Modolo Modolo Morphos Shifter/Brake Levers

Price Paid:  $900.00 at Frame build up from

Favorite Ride:
Giant TCR one Aluxx

Bike Setup:
Giant TCR one Aluxx, Ultegra drive train (9 speed, 6500 series), Forte Titan wheels, Michelin Pro race tires.

Summary:
Purchased for a 9 speed set up as building a frame up road bicycle. They were very economical, purchased from Performance Bicycle new. Found that the front chain ring shifter did not work, after checking with local "wrench", who really did not know what to do, checked the internet and gained some info, was able to reset the cable shuttle inside the shifter, now works fine! Rear shifter has always worked out of the box and appears to be smooth, no problems. The two thumb shift levers feel good and work naturally, I like the way they work. They do look neat and clean with hidden cables under the wrap. Brake levers work really smooth with my Dura-ace brakes.

Strengths:
Light weight, all cables are hidden, looks good, and economical!

Weaknesses:
Set up and installation took some time, after some mess with factor, have them dialed in.

Price Paid:  $60.00 at citybikes

Favorite Ride:
Skyline Boulevard, Portland OR

Bike Setup:
Steel Trek 470, FSA Gossamer triple crankset, Shimano Hyperglide seven speed rear cassette, Ultegra nine speed triple dérailleurs.

Summary:
I tend to upgrade some bike component with each paycheck, so the fact that these will upgrade from my current 7 speed cassette to a 9 or 10 appealed to me. I had some hassle installing them but I have them working nicely now. I had some phantom upshifts in the rear under load (as someone else mentioned) that I fixed by re-routing the cable housing on the handlebar and taping it down tighter. It is nice to be able to shift from so many different bar positions (if your hands are strong enough you can even shift from the flats on a climb). Also, for the folks that experienced trouble upshifting except from the drops, try the 10mm lever tension bolts, a small adjustment on them helps alot.

Strengths:
Adaptable, cheap, comfortable and ergonomic, lightweight, simple design.

Weaknesses:
Finicky adjustments that need to be aligned very carefully, occasional failure of mechanism to engage.

Similar Products Used:
Downtube shifters, rapidfire under the bar shifters, gripshifts, barcons.

Price Paid:  $50.00 at the suggestion of a

Favorite Ride:
Los Altos hills area

Bike Setup:
1990 Giant Cadex 980C lugged carbon frame
FSA SL-K compact carbon cranks (53/42)
XRP ultralite chain
SRAM Red cassette (11-23)
ITM carbon bar, carbon stem
Ritchey WCS headset (1" threadless)
Ricthey Pro carbon seatpost
Thoork saddle
FSA RD-80 wheels
Michelin Race 2 tires

Summary:
This is my first ever foray into STI shifters. Both my road bike and my mtb have used old school thumb shifters since the early 90's. I just recently mounted these on my road bike (Giant Cadex 980C... old but I love it). Setup was actually not too bad (although I'm a pretty good bike mechanic). Cable routing was easy (brake cable housings along the back groove of the bar, shift housings along the front groove of the bar). Adjustment has been also ok. Not sure if I have the "old" version of the shifters or the "new" version. Shifting has been a learning experience, as I've never been a "fan" of STI shifters. I actually like these a lot! They make riding fun and interesting, since I'm a NERD at heart, I like gizmos. I'm using a compact FSA crank, an XRP ultralite chain, and an SRAM Red cassette (Talk about mix and match!) and it all works great believe it or not. So far no missed shifts. I do notice that shifting chainrings is more of a "ratcheting" affair where one thumb push usually is not enough to get on the big ring. Upshifting (going to smaller diameter gears) is definitely the strong point of these shifters, as they do this with relative ease. LOVE the brake feel, very positive. Hoods feel great too.

Strengths:
+ Total gizmo nerd toy.
+ Nicer than downtube shifting.
+ Look VERY high tech - lots of compliments.
+ Relatively short learning curve to use once adjusted.
+ Light weight

Weaknesses:
- Can be a challenge to install if you're not a wrench.
- Adjustment take a lil patience.
- Shifting a bit finicky
- Would not consider racing with these in situations which require fast shifting, like criteriums.

Similar Products Used:
First time using STI type shifters

Price Paid:  $125.00 at Performance

Favorite Ride:
to work...

Bike Setup:
Trek 760 from 1987, Suntour Superbe Pro gruppo, American Classic hubs, Matrix Aero rims, Dia Compe Royal Compe brakes

Summary:
Bought these to update my Trek 760, which has full Suntour Superbe Pro components. No possibility of using Suntour's combo shifters, so I purchased these (already my setup is a bit off, as I have American Classic hubs, with a generic index cogset, but it works well).
Difficult to setup for me-had a hard time running the shifter cables through the levers-it's nice to be able to adjust the angle the cables come out, but it works against you when trying to run the cables. When I finally got those through, setup was easy.
I agree with some of the other reviewers that they are rather stiff in the beginning, but they do ease up. Break-in/cable adjustment took all in all about a week to fine tune, as the cables stretched (would be nice to use pre-stretched cables, as some others provide), but after that, it's worked very well. Very comfortable hoods, and nice brake levers. Looks cool, too-I like the carbon-fiber look to the brake levers.

Strengths:
Works well for a wide range of setups-I noticed settings for Campy, Shimano, and generic Index, which worked for me!

Weaknesses:
Difficult to setup, but I have limited experience with all of the brands, so these may be par for the course

Similar Products Used:
Suntour, Shimano

Price Paid:  $99.00 at online

Favorite Ride:
Lunch loop

Bike Setup:
CAAD 7 with a mixture of Ultegra and 105

Summary:
I brought these after reading the reviews and I must say that there is a differece between the first model of these shifters and the current ones. In general I found that they were east to set up on the drive side , but a bit finickey on with the chainrings. But after ride or 2 and an adjustment to the front dr I have had no issues. I'm running it on a compact crank so there was also that to contend with. But over all once you get used to shifting with your thumbs and get the shifters broken in the stiffness in the shifting goes away. It is not as straightup as setting up shimano shifters.....just different. If you follow the instructions, then it is not a problem (As some other reviewers had found). The thing I like about these is that the brake levers are only brake levers and they function well. And the grips are comfortable to larger hands.

I do not find the shifting from the drops all that good as other have, but I probably have them set up a bit higher on the bars.

All in all I have found them to be a siginificant improvement over shimano levers with regards to feel. they do not shift as crisply as ultegras, but somewhere between Tiagra and 105.

If I can't get used to these ....... it's back to barcons.

Strengths:
Brake levers only work on the brakes....I love this. Thumb shifting works for me.

Weaknesses:
Dialing in the front dr takes a bit of work.

Similar Products Used:
Ultegra, 105, tiagra, sora