The Alfine gear shifter fitted to my Kalkhoff Pro-Connect doesn't work. It won't tension the cable to change into a higher gear. It's ok releasing the tension, but when changing up, the thumb shifter doesn't feel like it's engaging with the tensioning mechanism. If I push up and away with my thumb simultaneously, sometimes the mechanism just about engages and tensions the cable.

 

Is this likely to be worn out and in need of replacement? If it's a replacement job, then I'd rather just break out £30 and buy one rather than attempt a futile repair.

 

If it is worn out, this would be very disappointing. The bike is only 14 years old and has barely done 45000 miles. They just don't make stuff like they used to.

Edited June 14, 20223 yr by tillson

Time to buy a nice alfinay twist grip shifter, I wouldn't be without mine and even on the Ute cargo bike I have a pair of shimano micro twist shifters ready to swap over for the triggers.

As for the 14 year time span one could complain to Shimano and tell them it's just not good enough.

Time to buy a nice alfinay twist grip shifter, I wouldn't be without mine and even on the Ute cargo bike I have a pair of shimano micro twist shifters ready to swap over for the triggers.

As for the 14 year time span one could complain to Shimano and tell them it's just not good enough.

 

That’s interesting, I’d not considered a twist shifter. I’ve never had any problems with the trigger type. What do you like about twist shifters please?

What do you like about twist shifters please?

I cut my right thumb when quite small and cannot oppose it. This makes operating trigger shifters very awkward (but obviously isn't relevant to most people). I found the early versions almost completely impossible, I had to take my hands off the handlebars and reach underneath to change down. The more recent ones are much easier, so hardly a problem at all, but I still find twist ones easier.

Hi, After years of using trigger shifts on the downtube of my touring bike, I didn't think I would like the twist shifter on the cheap and cheerful secondhand Raleigh which I acquired for conversion to a Swytch style electric but I have to admit it's been brilliant mainly because with the weight distribution being front biased (even with the battery moved to the back) it allows me to keep safe control of the steering and handling.

I find my thumbs no longer ache or hurt and just the ease of use without barely moving my hand off the handle bar or brake if needed. The twist grip feels so right to me.

Someone suffering arthritis may also find thumb pressure painful or not very easy to use.

I like the trigger shift on my Tern, I was OK with the twist shift to the Rohloff on my Delite, but arthritis made it impossible to continue with. Now I have the push button changer on the E14 Rohloff. I would prefer the twist shift over the E14.

The trigger shift on the Affine gears are the nicest to use in my opinion.

I love my twist grip shifters, having arthritis and rsi in my right thumb shifting gear was becoming more and more painful, so much so that I was using a lot of sports injury support tape (Kinesiology tape) for every ride. The tape helped for a while but didn’t cure the problem

Changing 4 bikes to twist grips solved the problem over night, well not quite, on the first conversion there was still a little discomfort until I realised that twist grips work just as well on the left as they do on the right