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Electronic Shifting systems for person struggling to change gear
christopherjorsoKkHyxZ8-
Posts: 3
in MTB general
Hi ,
Apologies if I'm not quite on the right forum. My wife suffers from arthritis and is finding it increasingly difficult to change gears on her trail bike. The bike is old and knackered and I wondered if manufacturers are fitting electronic shifting systems to bikes that might be in our price range and will let her change gear without having to apply pressure on her hands? I've only noticed them on high end road bikes with price tags to match and wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction please.
Regards,
Chris
Apologies if I'm not quite on the right forum. My wife suffers from arthritis and is finding it increasingly difficult to change gears on her trail bike. The bike is old and knackered and I wondered if manufacturers are fitting electronic shifting systems to bikes that might be in our price range and will let her change gear without having to apply pressure on her hands? I've only noticed them on high end road bikes with price tags to match and wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction please.
Regards,
Chris
0
Posts
You can go second hand, but then you are at greater risk of an install going wrong, so needing to buy more parts.
The latest Shimano 105 is now Di2 so that may solve your problems as a cheaper groupset, but still by no means 'cheap'. It's also disc brake only (I think), which may not work for you.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155637806048
for £600 for shifters and mechs for a road bike.
The lowest price electronic setup for MTBs is SRAM GX Eagle AXS. This only tends to be on higher end bikes, but the rest of the drivetrain is compatible with mechanical Eagle. That means you could buy a less expensive bike with, for example, NX Eagle and then upgrade just the shifter and mech to GX AXS.
Marin Nail Trail
Cotic Solaris
If the arthritis is better in one hand than the other, then consider going to a single ring up front. That will require only one shifter. But although considerably cheaper than electronic shifting, it will require some changes to the rest of your transmission, the cost will depend upon what you have and what you need.
Don't ignore the point made by @webboo. New cables (inners and outers) can make an astonishing difference.