Problem Solved.
Written: Apr 22 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great design, great function
Cons: Accidental shifts if not mounted property.
The Bottom Line: Probably the best shifting sytstem on the market. Only small issues if mounted improperly.
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| FlanderFlop's Full Review: Sram X.9 Trigger Shifters Set |
Background
In a component market dominated by Shimano, SRAM has been struggling to gain a foothold, and the X.9 shifters are one more giant leap towards taking a bite out of the major manufacturer. Until this year, when choosing a set of shifters, you really had two worthwhile options. It was either the Shimano Trigger Shifters, or the SRAM Grip Shift (twist shift). Unfortunately for SRAM, there was a small core group of twist shift fans, but almost everyone else preferred the trigger shifters.
The solution to this problem was kind of a no-brainer, SRAM had to come up with its own trigger shifter. So after a bunch of research and development they came up with their own version of the trigger shifter and put it out on the market. This is all well and good except for the minor difficulty that they tended to break easily and as such, nobody bought them. This poor initial performance was a big hit to the SRAM trigger shift movement, but they seem to have now worked the bugs out of the system and are now turning out a product that is far superior to Shimano’s. Which brings me to the X.9’s
The Shifter
The X.9’s are the high end of SRAM’s SRAM-compatible shifters, and are roughly equivalent to the SRAM Rocket which is the same thing but it uses a 2:1 pull ratio rather than SRAMs 1:1 ratio so that it is compatible with Shimano’s rear derailleur. Upon first glance the X.9s look much like Shimano’s traditional shifter, but it only takes about two minutes of riding them to feel a major difference. Unlike the Shimano trigger shifters, all of the shifting is done with the thumbs. The large long pull button that pulls the cables tighter are very similar to the Shimano shifters although it does have a little longer throw on it due to the 1:1 pull ratio. The big difference is in the smaller button that releases the tension on the cable. Your thumb tends to rest on this button naturally, and the shifting is more like tightening your grip on the bar than actually shifting. This makes for very simple and intuitive shifting and allows you to keep all you fingers on the brakes or bar while shifting, but also brings me to the one drawback of the system.
Drawback and Fix
Because the downshift is more like squeezing on the bar than anything else there is a tendency to accidentally shift when you do squeeze on the bar. Early on I found that I had a number miss-shifts while I was going through rough very technical sections. Once I moved the shifter in a little further on the bar (away from the grips) the number of miss-shifts was reduced, but I still accidentally hit it sometimes. For the most part however, I have found that I like the shifting system much better than the Shimano trigger system.
Compare to STI
What about Shimano STI? Shimano has at the same time come out with a new system called the Shimano Total Intigration (STI) system which actually uses the brake lever as a shift lever. (This has been used in road bikes for a while, but is relatively new in the mountain bike scene). I have one of my bike set up with the STI and one with the X.9, and it is really a toss up as to which I like better. For pure shifting functions, I think the STI probably wins out by a hair, but the SRAM system has one major advantage that will keep me with the SRAMs in the future. The advantage is that it is not integrated, so if you brake or wear out a shifter you do not need to replace the brake lever as well, and if you bend a brake lever you are not out a shifter. The monetary savings in having them separated is significant if anything ever brakes, and if you ride enough it eventually will.
Other Notes
One other thing you will notice when you get your hands on these is just how sturdy these things are. There are none of the little plastic pieces hanging off that make it feel cheap and fragile. The shift indicator is built into the bar mount so that it gains its stability from the mount instead of hanging off the top like the Shimano’s, and even the barrel adjusters are built well and have a very distinct click as you adjust the cable so that you can better get a better gauge for the adjustment that you are making.
The Short Version
Overall, these are my favorite shifters on the market. The hand movements required to shift are very natural and allow you shift in both directions while pulling on your brakes. SRAM has come up with a great design here and I am glad that they have worked out all of the bugs from their initial offering. Great work guys.
Recommended:
Yes
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