Thumb pain & Gear shifters

[orbiter]

On my bikes I have Shimano Acera gear shifters, on straight and butterfly handlebars. I have mild but increasing arthritis in my left thumb, which I am told is quite common. This can makes shifts to larger rings painful, so that on occasions I have to make shifts with my right hand. Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a suitable replacement for this type of gear shift which needs less thumb pressure? I suspect a twist-grip may become just as painful at some point, though I haven't tested one.

 

[gwhite]

On my bikes I have Shimano Acera gear shifters, on straight and butterfly handlebars. I have mild but increasing arthritis in my left thumb, which I am told is quite common. This can makes shifts to larger rings painful, so that on occasions I have to make shifts with my right hand. Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a suitable replacement for this type of gear shift which needs less thumb pressure? I suspect a twist-grip may become just as painful at some point, though I haven't tested one.

I have the same problem and find that it can be worsened by poorly lubed gear cables or cables. I would imagine that a Twist grip would be better in this instance.

 

[Globalti]

Agreed; try new cable inners and outers before doing anything drastic. You'll be amazed at the improvement.

 

[MacB]

you can also use a bar end or downtube friction shifter which could help, front shifts shouldn't be that frequent really.

 

[Cheule]

I'm in a similar situation and I'm using a pair of Deore twist grips. It's solved my finger pains

 

[MacB]

Thinking on it you could use one of these mounts:-

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/sjsc-special-thumb-shifter-brackets-for-222-mm-bars-black-prod10405/

put a barend friction shifter on it and mount it next to your existing shifter on the right hand side. There's nothing to say that you can't have all shifting via the same hand, should be space on butterfly bars anyway. The shifter itself could be had for very little but I do accept that the brackets themselves are ludicrous prices for what they are.

 

[Ivan Ardon]

What shifters do you have now, trigger shift or thumbies? I've got an Acera front mechs on two of my bikes, one with trigger shifts and one with thumbies. The thumbies are much lighter on upchanges, both bike have new cables.

You also have the option of using your whole hand to change with the thumbies, rather than being forced to use the same digit each time.

Mrs IA has SRAM gripshifts on her bike, I've found them harder to use than either of the other options especially on the front, but that could just be me.

 

[Zoiders]

Try switching the rear mech and not the shifter.

Ask at your LBS about a rapid rise mech.