John Buenaventura has some strange questions about mountain bike shifters, the cables and the instructions. We try to answer his questions, but wonder why he wants to know? Here is our help for what ever reason!
Question:
Can you use any replacement shifters for mountain bikes? Do the shifters usually come with cables and instructions when you buy?
Hi John,
You can mix some shifters with different front and rear derailleur's and cassettes, but you are best to stick to the same equipment through out, so if you have Shimano Deore equipment then I would stay with Shimano Deore shifters. Obviously you must have 9 speed shifters with a 9 speed cassette and 10 with 10 etc. There are Rapid Fire and Twist Grip shifters, these can be exchanged but you need to be careful because there are Twist grips that work in reverse to the others, depending on the spring on the rear and front derailleur's. You must also be careful with the front derailleur as there is top pull and bottom pull and this affects which shifters you need to buy.
A set of mountain bike shifters should come with cables and instructions, sometimes they might be in a plastic bag, and if the bike shop has run out of shifters they may take some from a bike to replace later, these would still come with cables and instructions as a new bike would come with the instructions to set up the gears.
We hope this helps you, find out what you are using now and get either the same again or some shifters or twist grips that work the same way as your existing gear set up.
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