davei1980

These look amazing to me. I love a lot about them, not the least of which is that they’re easy to customize to your drivetrain (as long as you’re running Shimano stuff). Thinking of getting a set to replace my non shifting levers + bar end shifter

Do you like them? Why or why not?

Troul 

if i didnt already have the Claris's, those would be something I'd try... the price is kinda steep though.

davei1980

Agreed but not too bad compared to Shimano/SRAM offerings, especially since they’re so compatible and customizable

DrDyno

I bought an 8-speed Gevenalle shifter to replace the Versa-8 Shifters that came on my 2009 Dynamic Synergy. The Synergy is equipped with an Alfine 8-speed hub, but shifted like any Shimano equipped road bike, by moving the brake lever left or right. I'd be happy to sell the Gevenalle to you for cheap! After considerable frustration with the adjustment (which I finally got spot-on) the "feel" of it would see me constantly miss the gear I was looking for, either up or down.

Finally went with a MicroShift unit and have been happy ever since!

davei1980

I am running 10sp Ultegra stuff so I am sure it’s not compatible. Thanks anyway and glad to here MS stuff is working out for you!! I heard they make the shifters used by Gevenalle but not sure

DrDyno

Davei1980, don't know where you're getting your info. The Gevenalle and the MicroShift look and feel nothing alike. I know MicroShift makes a Shimano-105, 10 speed compatible shifter set. Not sure about an Ultegra 10-speed. In answer to your original question... I bought Gevenalle and I would not purchase them again.

mstateglfr 

I use Gevenalle shifters on my gravel bike. Its 2x11 and mated to a Shimano 105 5800 rear derailleur and a Shimano CX70 front derailleur. Love the setup and plan to continue to use the shifters when I build up a new gravel bike next month.

The actual shifters are made by Microshift and work just as expected. The brake levers are the old Tektro r200 levers which are comfortable and easy to grab on the hoods or in the drops. If they used Tektro rl340 levers instead, I definitely wouldnt complain, but the r200 have been confortable enough for thousands of miles and century gravel rides, so no complaints.

If you buy them from universal cycles, you can use the website's discount code(constantly changes and its free to get, just sign up for newsletter) to take about $40 off the cost of the shifters. Thats what I did four years ago.

The shift cables being outside the bar tape makes for an old style look, so that could turn many off from using the product, but I really dont care about whats in front of my bars since Im not using a bar bag or anything. The shifters are easy to set up, easy to use, easy to adjust, and easy to maintain. All that is the whole point of them existing, so its good they work in real use as designed.
Front friction shifting is a flick of a finger, same as STI shifting. Its just as fast too.
I can easily shift either side when out of the saddle too.

Old pic below.

masi61

105 SC down tube 7 speed shifter.


These were from the company that came before Gevenalle. These are the universal type ones that accept your own braze on or bar end shifters. Mine originally had red anodized bodies but the red color faded out.

DrDyno

Ebay search for Ultegra 10-speed brings up several available OEM shifters.

masi61

He meant to say Retroshift, not Microshift. That is what the company was called before it became Gevenalle.

mstateglfr 

Microshift is the manufacturer of Gevenalle's shifting mechanism. They are effectively Microshift bar end shifters without the bar end pod piece.

rosefarts

I thought really hard about getting these for my gravel build. The aesthetics and seemingly finicky shift set up dissuaded me. I got the Microshift bar end ones that are for 10speed mountain bike.

I've put a lot of miles on them. Sometimes even in mountain bike type of situations. I'm pretty happy I didn't end up with Genevalle's.

masi61

Not sure where the perception that they are finicky came from because in my experience they are the opposite of finicky. It is nice when you can shift a triple with a friction shift lever and be able to eliminate rubbing easily by trimming at a glance. The use of the 105sc 7 speed S.I.S. indexed lever works great on my 126 mm 6/7 speed frame where I am running a Dura Ace 7400 cassette hub with Uniglide 7 speed cassette with a Shimano 105SC GS cage rear derailleur for a nice 7 x 3 drivetrain. The shifter pods work great, the Tektro Aero levers are bulky like Campy levers and are very comfortable.

I have the "audax" version of the Gevenalle shifters, the ones where you add your own down tube levers. All you need to complete the job are Shimano flat backing plates and to run the compressionless housing out the sides to the down tube cable stop/barrel adjusters. The angle of the levers and where they fall once you take the slack out of the cable on new cables and housing did have the angle of the rear lever facing outward from my handlebars. Mentally you might have some mild confusion the first time you use them due to them being sort of upside down but actually they fall into hand really well when riding the brake hoods.

