying out Avid, the very fine maker of disk and rim
brakes, and brake levers. I've owned a

bunch

Quoted message said:

of Avid brakes and levers in the past 8 years. They have great

products.

Which brings up an interesting topic for SRAM haters. Will they now boycott the marvelous Avid
brakes? Sooner or later the biases must crumble.

-John Morgan

MattB said:

Quoted message said:

Gripshift is a bit like Marmite. You either love it or you hate it.

Where would Vegemite fit into this analogy? It's clearly superior to Marmite.

What isn't? Yuk. Marmite is made by Demons who live in the Devil's septic tank.

Anyhow, my initial sweeping statement about Gripshift comes from my own previous experience, and
that of the people I ride with. I used it a number of years ago and had nothing but trouble... Out
of sync gears, clogged up shifters, and when your gloves got muddy you could no longer change gear
because of slippage, a few friends had similar problems. I have a feeling it could be something to
do with living in muddy, wet, cold Britain.. And despite all this I know a few people who swear by
Gripshift, they absolutely love it and can't understand why anyone wouldn't like it.. Personally I
think these people should be kept in a padded room and fed on Marmite.

[email hidden] (Tom Purvis) wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]: <snip>

Quoted message said:

or rapidfire-style triggers. And it's really good stuff. I hear the best SRAM triggers are better
than any RapidFire pods ever sold by Shimano.

They'd have to be.... Shimano's pods suck [censored].

-S.S.-

"adownhiller" <[email hidden]> wrote in
:"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

MattB said:

Quoted message said:

Gripshift is a bit like Marmite. You either love it or you hate it.

Where would Vegemite fit into this analogy? It's clearly superior to Marmite.

What isn't? Yuk. Marmite is made by Demons who live in the Devil's septic tank.

I would say that Scrapple can NOT be superior to Marmite, even though I've never tried either. 😉

-S.S.-

"MattB" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Where would Vegemite fit into this analogy? It's clearly superior to Marmite.

Superior, as in elephant [censored] is superior to rhino [censored].

Pete

In article <zZ4Qb.53164$XD5.20165@fed1read06>,

John Morgan said:

Quoted message said:

SRAM just recently announced that they're buying out Avid, the very fine maker of disk and rim
brakes, and brake levers. I've owned a

bunch

Quoted message said:

of Avid brakes and levers in the past 8 years. They have great

products.

Which brings up an interesting topic for SRAM haters. Will they now boycott the marvelous Avid
brakes? Sooner or later the biases must crumble.

On the other hand, the Shimano haters can do do one-stop shopping for their bikes now.

Come to mention it, between the SRAM/Rock Shox/Avid conglomerate's separate elements, I think
you can now buy shifters, brakes, most of the drivetrain, and the fork from one maker. On a
hardtail, only the BB, crankset, wheel, seat/seatpost, and stem/bars/grips would have to come
from another maker.

Me? Ancient hardtail. Mostly XT drivetrain, Avid levers, Syncros rims, WTB front hub, XT rear hub.

Competition is good,
--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

BB <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

FlyingCoyote said:

Same here. Grip shift on the trials bike. But trigger shifters on all other bikes.

That would drive me insane.

I dont know what all the fuss is about. You can make your own Grip Shift shifters with a couple of
offcuts of plastic drainpipe and an old flip-flop.

cheers

g

BB said:

FlyingCoyote said:

Same here. Grip shift on the trials bike. But trigger shifters on all other bikes.

That would drive me insane.

Oh, I don't think so. Ever see somebody doing observed trials? Not a great deal of shifting
involved. You pretty much put the bike in a gear and then hop around trying to get up and over
stuff. The purpose-built ones (eg Monty's with 20" wheels) are often single-speed. Trials riders
have plenty to think about without worrying over shifting.
--
Tom Purvis - arkansasvalley.nettpurvisOpen ↗
Salida, CO

"Tom Purvis" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Oh, I don't think so. Ever see somebody doing observed trials? Not a great deal of shifting
involved. You pretty much put the bike in a gear and then hop around trying to get up and over
stuff. The purpose-built ones (eg Monty's with 20" wheels) are often single-speed. Trials riders
have plenty to think about without worrying over shifting.

That's right, I never think about gears when I ride my Monty mod:

community.webshots.com82396695nVRnKdOpen ↗

- CA-G one gear in trials, one gear on the trails...

Can-Am Girls Kick Ass!