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

Price Paid:  $99.00 at Performance NC

Favorite Ride:
My old Fuji Club bike

Summary:
brake levers with thumb shifters for race setup. Push pull would have been a better deal. these have 2 levers that both have to be pushed for up or down shifting. Very awkward setup. Not manufactured very well. Made in Italy?? Hmmmm.

Strengths:
Nice wide grip to place your hands up high. Does have a nice rotating cup for shift cable housing to wrap onto the handlebars and out of the way.

You get what you pay for.

Weaknesses:
Very clumsy set up. Have to press hard to get it to shift especially for the Chainring side.
Returned product because one of the shifters was defective.
Should have bought Shimano!

Price Paid:  $0.00

Bike Setup:
rithchey Break away (ti/carb), rotor cranks, precision billet, rolf prima vigor

Summary:
use on my tri bikes, with drop bars

The gears (internal parts) only last about 2 years. Last loonger than Dura Ace.

too bad they do not last forever.

Strengths:
great price
last longer than durace ace

Weaknesses:
gear on the internal parts tend to fail after a couple of years.

Similar Products Used:
dura ace