Brake Lever and Shifter both-in-one; cheap bikes

[crummy_verses]

Hello All,

A newbie to cycling, I'm considering a Dawes introductory bike for $295 (sounds like a good deal for a new bike). It has a seemingly nice feature: shifter and brake lever are in one unit, so you can shift and/or brake without moving you hand position. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? It sounds like it could be an added complication thus requiring more frequent maintenance.

Any advice or comments on either Dawes or the shifter/brake feature would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Keith in St. Louis

 

[Yippie Kye Ay]

Hello All,

A newbie to cycling, I'm considering a Dawes introductory bike for $295 (sounds like a good deal for a new bike). It has a seemingly nice feature: shifter and brake lever are in one unit, so you can shift and/or brake without moving you hand position. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? It sounds like it could be an added complication thus requiring more frequent maintenance.

Any advice or comments on either Dawes or the shifter/brake feature would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Keith in St. Louis

I have never heard of Dawes bikes but having the shifter and brake unit is a somewhat standard in the high end road bikes. Take the Madone 5.9 (Trek's most expensive bike and the model that Lance rode to victory in the 2004 Tour de France) has the shifter/brake unit.

 

[pk273340]

ya it doesnt really affect you that much, i have a trek 1000 and i find it to be just fine

 

[cd667]

Hello All,

A newbie to cycling, I'm considering a Dawes introductory bike for $295 (sounds like a good deal for a new bike). It has a seemingly nice feature: shifter and brake lever are in one unit, so you can shift and/or brake without moving you hand position. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? It sounds like it could be an added complication thus requiring more frequent maintenance.

Any advice or comments on either Dawes or the shifter/brake feature would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Keith in St. Louis

Is it a Dawes Giro? Dawes are one of the big British bike manufacturers. I have a Dawes Galaxy tourer, beautiful bike, can't recommend it highly enough.
Gear shifters integrated into the brake levers is now pretty much standard kit on all road bikes. They sound weird when you describe them to people but become totally intuitive after a couple of rides.
Of course, if I were to be looking for a first road bike I would consider looking for one secondhand via a bike shop. Better quality kit for the same money, plus you get advice on fit.

Chris