calamarichris

The shifter is a little bulky, but it provides the finest, most buttery shifts of any bicycle or motorcycle I've ever ridden. It makes the OEM Alfine shifter (which is up to Shimano's usual reputation for quality) feel flimsy and cheap by comparison.

About the closest I have to a complaint about it is the index clicks are so nuanced, that it's perhaps more possible to not shift it completely if you're in a hurry or hurtin' from the effort; and of course the Alfine 11 speed hub does not like partial shifts. Once you adjust to this, it really is a sweet, sweet product. If I were an orangutan, I'd use my feel to give it FOUR thumbs up.





Even the little details are so spot-on with this shifter--when the lever is roughly parallel with the bar, well that just happens to be the perfect gear to start at every flattish intersection from a stop.




I have an identical Alfine 11 speed hub on an slmost-identical bike, and so was in the unique position to compare the Jtek to the Shimano shifter.

calamarichris

Forgot to mention, shifting multiple gears in one handful is also done with buttery smoothness. Either at a standstill or while pedaling, as long as you aren't throwing down major wattage during a shift, it shifts very positively and smoothly. Even 4 or 5 gears (or all 11) at a time, I just lighten the pedaling load slightly when shifting and it works beautifully.
And another advantage to the lever over the Alfine shifter or brifters is you always know what gear you're in, based on the lever position without even having to look.