Shifter (bicycle part)
Bicycle component
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Related on Lably
Through Bicycle and Bicycle gearing
Location
Traditionally shifters were mounted on the down tube of the frame or stem. For ergonomic reasons, they tend to be located somewhere on the handlebars on modern bicycles.
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Mechanisms
There are various types of shifter:
- Grip shifter - a wheel with click stops surrounding the handlebar is turned until the desired gear is reached, though typically one gear at a time
- Trigger shifter - a lever is pulled or pushed to change gears one at a time
- Thumb shifter - similar to a trigger shifter, but usually allows changing up to 3 gears at a time
- Road bike shifter - integrated with brake levers, sometimes known as a "brifter".
In 1990, Shimano introduced their Shimano Total Integration, STI, shifting levers for road bicycles, this was an indexed shifting system and the first to integrate shifting with the brake levers. Campagnolo soon followed with their ErgoPower system. The SRAM Double Tap was introduced in 2005.