Who uses Thumb Throttle w/Thumb Shifters?

[Patriot]

Who uses Thumb Throttle w/Thumb Shifters?

Just curious if anyone here also uses both, and whether or not it's a pain trying to setup and make fit on the bars.

 

[Rassy]

Hi Patriot. I'm sure you will get a lot of advice on your question, but I am in the minority that prefers the thumb throttle. On my Vision Recumbent the brake and shifters (Shimano Deore) are combined, with a thumb lever to shift down, and an index finger lever to trip for up shifts. I suppose there are other style thumb shifters also. Anyway, when mounting the throttle ahead of all this, I could not get it on the handle far enough to allow full room for the grip, so I added about an inch to the handlebar (using two compression things made for bar end mirrors). It all works great and I am happy with it. The Vision has under seat steering and the bars point to the rear of the bike. The only drawback is I have to release the throttle to shift down when going up a hill. On my known routes, I normally set up a little higher geared at the start and shift the front down when the going gets tough.

 

[JinbaIttai]

I will be in about 3 weeks when my kit arrives.

Shimano 21-speed thumb shifters and an ampedbikes thumb throttle. It is on a full suspension MTB, which is geared kinda short on top. In my mind, I plan to leave the right hand shifter in the tallest (7th) gear and operate like a 3-speed by only shifting with the left shifter. Like what Rassy wrote, I will probably have to slow/stop to downshift on the right side in anticipation of the hills, but then I'll leave it alone and shift on the left only, this is all if it even fits on the 3.5" rise handlebars I ordered. I let you know how it works out, but it won't be for awhile. I only intend to do this temporarily, until I can build up funds for a twist shift. LiFePo4s are not cheap!

 

[swbluto]

I have the thumb throttle and the thumb shifter. It's rather unnoticeable since I rarely shift my back dérailleur as I'm just accelerating *that* quickly and the throttle is mounted on the same side, the right. With the power of an electric motor, the modulation of the rear gears are seemingly much less required. I *might* change them when I get to a consistently different set of terrain(like mostly up-hill or flat, for example) for a large extent of my ride, but I rarely do. The shifting is mostly based on the front gear, as well as the braking is on the front, but I might engage in both brakes during an extreme situation or traveling long distances downhill.

It wasn't too much of a pain to set up, I just had to move it away from the shifter for enough clearance. I used a handy rubber band to keep it steadily positioned.

 

[Patriot]

I guess this whole topic is rather moot. I just ordered two twist throttles, and will replace the outer grips they come with. I plan to install some Oury grips over the full twist parts on both. One throttle on the right for accelerating, the one on the left for Regen. Ah well. I figure I'll try this first, and see if I like it. If I don't, at least these parts are cheap enough to try something else later, without breaking the bank.

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

I also prefer thumb throttles. I found with a little tweaking the shifters can be kept operational and close to their proper position. I can up shift with my thumb on the throttle but down-shifting requires a left hand 'reach over' or letting go of the throttle.

One of these days I'm going to try converting the left shifter to do the rear and just putting a 53T chainring in front so I can have a comfortable cadence at 30mph.