These are the best shifters you'll ever set a hand on. There's nothing like them, and if you think your old SunTour barcons are the bee's knees, bless you, but you're living in dreamland.

Their magic is the Power Ratchet inside. The shifting is smooth, light, simple, fast, and precise. Indexing, in comparison, seems raucous and archaic. They work with any derailer, and freewheel, cassette, chain, etc., so you have the peace of mind that comes from knowing you'll never be midway between gears and powerless to do anything about it.

FLASH! SRAM's 9sp mountain rear derailers don't seem to work with this shifter. The movement of the derailer changes dramatically from the 8th to the 9th position. Why'd they do that? Anyway--just don't use these with that derailer. OK, now back to the description:

There's a short learning curve, but don't let that scare you. Everybody learns fast with these.

The bar-end version comes with cables, housing, end-caps, shifter boss adapters. (That's right, it comes with the downtube shifter boss adapters!)

Weederouterwarning:
The little grey plastic washer beneath the wing-bolt that tightens these...sometimes cracks over time. How long and what are the consequences and what's the fix?
How long depends on how tight you crank down. You could easily go 7 years or more. I have. On the other hand, if you live in Arizona and crank down too hard, it could be less than a year. A muscleman could do it in a few seconds, with effort.

What are the consequences? Usually a piece falls off, leaving half-or-2/3 or a washer in place. It looks ugly, it's still functional. Bolt tension on the remaining piece makes it unlikely to fall out.

The fix? Well, in a better world they'd be brass or bronze, but that's not in the cards, and for the love of angels in high heaven, it's not for lack of trying. Thank Zeus a simple metal washer works. And we're getting in plastic ones, bronze ones, stainless ones in various configurations (wave washers, flat washers) that are stackable, and should work for freakingever.

If the possibility of a broken washer bums you out, and you don't buy, that's probably a good way to go. But we seriously and sincerely think you shouldn't forego these best-of-best shifters, our all-time favorites, the saviors of thousands. YES, the washer shouldn't crack. YES, it does, or can. But there is no danger, the fix is easy, and then off you go again. We are still working toward a more fantastic solution, because it's no fun having this note up here, taking some fun out of these great shifters.