Hello! My Ripio had 9 sp brifter set-up, Deore brifters and LX changer at the rear. This worked fine, but for some years I have had thumb joint issues, general wear and tear and an old injury, and pushing the changer away for larger sprockets (often in a hurry in that direction) was painful on a long ride. After a while, I ended up having to push the lever with the heel of the hand.
So, I changed to 9 sp Dura Ace thumbies, supplied by sjsc. This also required new brake levers of course! This certainly resolved the pain and discomfort, though I do not think it is quite as easy to use, involving more hand movement off the bar ends / grips. The thumbies work very well functionally, never seem to need adjusting, not much to go wrong, so I think Thorn are right to suggest them for long distance tourers.
The components were swapped over to my Sherpa 2 years ago when I bought a Sherpa frame, and sold on the Ripio frame / forks.
I now have an XT cassette (11 - 34) with the original LX changer, and it all works very well with no problems.
I often wonder if some of the newer brifters would be easier on the thumbs than the older ones, but I have no plans to change, and appreciate the functionality of the Dura Ace thumbies.
My main concern over this set-up is the long term availability of a choice of good quality components - 9 sp kit is gradually going down the quality range, it seems to me, and in my experience Deore / XT grades of kit work very well. I wonder about getting a spare cassette now to keep things going in future.
Lewis
