LordA

Hey folks,

I'm trying to figure out what I can do. I have an unmodified 2018 Masi Inizio. I'm just trying to get into biking. I really like it except...

I have cerebral palsy. It causes significant strength loss on my left side. The issue is I can BARELY shift on my left side with this bike. I don't know if equipment can make a difference or if I'm just screwed all together. My left hand is strained pretty bad right now from me essentially forcing it beyond its' capabilities for the last few weeks. I was hoping it would catch up/shape up but unfortunately it hasn't yet and now I can't shift at all. :-(

The bike uses a shimano Claris r2000 groupset. I don't know if thats really any good or not. Unfortunately money IS an obstacle. That's partly why I went for this bike to start with.

seau grateau

Since money is an obstacle, I'd consider maybe looking at your chainrings. Not sure what size rings you have now, but you could maybe go for something in between your big and small rings in tooth count, basically turning your bike into a 1x since you're not able to use the left shifter. You might be able to get a decent spread of gears this way to work around your current issue.

1500SLR

My first thought would be to go electronic but you'd be looking at around $300-$500 to even convert your bike to Ultegra 6770 with second hand components. But if you went with electronic shifting you could set up remote shifting that actuates both deraileurs with your good hand. My second thought is that you could switch to Shimano XTR 1x11. This would allow you to move all your shifting to one hand. My next thought is that you could also consider changing to another form of shifting that might be easier for you to use such as downtube shifters. This allows for a different method of shifting which might be easier for your hands to use. Otherwise you can put your rear shifter cable on your good hand and basically convert your bike to a 1x setup. You could look at changing the cogs in your rear cassette to suit it being a 1x cassette and basically ignore the front derailleur.

Hopefully one of these helps.

HTupolev

It's not fancy, but like almost anything made by Shimano, it does the job.

The least drastic change might be to stick a friction shifter on the right side of the handlebars, and use that for shifting the front derailleur. Since your bike probably has nothing but a plug at the end of the handlebar, it might be a good position to stick the shifter: a bar-end friction shifter would go in place of the plug. Besides re-routing the shift cables and housing, you'll need to re-wrap your handlebar tape.



Entry-level bar-end friction shifters currently go for around $30, i.e. these.

LordA

Ultimately, I think it will be good for my hand to do the motions of shifting. I might get a little flexibility/strength in my hand and wrist. I guess what I'm wondering is if a different shifter or group set will be easier to shift. The motion is good for me, but if I loosen this up to the point where I can shift comfortably (still hard to do but not painful) it's so loose on the chain that it won't shift more often than not.

I'm looking at downtube shifters as I'm not familiar with that (not really familiar with bikes in general yet).

WhyFi

You might want to check out this subforum, I think they have the potential to be a better resource for you - https://www.bikeforums.net/adaptive-...t-other-needs/

LordA

Wow. So I did a little research. The downtube shifters seem great. However, I'm going to need to develop my confidence in riding with 1 hand before I attempt that. I would be riding with my right hand on the bar and shifting both sides with my left (reaching through the tube to shift) as I don't think I could ever bring myself to trust my left hand solo on the bars.
Would just upgrading the entire groupset (more expensive I know) to something a little higher end make shifting in general easier or does the ease at which the shifters physically move not change much?

banerjek

I'm a huge fan of downtube shifting. Cheap, reliable, light, and works great.

Having said that, depending on pain/control issues, the bar end solution recommended earlier could be better end as this requires the least dexterity to operate and you can still shift without making your hands leave the bars.

Whatever route you go, don't feel obligated to change both shifters if you don't want to. Just changing the left side will be cheaper and may work better for you.

1500SLR

I was just thinking the motion of downtube shifting might be easier for your hands to deal with. You don't have to mount them on the downtube, some people mount them on the stem or wherever else. In which case when you mount them on the stem they become stem shifters but they are essentially the same. It might be an easier motion to master. Electronic shifters will also be much easier to shift and as I said you could put both your shifters on the right hand side with a remote shifter. The problem with it is as I said you would be looking at between $300-$500 just in the parts to build a groupset secondhand and then you would ultimately need to have someone fit them.

