More Information
 On: 2009-04-04
My sons bike came with SRAM TRX Triggers which I read had plastic gearing inside that others found to be short-lived, lasting only a season or two. I came across these Shimano SL-M410s at a good price, and have a higher end 9-speed version on my own bike that I just love, the SL-R660, so purchased them and was going to swap out the SRAM shifters outright. However, the SRAMs work fine at the moment (although I find their black display hard to read while riding compared to the more visible silver of the Shimanos), so plan to hold off for a year or so, or until the SRAMs break or start skipping gears.
Theres not much choice these days in 8-speed straight bar shifters. It seems the newer offerings are integrated with the brake levers, which I dont particularly like because the upper index-finger trigger only has enough opening for small fingers, and it is not possible to customize the orientation of the shifters relative to the brake levers / grips to fit an individuals hand size and particular riding position. And if a brake lever or shifter breaks, but not both, you have to replace the whole unit. These Shimanos are one of the few separate components available.
On: 2008-09-11
These shifters came on my Trek 4500 MTB. They worked great and never got out of adjustment for a year and a half. Then one day, the right shifter broke and I was unable to shift into higher gears without forcing the shifter into my handgrip. I opened them up to see if I could fix it by pure luck, but when a metal piece that had broken off fell out of the case as I opened it, I figured it was not fixable. I did some quick forum searching and gathered that many Shimano shifters are non rebuildable... so if you want a cheap, disposable shifter that works well, this one fits the bill. I gave it 4 stars cause its pretty good for a lower end shifter. It didnt get 5 cause it broke in under 2 years.
My riding consists of weekend rides on fireroads with the family, some light commuting when the weather is bad and I dont want to ride my motorcycle in the rain, and a very rare 10 mile single track loop near the home. I am near the coast and my bike does have rust on many of the screws, so that could have attributed to the premature breakdown.
|
|
