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Shimano
XTR Remote Bar End Shifter
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Submitted by
Andrew
a Weekend Warrior
from Calgary Alberta Canada
Date Reviewed: August 19, 2004 | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Price Paid: |
$15.00 | | Purchased At: | IcyclesUSA.com | | Strengths: | does it's job well
Easily affordable
looks cool | | Weaknesses: | ergonomics vary with the barends used
it does not clamp, but uses a small screw to press against the barend
No longer manufactured or easy to find | | Similar Products Used: | one-of a kind | | Bike Setup: | 2000 Rocky mountain blizzard, Mostly XT gearing and a z2 bomber fork | | Bottom Line: | This thing, works very well, and is fantastic for it's intended purpose. given my barends, I must admit that that upshifts were not as peachy as downshifts due to awkward ergonomics, and the reduced leverage. The mounting system is not as secure as a clamp, but much lighter. This may be to allow it to move in an impact, which sure beats breaking it. I had one of these for a 6 month period back in 2002. In all honesty, I miss having barends and this. for value, it is 5 all tha way, as it is afforadble and works well overall I will give it 4 because it apears to be brittle in an area that gets alot of impact, and a downgrade cos of it's odd method of securing itself. I highly recommend buying 2 of these...one as a replacement just in case and enjoy! | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Robin Simons
a Cross Country Rider
from Albuquerque, NM
Date Reviewed: August 10, 2004 | | Favorite Trail: | New Mexico | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$12.00 | | Purchased At: | icyclesusa.com | | Strengths: | Works great. Love shifting from barends. Shifting is as easy as from the pods. Weighs less than an average sized floogie | | Weaknesses: | Stupid plasticy parts break / falloff. Needs to come with extras. | | Bike Setup: | Ironhorse Rogue (an aluminum hardtail) XTR Der, XT shifters, FSA carbon crank, Fox Float 100 RLC | | Bottom Line: | These are awsome when they are working. I installed them myself and had no problems, but I am good at that kind of thing. Since I've had them on I have spent a lot more time up on the barends which I like. They upshift and downshift for me very easily, but that may be because of the XT shifters. When I ride the MTB on pavement, I almost never take my hands off the barends except to brake. I love it. I have wrecked onto the remote shifter, and it has visible gouges, but still works just fine except for the below mentioned problem. Also if for any reason they stop working, your regular shifters remain operational.
Now for the downside. I got them for 12 bucks and had the sense to get three of them (bike shop sells them for $80). Make sure you get more than one, because the moment you take a bad wreck, the crappy plastic endcaps that you "snap-fit" into place will break off and fly away. Also, I found it useful to use a tiny drop of glue to keep the endcaps on. Shimano really needs to provide extras with the unit (total cost to shimano: $0.000001 per unit).
However, since the endcaps are sacrificed when there is too much strain on them, it keeps the cables and other parts safe.
At 12 bucks, I give five flaming turds for value, at $80 I give it 2. Overall it gets 4 hot ones. If they included extra sacrificial endcaps it would recieve 5.
Everyone should try these. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Dave
a
from Cambridge, Cambs., UK
Date Reviewed: August 28, 2003 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$20.00 | | Strengths: | Good product that isn't so much a necessity but is very useful - found myself using it a lot - even for several clicks up when cruising to a stop instead of long thumbshift on normal pods
As ever, good for climbing - stay on the bar ends, keeping rhythm. That XTR Pods are so light anyway this doesn't really apply though balance issues when upshifting on LX since it took quite a but of effort | | Weaknesses: | It won't survive a RHS bail being on the tip of the bar end
Installation is a little fiddly - cable caps are plasticky affairs, not particularly durable. Spacers require tweezers really | | Similar Products Used: | - | | Bike Setup: | XTR Pods - Bar End Shifter only runs 9SPD XT/XTR; though I suspect a little aluminium workmanship could alter a non XT/XTR pod, the Bar End Shifter will be too hard to use - really requires the light action of XTR | | Bottom Line: | Good add on that develops into something you use quite a lot.
Its position will mean it will be first to go post bail.
The downshift (onto smaller ring) is an easy click (apparently, this was first developed along the lines of Road style sprints for the line) but the upshift action required for climbing is quite heavy-actioned (because of the amount the thumb paddle has to be pulled through by the Bar End Unit - the design isn't particularly good in terms of mechanical advantage either).