I think you might like the idea of stem shifters and they're cheap... Any Shimano 8 speed compatible stem shifters would work with your groupset, and you don't have to move your hands so far (or can just do it with one hand). Sunrace is one example of a company that still makes Shimano cable pull compatible stem shifters.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SunRace-R30...oAAOSw7XZXhneK

eja_ bottecchia

1500SLR

I also agree with the above sentiments. As I've spent some time working with people with impairments. An impairment is only such until you work out a way to go around it. Eventually if you keep riding your bike you will develop more strength in your arms and legs, so you should keep doing it. It will significantly improve your leg strength and probably help with your walking also in time.

cycledogg

THIS. Except for Front Derailleur only. You can keep both shifters, just don't connect the rear, of course.

Homebrew01

You could also post here: https://www.bikeforums.net/adaptive-...t-other-needs/

Darth Lefty 

CliffordK

Having a good right hand and weak left hand makes everything easier, as the OP can continue to use the right brifter.

I'd have to say an emphatic NO to the stem shifters (well mostly).

The OP's bike (Masi Inizio) has 1 1/8" threadless.

While I did pound a Suntour stem shifter like the one above onto a 1 1/8" threaded stem once, it was very tight, and the threadless is just enough bigger that it would likely cause a problem (as well as having a design not really suited to stem shifters).

It might work, but I don't think anybody is making threadless compatible stem shifters.

Maybe a DT shifter clamp would fit on the stem (if it is long enough), but most DT shifters lack a full cable stop.

Anyway, it is technically possible, but you'd be doing a lot of hacking to get it mounted.

That is what I'd do. Keep the right brifter which seems to be working for the OP.

Mount the bar end shifter on either the right or the left (it may be easier for the OP to work on the left side than the brifters).

-----------------

I'd also probably nix the idea of downtube shifters. Again, the OP's bike has some kind of a shaped oversized downtube. It will be very hard to find a downtube shifter clamp to fit it. One might be better off drilling and putting in one of the Nova shifter bosses, but I don't think I would do that as it would be irreversible changes to the frame.

If one really wants to play around with stem shifters and DT shifters, then browse on the local Craigslist to find a cheap used bike with them... just to try them out before doing irreversible changes to the MASI.

There are other types of handlebar mounted shifters too. And, some may be easier to operate with the left hand. So, for example, many of the cheap department store bikes have a type of paddle shifter on the top of the bars. My nephew had some troubles with them, but, perhaps they'd be good for the OP as his strength may be different.

These are for a triple, but may work.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/152115736602



There are also "thumb shifters" that can be mounted anywhere one wishes on the bars (right or left)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Sunrace...e/372312410932



There are also various MTB trigger shifters that may be able to be adapted, but I'd probably keep it simple.

As mentioned friction may be easiest to adapt, and really is all that is needed for the front (plus it is easier to trim if the chain rubs).

So, perhaps a trip to the local bike co-op to see what they have laying around for cheap. Save on shipping, and often get good quality vintage stuff.

cycledogg

Here are some stem mounted friction shifters I found.
https://www.niagaracycle.com/categories/sunrace-slr03-friction-stem-shifter-28-6mm?utm_source=TPA%20On%20Google%20Shopping&utm_campaign=Top%20Placement%20Ads%C2%AE%20(SPLA)&utm_me dium=cpc&utm_term=People%20Searching%20For%20Bike%20Parts&utm_content=Google%20Shopping&product_id=4 4916&device=c&loc_physical_ms=9013132&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5Mbs3ozI2wIVVp7ACh2SJAXREAQYASABEgIoW_D_BwE

cycledogg

More 1-1/8" stem mounted friction shifters.
https://www.universalcycles.com/shop...iABEgK2tvD_BwE

LordA

Wow! Thank you for all the help and advice folks!
I'm also going to contact the San Diego cycling coalition (I think it's my local co-op) to see what they might have to try a few things.:-)
Much of this, I had no idea existed!