Podfunk

I love them, they're so much better than bar-end shifters as they're in the right place and also you can use a 48-36-26 ring MTB drive chain...which is why I bought them for my Alivio M4000 3 x 9 setup (Shimano road and MTB setups are, for the most part, not compatible...which means you can't use STI levers on MTB groupsets...grrr). They're basically available in every combination possible...including long and short pull brakes. In use you get used to them very quickly...there's a crossover point as you move down the cassette where you move from pushing the lever with your thumb to pulling with fingers. They're much nicer to use than they look! The front shifter is non indexed but you get used to that quickly...even on a triple set up. I personally think they're great for a touring/commuting setup. They're also very tough.

Viich

They're on my list of parts to look out for - I tried one bike with integrated shifters, and discovered that I HATE indexed front shifting. I'm not sure I really have a good frame to put them on at the moment, but the Audax look nice. I'm not a huge fan of the black levers. My other options for front friction would probably be bar end or the dia-compe wing shifter, I guess - harder and harder to find frames with downtube shifter braze-ons now.

Viich

Oops, I forgot about kelly take-offs.

veganbikes

I love mine, I have a set of the Audax shifters with Dura Ace 9 speed downtube levers (though I wish I had gone with the MicroShift levers that come on some models) on my touring bike. I am not a fan of STI levers (minus Di2 stuff) as the brake lever is not just a brake lever but also a shifter and that bothers me. Genevalle appealed to me as they integrate everything but the brake lever is a brake lever and I can go friction if needed be. It is the durability that I wanted for a long distance touring bike.

I will say the levers don't feel as ergonomic as the SRAM or Shimano "brifters". I wish that they had use the SRAM S500 levers or something more ergonomic but still they are just fine and those who have used Tektro levers before will be familiar with the feel.

I have a friend who saw my setup and had to have it and he loves it though coming from old Campagnolo levers that were broken and running as friction on Shimano 9 speed, anything is probably good. However he too was loving the durability, ease of repair and less faff required. He is basically for all intents and purposes a bicycle courier in how he uses the bike and is always on it.

oceanray

I know this is a necro - post and reviving on a long shot but by any chance do you happen to still have the set of Gevenalle shifters for sale? I know it was a couple of years ago, I only ask since I came across the thread while researching a switch to friction shifting and coincidentally I happen to be based in St. Pete as well! Cheers , hope all is well

Phil_gretz

I've never seen a set in the wild. Only on bikeforums.net. It's not a configuration that I'd try, since there are simpler ways to get shifting. I really like STIs and bar-end shifters.

mstateglfr 

Yeah, they arent a popular shifting option. I had them on my old gravel bike for a few years and loved em, but they were absolutely the quirky/unique option in every way. Out of all the hundreds and hundreds(thousands and thousands?) I saw at races and just on roads thru those years, nobody else had them.
I even kept them on my current gravel build and chose mechanical disc brakes instead of hydraulic since I liked the shifters so much. That lasted a year until I finally caved and bought some hydraulic shifters and brakes. Cool think was the Gevenalle shifters held their value and I sold em on ebay for 70% of what I bought em new.

I will disagree on your comment that there are simpler ways to shift. Yes STI is much simpler, agreed there. I think the Gevenalle is significantly easier than bar-end. Gevenalle was designed for cyclocross and as an extension is seen on gravel bikes. I would much rather have my hands on the hoods when shifting on gravel roads or a CX course(i havent raced CX, to be clear). Bar ends on a CX course isnt something I would say is simpler shifting than Gevenalle. And my first gravel bike had bar ends, but I chose to move away from them and bought Gevenalle shifters instead specifically because the Gevenalle were simpler/easier.

The Gevenalle design is dead simple and reliable, but with cables coming out the front, they will never be popular. Too many people want that space for trendy handlebar bags or just like the look of hidden cables.

Paul Barnard

The draw to Gevenalle to me is to be able to shift a Shimano mountain drivetrain on a drop bar bike.

ofajen

Yeah I think CX is the main appeal. If I were to put drop bars and multiple gears back on one of my bikes, I’d go back to plain aero levers and bar ends. I ride the drops a lot if I have them, so I like shifting there with the bar ends. I don’t do CX. I do ride in a lot of mud in winter but I prefer swept back touring bars over drops.

Otto

Morimorimori

Hopefully, you're still around and will see it, DrDyno
As I'm pondering about assembling a gravel bike on Shimano Alfine 8 IGH mysefl, I'm trying to find the best shifters for the use case. I liked Gevenalle for the fact it allows you to switch multiple gears in one move - that's one of my favorite things about IGHs in general. Does the MicroShift unit allow the same? I.e., can you somehow jump over several gears with one press on the lever there? That's very important feature for me, I just can't stand the frustration of switching one gear at a time..