Still; works and the upshift needs getting used to. Otherwise, a handy add on. Difficult to get in UK (try EBay!), seems to be millions floating around across the pond though | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bob
a Cross Country Rider
from Chicago,Illinois
Date Reviewed: May 22, 2002 | | Duration Product Used: | More than 3 years | | Price Paid: |
$5.00 | | Purchased At: | Cambria | | Strengths: | Works well for $5.00 | | Weaknesses: | Cables wear out and break about once a year so I keep three complete remote units as back-up for parts. | | Similar Products Used: | Nothing like it! | | Bike Setup: | XTR with bar ends | | Bottom Line: | Nothing like it. Shifting from the bar ends lets you shift and go faster in more comfort. In three years I've replace three units because the cables wear out. If you break the unit or cable the regular shifter works without it. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Charlie D
a Cross Country Rider
from Oak Ridge TN
Date Reviewed: April 8, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Haw Ridge | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$5.00 | | Purchased At: | Cambria | | Strengths: | It works just as it was meant to | | Weaknesses: | set screw
c-washers for cable adjustment
needs some glue to make it work | | Similar Products Used: | Shimano STI road, '95 XT, gripeshift, Exsage thumbshifter (indexed), Suntour non-indexed thumbshifter | | Bike Setup: | Al hardtail, Z4 flexlight air, 120mm-10 degree stem, 23 1/2" Litespeed staight bar, Topo Ti barends | | Bottom Line: | People say this thing is delicate. Well I can top it all. My bike was on the roof-rack and I drove into my carport. The accident left a big impression in the house's rain gutter, and it tore the bike rack all to hell. (didn't damage the rest of the Yakima rack or the car) The bike suffered no damage.
4/5 steaming turds because of that set screw. C'mon Shimano, even Gripshift has this one figured out.
4/5 turds for those itty, bitty c-washers that are supposed to be used for cable adjustments. Luckly mine didn't need any triming, but the cables will stretch. If this thing weren't just a prototype-in-production then it would have barrel adjusters.
4/5 turds because the plastic cable anchor popped out and fell on the floor every time I downshifted with the main unit's thumb-paddle. A little contact cement fixed that.
5/5 turds for functonality. It works great! When my fanny gets sore and my lower back aches, I just stand up and shift the bike from the barend.
PS anybody know where I can get a 25 3/4" straight bar? In bulged Ti? Oh yes, custom Litespeed. That would only bring the cost of my remote shifter to what, $105?
Value? For 5 bucks you can't possible go wrong. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Punk 182
a Racer
from Canada
Date Reviewed: April 2, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Kelso | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$5.00 | | Purchased At: | Online | | Strengths: | Really smooth and cool. | | Weaknesses: | Ugly, and fragile | | Similar Products Used: | none | | Bike Setup: | Trek 8000, XTR and SID sl | | Bottom Line: | Its cool, it works and its cheap. Cheapest XTR item you'll ever get. It works well. I liked not leaving my bars. I even used it on Areo bars when I did a 80 km mountain/ road race. Its a great idea would be ideal for triathletes with areobars. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Monte Laviolette
a Cross Country Rider
from Belleville, On., Canada
Date Reviewed: January 30, 2002 | | Favorite Trail: | Any that test skills | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Price Paid: |
$40.00 | | Purchased At: | Doug's Bikes | | Strengths: | Ease of shifting. Don't have to take hand off bar end. Weight - only about 40gms. Can install yourself if at all mechanically capable. XTR quality. | | Weaknesses: | None found yet (I didn't even mind the $$paid). | | Similar Products Used: | None - first remote shifter tried. | | Bike Setup: | Minelli Aluminum Y-frame, XTR derailliers, shifters, brakes. LX crank. Deore cogset. Monkeylite riser bar. Manitou fork. Stratos rear shock. Rigida rims. Shimano flight deck. | | Bottom Line: | If you do a lot of shifting with rear deraillier, and you use bar ends, this is a great product - lets you focus on what's ahead, 'cuz you don't have to keep removing your hand from bar end to shift. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Bill
a Cross Country Rider
from NY
Date Reviewed: May 7, 2001 | | Duration Product Used: | 3 months | | Price Paid: |
$28.00 | | Purchased At: | lbs | | Strengths: | I got this at lbs for $28 with an 8sp XTR shifter pod. As someone who loves bar ends, a remote shifter is what I always needed. Who cares if it adds a little weight. Its a great gadet. If it ever breaks after I cry I will rush out and buy another one. Another strength is that it says XTR. You can never have enough XTR. I would cary a brick if it said XTR. But really, if you like bar ends this can add alot of fun.
