Subject: Shifter Failures Posted by: Cyco on January 01, 2003 at 07:45:40: In Reply to: Re: LX Rapidfire Shifter, Doesn't posted by Robert on December 30, 2002 at 04:12:56:

Message: >>BTW, Robert, if rapid fire is such an evil thing why is SRAM bringing out its on lever? >Sram is not Shimano. So you cannot say whether or not the reliablity will be better or worse until you have had experience. I do have this to say, I am an electronic engineer by trade, and the one rule that applies to everything in engineering is KISS Keep It Simple Stupid. The less parts/simpler the design, the better and more reliable the design will be. In physics (my degree) it is known as Ockam's razor, but same thing. >I am also a vouluntary bike mechanic at MS Society bike rides/tours. I have been doing this for several years to help out my sister whom works for the MS Society. Out of all the shifter failure/repairs I have worked on, NON have been CAMPY or Grip Shift, ALL been SHIMANO! FACT. Rapid (Mis)Fires are also the majority of shifter failure I see, about 2/3 to 3/4 of the total. The other 1/4 to 1/3 are STI. I have never seen an Ergo or Grip Shift fail. I have had to send several riders off on a 2/3 or 8/9 speed bike, due to the failure of Rapid Fire and STI shifters. Managing a bicycle shop and still spending plenty of time doing repairs I have seen all popular shifter types fail. FACT. Shimano rapid fire shifters would be on approx 65% of bicycles sold from our shop (varies monthly but Nov was 67%). Non Shimano shifters make up approx 15%, of these approx 40% are high end. Is failed shifters seen in our workshop in direct proportion to shifter type sold? No. As a percentage sold, in my experence, the worst performing shifters are the low end non-Shimano crap (Grip-Shift, Falcon, etc) followed by low end Shimano, mid range shimano, "cheap" Campag, upper end Gripshift, upper end Shimano, upper end Campag. Have yet to see a failed Dura-Ace STI shifter (my 8sp ones had 190k+ km's before I upgraded to 9sp) or a failed Mavic Mecktronic (1 customer has it fitteted to his TT bike and loves it). If Shimano rapid fire shifters failed at the frequency implied in your posting, shop owners and customers would not buy the product. Do not confuse small sample sizes and percentage market penertration with percentage failure rate. As an aside I would rather replace a shift / brake cable in a rapid fire or STI shifter over any other type for speed and ease of repair (especially when we can only charge the same).