Hand strength and shifting

[lph]

Shifting is not a question of hand strength!

A shifter that requires any sizeable amount of effort when correctly set up, tensioned and sized for the user is a badly designed shifter. Shifting is not completely effortless, but it should be nowhere near a question of having enough hand strength. That's just absurd. I'm rarely this absolute about things, but this I truely believe.

I have struggled with many shifters, but I've fixed just about all of them by taking them apart, lubing them, tweaking position and/or rerouting cables. I have big strong hands, but shortish fingers, and easy shifting has a lot to do with correct positioning and proper reach. It's a limited range you're working with, and the shifter should be designed for easy use within that range.

[OakLeaf]

Shifting is not a question of hand strength!

Well, yes and no ... None of us has actually tested the OP's hand strength. Most people, even sedentary people, have plenty hand strength to operate shifters that are working properly. But on a board like this one we know for sure that there are lots of people on either end of the bell curve on whatever variable you want to name.

Hand size is definitely an issue, and obviously women statistically have smaller (and differently shaped) hands than men, and one definitely does wish for smaller levers. On the other hand, by making them smaller, you decrease the leverage, and then you either have to generate more force at your hand, or add additional complications of gears and pulleys that would increase the risk of failure.



My feet are very very weak. It's not something to be ashamed of, and it's also not something to demand equipment to coddle them (in fact, it was all those stupid orthotics that MADE my feet so weak). It's something to work on. No shame. No sexism. Just work.