My mechanic got it to work on a short bar end, a Bontrager Race-lite mag. It normallt needs to be insttalled on longer barends. | | Weaknesses: | Installation looked complicated. I had it professionally installed. Takes some barend space away. You can't place it on the extreme tip of the bar end. | | Similar Products Used: | Alivio, stx, xt shifters | | Bike Setup: | The Uberbike. Dean Jester evrything XTR except for cranks and front derailer. | | Bottom Line: | These are a lot of fun. Add them if you use bar ends and have xtr pods. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Luke
a Cross Country Rider
from Knoxville,TN,USA
Date Reviewed: September 21, 2000 | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Price Paid: |
$15.00 | | Purchased At: | Cambria | | Strengths: | on sale everywhere. Lets you shift from multiple positions. Shifting quality is whats to be expected from XTR. | | Weaknesses: | Fragile...fragile like glass...fragile like dry pasta...fragile like ..well, you get the idea. | | Similar Products Used: | Nothing like this | | Bike Setup: | 99 Jamis Dragon. | | Bottom Line: | "15$ at Cambria!? Why not!?" I said to myself while flipping through a magazine. For a week i dreamed about flying up hills that were too steep before with new shifting options before me. UPS came, easily installed on my bike in 10 minutes...ready to ride!
The first climb on the trail I shifted 30x just to play with it...excellent smoothness and very convenient to have.On the way down, a branch caught the excessively large loop of housing and spun my bars, not bothering to compensate, I bailed and watched as my right bar end smashed into a tree.
No problem i thought, it's XTR afterall!
Big NO.
The shifter had simply exploded into a mess of bearing races, plastic washers and cables...No reason to stick it back together as it was beyond repair. For the rest of the ride my shifting was very sticky, as I couldn't untension the cables and they pulled on my XTR shift levers.
I was mad, I could have bought a dozen powerbars with that 15 bucks!
I can't reccomend this product to anyone who rides on real trails as it is far far too fragile to take any real world abuse.
Racers who have norba trails with very little trees and more wide open trails could find a little bit of an advantge with this, I suppose.
Probably the people who would most enjoy this product would be commuters, or long distance tourers, as this is mostly a comfort item, and nothing more. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Alvin Adeva
a Weekend Warrior
from San Francisco, CA
Date Reviewed: July 3, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | China Camp, San Rafael, CA | | Duration Product Used: | Less than 1 month | | Strengths: | XTR quality, Alivio Pricing at Cambria, ability to shift using any hand position. Great for climbs. | | Weaknesses: | way too fragile. that's it.
| | Similar Products Used: | None | | Bike Setup: | Dean Oscar Custom, XT/XTR mix, SDG Seat, Cook Brother F series cranks w/ RaceFace rings, Onza Procut barends, Serfas Lock On, Time ATAC Carbon pedals, Dean Stem/post, Mavic 217/GT CNC wheels, Tioga XC front and rear, Sachs PC-51 chain, SID XC | | Bottom Line: | If you shift a lot, and I don't know anyone who really rides and doesn't do that, then these are absolutely essential. Shifting on a climb, especially with Rapid rise derailleurs really makes this $8.00 investment worthwhile. I would highly recommend this product. As far as shifting goes, it shifts just as well as the actual shifters themselves, however I would appreciate a slightly different mechanism where one click would generate an upshift, not two. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
goo
a Weekend Warrior
from tn
Date Reviewed: June 17, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | tsali | | Duration Product Used: | 6 months | | Strengths: | useful, light, XTRed my bike more | | Weaknesses: | weak, fragile, can screw up your shifting, big old ugly loops of cable | | Bottom Line: | the very FIRST time I took this thing out onto the trail brushed my barend against a tree and it EXPLODED all over, if that wasnt bad enough, it screwed up my shifting for the remainder of the ride. I took it off and gave up on it because it sucked prior to breaking anyways.