CliffordK

It might work.

It does appear to have some form of a cable stop which is good. It does look somewhat cheaply made.

However, from the photo, the edges of the band don't appear to be parallel, so installation with spacers would likely be problematic.

It may depend on the OP's actual config. We don't have a photo of his bike. There was a Problem Solvers locking spacer that was posted in another topic a couple of days ago, so one might be able to lock the headset then install the shifter band as high as possible.

At least some of the vintage Stem shifters have a lot of leverage and are easy to use.

That photo looks a lot more like DT shifters + a cable stop.

VegasTriker

I took a look at the bike you bought https://masibikes.com/products/inizio-2018. It certainly is a decent bike and at an MSRP of $820 is above the least of the entry level bikes. If you look at the headset in the picture it is obvious that vintage stem shifters probably would not fit the headset. The older stems were much narrower than your FSA headset. A barend shifter on the left would work but be sure to get one that is Shimano compatible.

You have an 11-32 cassette and 32/48 cranks which gives a gear range of 26.4 to 76.7 gear inches in the 32 chainring and 39.6 to 115.1 gear inches in the 48. I would try riding in the smaller chainring exclusively for a while, particularly if you are new to cycling. I am a great believer in using my gearing but find that on my 30 speed recumbent trike, I rarely move the front chainring off the center ring. The gears on the rear cluster are enough for nearly all conditions except for a very steep hill.

raria

Friction shifters are easy to shift with the heel of the palm of your hand and back of your hand.

rgconner

With something like this, you could put both controls on the right side which is your strong side.

You are going to do most of your shifting on the cluster anyway, so only if you needed to go big ring to small ring would it matter.

Which brings up another solution: Go one ring on the front and wide range on back. This is becoming standard on CX and Mountain bikes, and does not have to be expensive. A 36 up front with no ramps so the chain does not fall off and a 13-36 cluster in the back would probably cover 95% of your range.

LordA

Hey folks, so I was doing research on this.

I found this in an article about the groupset on my bike:
'The front derailleur pull-arm is significantly shorter than those on Shimano’s pricier groupsets, meaning that there is not as much leverage to move the cage. This means that moving from the small ring to the big ring requires a strong and sustained prod of the shifters, something that is not always easy if your hands are cold and you’re tired at the end of a long ride. Those with weaker fingers might struggle.'

This is exactly my problem - Is it possible to upgrade just the derailleur for an easier/smoother shift or is it more complex than that?

tigat

OP: I've been riding one-handed and adapting sports equipment for myself and others for years. There are countless ways to address or overcome a lack of function in one hand, many of them mentioned here. To say which one is best for you would be best decided with you and your bike present. For example, it would be nice to see your wrist angle, core position and strength, and a bunch of other things before deciding on the type and position of the shifter. Setting you up with a need to move your left hand around may not be the best from an efficiency and safety stanpoint. It may be as simple as you suggest--upgrading the front to an easier shifting derailleur. Most bike shops I have visited relish the task of solving the type of challenge your condition presents. Many do it as a labor of love for the sport, or as economically as possible. I'd start there.

VegasTriker

You might want to read this article on front derailleurs: All About Front Derailers You do have to select a new front derailleur that matches the "pull ratio" on the cable so that the index system on your brifter matches the derailleur. You need not go further than a mid-level FD. Once you get beyond that it is weight and fits and finishes on the derailleur that add most to the cost. The hierarchy from low to high is: 2200, Claris 2300, Sora, Tiagra, 105, Ultegra, Dura-Ace. I ususlly stop at 105 because they work well, last a long time, and don't require a bank loan.