I've been riding the 2 ring SLX for a while...great cranks...
Cool thumbshifters... and crank
At Interbike, I saw thumbshifters on BMC's ultra high end race mtb. Then a month ago, I saw it on Jms' bling bike. "What's going on?" I said. I gotta look into this retro-chique.
What's happening is Paul Components built an adaptor to mount Shimano's barend shifters used in time-trial bikes. It lets folks get back to the age of simple thumb shifters. It's more reliable and saves weight. Oh, and I can shift up 9 gears at at time. Up or down!
So I finally got out to try it yesterday. It is awesome!! It is easy to access and shifts are flawless. The throw is a little long on the lever at about 160 degrees and the lever may get in the way when you're in in gear 5-6. Also, it requires Shimano rear derailleurs. Sram won't work because the indexing is different. The shifter allows you to go in 'friction' mode to work with Sram. But that is just tooo retro and inconvenient.
My other find is the Shimano SLX crank. All my test bikes are spec'd with Truvativ Stylo cranks and they're just not that good. So I looked around and found these SLX cranks. They are built like XTR but they're about $200. They have two versions, a triple ring and a double ring. The double ring is cool since it comes with a 36 tooth chainring and a bashguard ring.
On my bike, I replaced the Shimano bashguard with a thin Salsa, ring guide. It's lighter and that's all this bike really needs.
So there, just nerding out on parts since it's too warm to ride. Price for the shifter is not that cheap. $60 for the Paul Components adaptor and $70 for the Shimano 9-speed barcon shifters.
fc
What's happening is Paul Components built an adaptor to mount Shimano's barend shifters used in time-trial bikes. It lets folks get back to the age of simple thumb shifters. It's more reliable and saves weight. Oh, and I can shift up 9 gears at at time. Up or down!
So I finally got out to try it yesterday. It is awesome!! It is easy to access and shifts are flawless. The throw is a little long on the lever at about 160 degrees and the lever may get in the way when you're in in gear 5-6. Also, it requires Shimano rear derailleurs. Sram won't work because the indexing is different. The shifter allows you to go in 'friction' mode to work with Sram. But that is just tooo retro and inconvenient.
My other find is the Shimano SLX crank. All my test bikes are spec'd with Truvativ Stylo cranks and they're just not that good. So I looked around and found these SLX cranks. They are built like XTR but they're about $200. They have two versions, a triple ring and a double ring. The double ring is cool since it comes with a 36 tooth chainring and a bashguard ring.
On my bike, I replaced the Shimano bashguard with a thin Salsa, ring guide. It's lighter and that's all this bike really needs.
So there, just nerding out on parts since it's too warm to ride. Price for the shifter is not that cheap. $60 for the Paul Components adaptor and $70 for the Shimano 9-speed barcon shifters.
fc
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The one downside is the barrel on the barcons shifters are smaller diameter so it takes a greater lever throw to go through the gear range compared to the old XT thumb shifters. If you had smaller hands this would be a bigger problem. The shifters also sit a bit higher on the bar.
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Here's the bike. 36 tooth in the front 9-speed bike.
It's 17.7 lbs as pictured and wants to fly away.
fc
It's 17.7 lbs as pictured and wants to fly away.
fc
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My SLX equipped ride:
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I really like this crank - nice for the $$ it cost.
I really like this crank - nice for the $$ it cost.
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