But I got bored one day and cleaned it out and lubed the cables really well (the shimano grease is TOO THICK) and found that the return spring , which is VITAL!!!!, had come undone. assembling everything right, and getting all of the crappy shimano lube out has made this ting grreat to have, although it doesnt fix its fragility, or the problem of big loops of cable swingin around. | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
mike taylor american bada!@
a Cross Country Rider
from country town near dallas
Date Reviewed: June 11, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | all with real dirt and no p!@#$ trails | | Duration Product Used: | 1 Year | | Strengths: | works. | | Weaknesses: | just plain ugly, too many cables, added five grams to my precious feather bike, and bar ends suck anyways. i never used the thing really. finicy and tends to ghost shift with some 8speed stuff. i got a riser and 50mm stem, and now who need bar ends! i can outclimb a lot of people just the same and never gore myself if something goes on a sick downhill section. | | Similar Products Used: | they don't make any | | Bike Setup: | 30/39t 2by8 xtr/xt mix and wierd crank on carbon hdtl. | | Bottom Line: | if you are still riding those walmart looking bar ends and watching inspector gadget, by it. | Value Rating: Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
tim gerrits
a Cross Country Rider
from vorchten
Date Reviewed: January 21, 2000 | | Favorite Trail: | boulion | | Duration Product Used: | 2 Years | | Strengths: | very good help for climbing, when you like to climb with your hands on the barends | | Weaknesses: | setup | | Similar Products Used: | there is nothing like it | | Bike Setup: | S works M4 /XTR/ manitou/profile / | | Bottom Line: | most people are very sceptic towards this product.
They think it is very fragile, and do not see the use of it
I can tell you , if you have the right shape barends,
and take the nessesary time for good setup,
You will have a very good tool for powerfull climbing | | Value Rating:Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mike Card
a Cross-Country Rider
from Santa Ana, CA
Date Reviewed: June 17, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
Peters Canyon | | Duration Product Used: |
less than 1 month | | Strengths: |
same as before | | Weaknesses: |
loosening cable housing | | Bike Setup: |
same as before | | Bottom Line: | Just a quick update. My downshifting cable housing kept popping out of it's hole in the remote. This would pull the normal trigger finger shifter and cause shifting problems. If this happens to you, or in prevention, tack it down in the hole with a drop of superglue. I did this and it fixed it. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
cjm
a Cross-Country Rider
from Syracuse
Date Reviewed: June 10, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
singletrack | | Duration Product Used: |
less than 1 month | | Strengths: |
It is makes a lot of sense and also works. | | Weaknesses: |
retaining screw could easily perforate the bar-end if tightened or through long-term use. | | Bike Setup: |
F700 w/Onza bar-ends | | Bottom Line: | The remote shifter does what it is supposed to do and in an XTR-like manner. The part blends right in with the rest of the system and is easy to install. I am only worried that the tightening screw will eventually wear out the thin aluminum bar-end material. I put some hair spray before installing to add some grip but that is not necessarily a solution. For $8, can't ask for much more though. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mike Card
a Cross-Country Rider
from Santa Ana, CA
Date Reviewed: May 24, 1999 | | Favorite Trail: |
Peters Canyon | | Duration Product Used: |
less than 1 month | | Strengths: |
ingenious design
simple addon
cheap | | Weaknesses: |
setscrew mounting | | Bike Setup: |
GT Zaskar w/Judy XC and '99 XT group | | Bottom Line: | This is a great addon, for a cheap price. Helps a whole lot with climbing. Set screw mounting is a bad idea, but they couldn't have done much else and kept the weight down. If your bike is a XC rocket and you have '98 XTR or '99 XTR, XT, or LX get this part! | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Flipper
a cross-country rider
from Ontario, Canada
Date Reviewed: December 5, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
This remote shifter came on my new bike and I think it is a wicked little device. It is winter here and I have be using it on my rollers to shift and it has been great. The action is quick and smooth, I haven't noticed any differnece between shifting with it and my XTR pods. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
eboos
a racer
from Santiago, Chile
Date Reviewed: November 11, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
Junk. I couldn't wait for this thing that I expected to make all the difference in my climbing. Then when I got it, I found out that it wouldn't fit my bar ends. I ordered Titec 130's and then went to put them on. The first thing I noticed, was that they were not very snappy in there action, they were kind of sluggish. The next thing I found was that the little clamp bolt drilled a hole into my bar ends. Thankfully, this only cost me $12.00 because it had never seen the dirt.Improvements that I would recommend:
