DubT

I am an X-shifter Kickstarter backer and have been waiting a long time to receive my kit. I recently took a look at the X-shifter website and noticed that they have a distributor in Indiana for handcycle kits. I called the number and the very nice guy has kits and is sending me one to satisfy my Kickstarter pledge. It should arrive next week.

Once I have it up and running I will post results.

ianbal

Very interested in this as I placed an order on x-shifter website and also been waiting for a long time to receive my order. What style pod will be be delivered?

DubT

DubT

DubT

The above picture shows the E-link installed on the chainstay, if I did not have the motor and need the Gearsensor I would have installed it on the seatstay. With the motor there is plenty of heel clearance with stokers foot.

This picture shows the control pod location.

I called SportCrafters (https://www.sportcrafters.com/) and they filled my Kickstarter order. I am very pleased with their service and the quality of the product. The installation of the unit was very simple. I did struggle a little bit with using the software but once I rebooted my phone and got connected it worked great. It is very important to carefully read the instructions.

This is a way to get electronic shifting on an existing system. It will work with a triple and any other system from 5 - 12 speeds.

It is easy to adjust the individual shift points and works great!

oldacura

I looked at their website. From a quick view I gather that the function of this is to replace mechanical shifting with a motor. Like Sram or Di2 (but wireless). Correct?

If one can afford a carbon fiber tandem, why would they want to save money on the shifters?

DubT

Our bike is a 2011 model and at the time it was a 3 X 10. All of the new electronic shifting devices are 11 speed. I don't want to upgrade to 11 speed. I have spare 10 speed cassettes and chains. If I was building a new bike then I would go with one of the current electronic systems.

However for those of us who want to get rid of the long wire going to the back of our tandems and do not want to upgrade our entire drive train the X-shifter is a very viable option.

The X-shifter uses the existing components and attaches a servo motor close to the derailleur using a very short cable and it provides wireless shifting. It works for our 1 X 10 system perfectly.

ianbal

That is our use case as well but am staying with triple chainring so will use it for both front and rear. They were supposed to be developing other pods but am not sure if they will see the light of day.

DubT

They are supposed to be available in the next several months. Contact Pete at SportCrafters, he is very helpful and knowledgeable.

ianbal

Thanks, I have reached out via email earlier today and will give them a call tomorrow if I haven't heard back. Thanks so much for all your help, I had pretty much given up hope on these.

ianbal

Pete got back to me and I can confirm he was very helpful. He even kindly offered to ship with the X-pod and replace with mini-pod when available. As I am getting our tandem repainted, I am going to wait for the other pod at least until I get the frame back.

DubT

DubT

We have now been able to ride the bike outside and I am getting used to pushing buttons to shift gears rather than using a brifter. The first outing was just OK, I did not have the pod button mounting bracket tight enough and it would move when I pressed the button. I also had the pod too far away from the brake lever which made it hard to reach. Wearing heavy winter gloves did not help matters.

On our ride today things when very well! I LIKE IT A LOT! I am learning which button to push to shift up and down, I was able to reach the buttons and the mount was nice and tight.

I also went through the setup procedure again and dialed in each shift point so that the shifts were on the money.

When the actual road pods are available I believe the system will be OUTSTANDING! As it is now it is still VERY GOOD!

ianbal

Thanks for the report, great news. I am hoping that it works well for FD shifts as well. I was contacted by the other x-shifter distributor, Ciclovation, about my order so it looks like this will be more generally available through them as well early next year.

gracehowler

This sounds very promising, wonder if anyone has experience with the "archer D1X"
https://www.archercomponents.com/
Similar idea, available.
Rod

DubT

ianbal

I had reached out on Nov 29 when I had seen that they were listed as distributor but they had replied saying they were not ready at that time and would give more updates. I have nothing more than that. I did ask late last week if they were going to be shipping the mini-pods but haven't received a reply as of yet.

ianbal

How easy is that procedure? It will be interesting to see how stable the shifting remains as time goes by and often that is required.

As we travel with our tandem a few times per year with packing and packing into S&S cases, I am wondering what might be the best and easiest way to do this. We currently take off the rear derailleur and I guess we might be still be able to do the same but keep the x-shifter connected.

DubT

Once I understood what I was doing it was very easy.

It would be easy to remove the derailleur and the X-shifter as a unit.

DubT