Left-handed, shifting

[E-wan]

Left-handed, shifting

I've developed an injury to my index finger on my right hand, which may take several weeks to resolve and make shifting rather problematic.

Has anyone tried swapping the Rholoff twist grip shifter to the left side of the handlebars so you can operate it with your left hand.

Apart from having to retrain my brain to get used to this and twist it in the opposite direction to shift
can you foresee any complications with doing this?

Thanks

Ewan

[WorldTourer]

Rohloff produces, and SJS stocks, a left-handed shifter.

[mickeg]

I see no problem with that.  Numbers will be harder to read, but you already know how to shift it so you probably almost never look at the numbers unless you are stopped.

[Mike Ayling]

Rohloff produces, and SJS stocks, a left-handed shifter.

Blimey, 110 squids plus an eye watering freight charge!

[WorldTourer]

Blimey, 110 squids plus an eye watering freight charge!

My initial assumption is that people here are in the UK, since it’s Thorn/SJS’s main market, and sure, shipping is quite expensive for customers elsewhere. For people on the continent, for example, Starbike has it for 73€. That is actually cheaper than the standard, right-handed version from many EU online shops nowadays! I’m shocked at how much the price of this component has increased in the last decade, considering that it is just a piece of metal and rubber.

[UKTony]

Starbike don’t ship this item to the UK, according to the website. Has that always been the case or is it a Brexit thing, I wonder.
The price is €12 more if the shipping country is France or Austria for examp,e. What’s that all about?!

[WorldTourer]

The price is €12 more if the shipping country is France or Austria for examp,e. What’s that all about?!

EU shops have to apply VAT based on the rate set in the country of delivery. That causes some changes in prices depending on the customer’s country. And Starbike (and bike-components, and Rose Bike, and Bike24) are based in Germany, so shipping outside of Germany costs more than orders delivered locally.

[mickeg]

... Has that always been the case or is it a Brexit thing, I wonder.
The price is €12 more if the shipping country is France or Austria for examp,e. What’s that all about?!

I bought my Nomad Mk II frame, fork, and lots of parts in 2013, at that time I thought shipping costs to USA were pretty high from SJS.  But other UK suppliers seemed to have pretty good rates. 

Over time, SJS found ways to cut the shipping costs to the point that when I built up my titanium light touring bike frame, I bought the parts to build it up in three batches, one from SJS, one from Germany, and then a bunch of other parts here in USA, mostly from Amazon.  SJS at that time was a low cost supplier to the USA.

Then Brexit happened.  Suddenly shipping costs to USA went crazy, probably the same with other countries that UK wanted to export too. 

Before Brexit, I bought stuff from several UK companies to export to USA, but I think I have only bought a couple items from SJS since Brexit, none from other UK companies. 

Sorry if I am treading on political ground here, it is not my intent to take a political side.  I am only making comments as an external observer that lost the ability to buy a lot of stuff from UK.  I have never been in the UK.

[WorldTourer]

My experience as a customer on the continent has been similar: I bought a Nomad Mk3 frame + fork from Thorn/SJS post-Brexit because the frameset plus the optimized cost of oversize shipping was competitive with anything on the continent (though shortly afterward SJS significantly raised Thorn frame prices). But Brexit put an end to me buying small parts from SJS, even though it had been my go-to shop before, because shipping costs of those small packages is just too much.

[E-wan]

Thanks

Just about to order the left-handed shifter from SJS.
Found one other site that had it for £10 cheaper, but SJS are always reliable and happy to answer questions.

It does seem rather expensive, but will hopefully last ages and I can actually see advantages to leaving it that way so I'm not trying to shift with the same hand that operates the front brake.

Any tips on measuring and cutting the internal cables before fitting them too the EX box on the hub?

I have watched the Rohloff video but any other pointers would be appreciated.

[WorldTourer]

The illustrative Rohloff video is a big help compared to having to install the cables only from the text description in the manual. You just need to proceed very carefully and keep your wits about you. For me personally, I always struggle to remember that I need to pass the tensioning screws for the EX box over the shifter cables before I connect the cables to the ring inside the box.

[UKTony]

I agree with Worldtourer about the Rohloff video. I have my iPad close to hand and lose count of the number of times I re-run the vid to check the process!

You might find an earlier discussion on this forum at the following link helpful also.

newbie introduction and Shifter cable advice- does this suggestion make sense?

[UKTony]

Sorry, don’t know why that didn’t work. Here’s the link again.

https://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=13644.msg101458#msg101458

[mickeg]

Thanks

Just about to order the left-handed shifter from SJS.
Found one other site that had it for £10 cheaper, but SJS are always reliable and happy to answer questions.

It does seem rather expensive, but will hopefully last ages and I can actually see advantages to leaving it that way so I'm not trying to shift with the same hand that operates the front brake.

Any tips on measuring and cutting the internal cables before fitting them too the EX box on the hub?

I have watched the Rohloff video but any other pointers would be appreciated.

As far as I know (I could be wrong), the only difference between the right and left shifters is the printing of the numbers on the shifter.  If I was considering making this change for a temporary measure to last a few months, I would not worry about the printing.  Or I would put some tape over the numbers and write the correct numbers on the tape if I really wanted to read the numbers.

If both outer housing cables are exactly the same length, then the two inner cables should be exactly the same length too.  And if you use this bike for touring where you might want to carry a spare cable, that would be a good time to cut a third inner cable to that same exact length to keep as a spare.  And of course labeling the spare so it does not get mixed up with others.

I am in USA, the norm here is rear brake on right side, front brake on left.  My light touring bike (derailleur, not Rohloff) has a disc brake on rear, rim brake on front.  When slowing to a stop, I was usually downshifting the rear derailleur (right hand) and braking with the left hand (front brake).

Several months ago, I switched my brake cables on that bike so that my rear brake is on the left side instead.  I made this change because I would rather wear out disc brake pads than the front rim. 

My point is that you can easily change brake cables and skip buying a shifter.

I think I have installed cables three times, and I think twice I had to take it apart and switch cables when I got them the wrong way.

[hendrich]

Good idea to make a spare. Every year I examine the cables in the ex-box to look for fraying. Perhaps every other year I also back out the cable ends from the twist shifter to check for fraying. Fraying seems to happen more often in the ex-box compared with the shifter; the latter I've not observed. Perhaps owing to the smaller radius of the cable bend in the ex-box. In contrast, shimano drop bar shifters fray more often in the shifter, which can be a nightmare to fix on the road, even if you have a spare.