1. Use shorter cables and housings to quicken the action.
2. Use a clamp system like on the Answer Hyperlite bar ends to cover the inside and outside of the bar end, so you don't have to worry about deformation.It's a good idea, but it has some bugs that need to be worked out. | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mark
a weekend warrior
from Columbia, MD
Date Reviewed: October 30, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
After 7 months the cables have frayed. LBS has given me a new set of remote cables, and so far the cables have stopped slipping out the holes. The cables do seem to flex too much when using the normal thumb shifter is depressed, which I believe has lead to fraying (4 strands were broken). I love the remote but it does seem to be finicky and short lived. At least it only a $20 item. I hope the 98 XTR shifter is compatible with the 99 remote because I may hold out and see if the 99 has addressed some of the problems. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Mark
a weekend warrior
from Columbia, MD
Date Reviewed: October 1, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
I love the remote and I have the Rapid rise derailleur to match. However I have had a repeated problem with the remote cable housings sliding out of the holes and as a result not returning the main levers to the normal position. I found a solution but Shimano may need to rework the design of the remote a little. To stop the cables from popping out I took a strip of teflon tape and wrapped it around the end of the cable housing, so that the cable housing now has a tight fit in the holes. It is a great concept and it works great now, but it took a couple of months to find the solution. So I give 2 peppers | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Nick
a cross-country rider
from Calgary, Ab, Calgary
Date Reviewed: August 30, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
Kick ass product... it has survived many crashes well since I got it on my F3000 in May but today it finally broke... perhaps I can fix it but I know this I'm gonna get a new one cus I can't live without one nemore... my riding style greatly relies on it now. If you got the $, barends and don't crash a lot definately get one. Even if you do crash a lot get one but just be prepared to
to replace it when you've toasted it but that will take many crashes. Neone know how much a new remote shifter is? | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Killer
a cross-country rider
from UK
Date Reviewed: August 15, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
Great gizmo. Admit it's a bit unneccessary and expensive. but it put's the final touch to the rest of the XTR gear stuff i bought. WOrks better with a reverse pull XTR mech I've heard so i bought the lot. Really handy, always there and on soem of the more boring parts of your rifde you can spend aging just changing gfear there just for the novelty. Bit of slack in the cable detracts from the overall silky feel of XTR but still brilliant | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
nwbiker
a cross-country rider
from Issaquah, WA
Date Reviewed: July 19, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
I put these shifters on today. After spliting them half by forcing them on to wide bar ends and spending 3 hours total trying to put the spring in right I have in salled them onto the bar end. They are really simple to install into the shifter but make shure you have a 7/8 bar end or you have trouble. I am kinda glad that the bar end shifter came a part because now I know how it really works. It is really very simple, a spring, 2 bal-bering sets and some pods. Over all this produch is very helpful but a bit pricey (at 30 for the remote and 100+ for the shifter pods) but it really helps for uphill sections and not expensive to replace. | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Brad
a cross-country rider
from Hammond Louisiana
Date Reviewed: January 11, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
The XTR rapidfire remote is a really cool gizmo if you use barends. I put one on my bike and was amazed at how much I use it. It adds shiftting control especially when climbing. It is neat how the remote works. The remote shifter actually moves the levers when you shift. You can't really shift as quickly as you can when your hands are on the bars but it often allows you to shift into a lower gear just when you need it while climbing. I like them. Would get five but a I dropping to four because it works only on 98 xtr (without spending a fortune). | | Overall Rating: |
Submitted by
Tim
a racer
from Conn.
Date Reviewed: January 6, 1998 | | Bottom Line: |
I had M-950 XTR rapidfire levers, so all I had to do was remove
the shifter mechanism from my old shifter/levers, install the new one,
and slap the remote shifter on my bar end. I was not that easy. If you
have ever taken apart a rapidfire shifter, and are proficient at it, it
will take you all of about a half hour to install this Kit. If however,
you are an average joe, beware of parts that will fall to the floor,
springs that pop out and fly across the room, and be prepared to scratch
your head a lot, and look confused while staring at what you have done
to your XTR shifters. After about 6 hours of the above I managed to
install the new mechanism, and in about 15 minutes, installed the cables
to the remote shifter and secured it to my bar-end.It works very nicely. two small levers, a spring loaded one on the
outside of the bar end that activates the return lever on your main
shifter, and a slightly larger lever on the inside that operates the
feed lever (thumb lever) on your main shifter. It does take a little
extra force than your main shifter, due to added cable friction, but not
much. If you have XTR, or plan on upgrading, and you spend some time on
your bar ends, you might want to check this out. you might want to
upgrade to Gore cables to decrease the friction level.
-Just dont hook a tree with your right bar-end, or you might be buying a
new shifter unit (about $20 or so) | | Overall Rating: |
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