I am rebuilding my cockpit, and while I am at it, I could do the shifters. I have the basic MicroSHIFT 11 speed shifters that came with my bike. Are all shifters pretty much equal, or are there some out there significantly better that are worth the upgrade? It looks like the Dura Ace bar end shifters are about 30g heavier. And, I am not sure about whether I would like RTC shifters. I have not really had any issues, just thinking that as long as I have everything apart, I could raise the bar a bit (so to speak).
My experience with Microshift has been hit and miss. The ones on my GF’s bike work great, I bought some for one of my tri bikes and it was just so-so. I’ve worked on several tri bikes with them and most are great and only a few have been too loose to shift well.
My experience with Dura-Ace has always been good. Have not worked on others.
I’ve personally had excellent experience with microsoft. I’ve been using them for several yrs on 2 different bikes. Replaced Shimano when I originally went from 9 to 10 on one bike and now 11which uses a specific somewhat more fussy cable. Yes are lighter which I like. Microshift was making bar ends for others (name slips my mind) and then decided to release their own. If it were me unless you are having an issue or wanted a really slick and expensive carbon set kept what you have.
I’m not sure if they make them in 11 speed because I’m a cheapskate and saved myself a couple hundred by going with ten speed when I had a new bike built last year (my philosophy is if it doesn’t make you faster don’t upgrade). I got a nice surprise when it came with Metron bar end snifters.
It’s hard to say how good they really are. The comfort of shifting and ease of shifting once you get used to it is far superior the traditional shifting. But I find I can’t shift as aggressive or else I find gears slipping.
Yeah, I am eventually going electronic, and I love eTap. But, it is not in the immediate budget. I am leaning toward Dura Ace mechanical for now, if I can find a deal.
Electronic shifting really comes into it’s own on aero bikes. I don’t think the advantage is quite as big on a road bike but for the flexibility and effortless shifting in the aero position it’s sooo good.
Unless you are having significant problems with your current shifters, I would not think about upgrading, unless you are going to di2 or another electronic system.
Fyi, nearly all bar end shifters are actually meant for a completely different position on drop handlebars and have (laugably) been repurposed for TT/Tri use without any significant ergonomic or aero re-design. The exception to this is, of course, something like this:
But, of course, shimano mechanical shifters are pretty much as bad as all of the rest. It would not be that hard to make very cool mechanical versions of shifters like the di2 shifters above (think of MTB trigger shifters), but component companies are, sadly, not agile at all in their adaption to new applications and uses …
Felt uses (used?) microshift on their bikes. Microshift does have shifters with carbon levers. I had to order mine direct from overseas. Nice and I really like them.
