Close-up of the road bar shifter/brake lever for Shimano internal hub. Image courtesy of Bike Commuters.
Nashbar's MicroShift shifter looks just like the Synergy's with a Nashbar swoosh. Image courtesy of Nashbar.
Sampson Sports' Showtime Shifter made by MicroShift. I'm seeing a design trend here. Image courtesy of Sampson Sports.
MicroShift's ARSiS road shifter/brake lever which appears to be the same product as the others, just rebranded. Image courtesy of MicroShift.
On Wednesday, we let you know about a new STI style road bar shifter/brake lever that was seen in a Bike Commuters review of the soon to be released Dynamic Synergy road bike. This shifter was of interest because it was compatible with Shimano’s Nexus and Alfine internal hubs giving road bike riders another option besides the newly released Jtek bar end shifter to run an 8 speed internal hub. Bike Commuters mused that Dynamic would do well to sell these shifters separately from the bike to urban riders who want to combine the performance of a road frame with the simplicity of the internal gearing. There was however a mystery to who actually made these shifters and whether cyclists would be able to get ahold of these shifters without buying a whole bike.
Well, the mystery was solved this weekend, but there is still no indication to how available these shifters will be as a stand alone aftermarket product. The first clue came in my mailbox this week with a copy of my near daily receipt of a Nashbar catalogue. In this catalogue, I noticed Nashbar is now selling Nashbar Microshift Dual Control Shift/Brake Levers. (In true Nashbar fashion it is already on sale!) This shifter system bares a striking resemblance to the one on the Synergy. Nashbar’s product description identifies MicroShift as the manufacturing partner.
This weekend I got another clue when I got the 2009 VeloNews Buyer’s Guide. In it, VN reviewed all the latest road group offerings including a new set of groups from Denver, CO bike builder Eric Sampson. The article mentions that Sampson Sports partnered with MicroShift to use their shifter design with his improvements to offer a high end road group to compete with Campagnolo, Shimano, and SRAM. They shifters pictured in the VN article once again looked just like the Synergy’s shifter except this time it had carbon fiber levers. (VeloNews panned Sampson’s assumption that the system was equal to Dura-Ace or Red, but compared it to the still respectable performance of Shimano’s 105 group.)
So I checked out the website of Taiwanese component maker MicroShift, and sure enough their road shifter, the ARSiS, had the look of all the others. In addition, MicroShift makes a whole line of shifters for Shimano internally geared hubs. Unfortunately, there was no sign of ARSiS style shifters compatible with internal hubs. The VeloNews article also mentioned that MicroShift makes the ARSiS shifters for sale under the Sturmey-Archer brand. Might we find road bar shifters compatible with Sturmey-Archer internal hubs as well in the future? I can only hope.
It does appear MicroShift made these Shimano Nexus/Afine compatible shifters at Dynamics request. They have the technology. Will they share it with the rest of us?
on Feb 8th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Microshift is NOT the manufacturer of these levers. Yes, they make the lever bodies and blades, but all the internals and assembly are done by Sussex, another Taiwanese manufacturer. Microshift could best be described as a part supplier in this case.
The internal assembly (shifter cams or whatever’s really in there) are completely different from Nashbar/Microshift/Sampson…Alfine and Nexus hubs require a lot more cable pull to shift than a traditional derailleur, so the innards must be designed accordingly.
In any case, STI-style shifters for these hubs is an exciting prospect…glad to see someone finally bringing such to market!
on Feb 8th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
See also here:
http://www.sussex.com.tw/news.html
on Feb 8th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
[...] Commuters let us know after our article earlier today that MicroShift is not the manufacturer of the mystery STI shifter/brake levers compatible with [...]
on Feb 8th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Thanks, I’ve added an update post with the info you gave us. Hopefully, we’ll all be able to get these.
on May 10th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I registered interest with Sussex and received an email update a couple of days ago.
The shifter is now available to preorder from Sussex Enterprises, shipping early June, will be with retailers mid-late June
on May 11th, 2009 at 7:44 am
We recently posted the information about getting these aftermarket here: http://austinontwowheels.org/2009/05/09/sti-style-road-shifters-for-shimano-internally-geared-hubs-available-this-summer/.
You’ll be able to get them from your LBS this summer but directly from Dynamic in early June until the distribution is set up.