Twisty Shifters On Touring (Butterfly) Bars
 

My touring bike has twisty shifters on a butterfly bar. I’ve been having issues with hand discomfort and numbing and the butterfly bar seems to help significantly. The twisty shifters seem to work okay but seem a little iffy in use and like they may not be too durable. Do others have experience with this type of shifter and If I were to change out these shifters what would be good options?

Butterfly bars are new to me and the brake lever locations are different enough from straight bars and drop bars that I’ve had issues with finding the brake levers when quick braking is needed. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

I have toured for more than 10 years using twist shifters and found them good. Obviously the brand will have some say in this but over this time, I had to replace the shifter once when it wore out.
My current bike is a LHT with bar end shifters and I was concerned that these may not be as good as the twist shifters but have soon got used to them and would not go back to the twist shifters.
One advantage of the twist shifters is that it is possible to make small adjustments to the front deraileur if it starts to rub as you go to the extreme gears on the rear cluster (turn it another click to stop the rubbing).

whether you like using them or not is going to be personal preference, but I can say that in our family, there was a hybrid with earlyish sram twist shifters that worked for decades with no issues, and which kind of went along with the opinion that they are very tough and a simple effective design.

changing the cables at one point was a bit tricky and I had to use youtube and the internet to get tips on understanding how to do it, but it was very impressive how long they lasted, 20+ years of regular use before the bike was stolen.

I personally do not like twist shifters, but thats me.
and as for the butterfly bars, you will get used to them and re braking, simply think ahead a bit and only have your hands on the "brake and shift" position whenever there is any chance of having to take avoidance or braking action. I have a pair on a commuter, and find I instinctively go to that position anytime I am approaching any people, cars etc.

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whatever you're used to and comfortable with on straight bars should work for your butterfly bars. brake location isn't that much different from straight bars, is it? .
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you got the straight section for controls that matches the straight bars, and the curved side bits that correspond to bar-ends. (assume you have the bars mounted with the opening to the rear.) .
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https://cn.bing.com/th?id=OIP.H3FvdZ...=1920&rs=1&p=0

I have 2 bikes with trekking bars both with, as you call them, twisty shifters.
and a 3rd on a straight bar also with a grip shifter... all 3 are operating internal gear hubs

all 3 bars are 7/8" tube aka 22.2 mm in common.. a mountain bike bar size..


From your description you might have a low cost bike comprised of low cost component parts....

Where did you buy this bike? what is the rest of the drivetrain?





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Because the figure 8 bend is first forward then around the sides and back, around,
the open end, for me..
you may choose to change the stem extension length longer or shorter , or perhaps higher ..

I cannot speak for what's right for you just what I did..




....

When I went looking for a new bike last year I REALLY wanted trigger shifters. But the bike I wanted has the SRAM MRX twist grip. I checked the reviews on it and they seem typical. Not great, But not bad either overall for a low priced bike like mine. I also checked out peoples thoughts of both twist grip and trigger. The results were inconclusive. Many folks like the twist grip, Others like the trigger shift.

So I gave It a try. Turns out I really like the twist grip shifters. I can skip a gear or two if I need too, But prefer not to, And if the shifting gets finicky, Like shifting from my small chainring to the medium one I can overshoot the shift slightly and return it to the proper position like friction shifters. They may not be best for serous mountain biking when there is a chance we can shift inadvertently when we encounter very steep rough hills or slam down from jump, but otherwise...no problem.

I only have 1,000 km on them, But I'm satisfied they are durable enough for my needs.

I've never used twist shifters for multi day rides as I'd be concerned with one needing repairs miles from nowhere. IMO is that simplicity is your friend for long unsupported rides. The higher end twist shifters are very good. I have a set of SRAM 9.0 which have been trouble free but I've gone through many sets of low end Grip Shifters on our townie cruisers.

Again we fill in for the posts which were started without sufficient details,

with 'I have a something or other'

big difference between the stuff Sram sells to factories making $250 bikes ,

and the 2 cable pull-pull shifter from R'off or Nuvinci ..

does the OP care ? beats me ..







....

I've used SRAM Rocket Shorty twist shifters with Shimano 9s drivetrain for 19 years on four bikes. SRAM quit making them at least 10 years ago, so I bought extras when sellers cut price to dump them, and am now on my last set. The rubber grips wear out over time, especially on the right side. Very intuitive and fast shifting, precise, reliable and impervious to crash damage. Most people use bottom-of-the line SRAM twist shifters which are not as good, so twist shifters are widely perceived as junk, consequently no one wants to steal them. In a word, they're perfect (for "flat" bars).

I recall now that we have a bike that had some other twist grip shifter unit on it, and it broke after not that many years, and I replaced with triggers. So in that case, they were not reliable (probably were low end ones, I have them still in a parts box as the left shifter works fine, but cant recall what brand or model they were).

so in other words, like all things, there are so so ones, and better ones....

On a straight-type bar (MTB or city hybrid) I like the twist shifters from both Shimano and SRAM. One thing I prefer is for the front shifter to be the twist version of "friction" in which there are about 20 small click increments instead of the few for front index shifting. I find it much more useful for trimming the front derailleur when adjusting the cage in compensation for the chain angle changes from shifting the rear.

In the bike shop the cheap grip shifters are made with the cable on them when they leave the factory..

Its such a PITA to try replacing the cable, they go in the garbage, and something else is installed..

Fit Thumb shifters perhaps?

My grip shifted 14 speed IGH. trekking bar bike: grip on the right side..
http://www.cyclofiend.com/working/im...-6P1010011.jpg

I have one bike with trigger shifters and one with a twist shifter. I don't care for the twist shifter and will switch it out when I can. But, as fietbob said/implied, your options depend on your current set-up, you which you provide no info. Issues that will determine your options: bar diameter -- for a trekking bar, it's probably mountain bike standard. What is your current gearing front/rear? Who makes your derailleurs? Are you interested in bar-end shifters? Then you need to know the internal dimensions of your handlebars.

I suspect you have several options open to you, but I don't think anyone can suggest a specific product without some details of your current situation. I've always used twist shifters on my trekking bars because it's what was available for my rear hub, but I'm looking into changing my rear hub just to get rid of the twist shifter.

I have not used twist type shifters, but I do mechanic work on our school district's bike safety fleet. Out of the 36 bikes, 24 of them have twist shifters. I can attest to their durability. The bikes are 2005 models with mid-level 7 speed Sram shifters. Almost all of the shifters are original equipment, and still work relatively well. I don't know how many classes of 5th graders have used those bikes before we inherited them from a neighboring city, but it has been a lot. At that age kids can be petty hard on equipment. Loading and unloading the bikes from the trailer is also hard on them. As djb said, changing cables cables can be a little tricky.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...2e9ef5a3_c.jpg