Dual Control Levers?

I just recently bought a take off pair of XTR ST-M970 dual control levers for V-Brake (Great deal I thought at $125.00 + tax) I stuck them on my 8 speed Pro~Flex 857 with all original parts (then switched to a newer xtr rear deraleur but its still normal rise)

I was wondering why it seems people dont seem to like them and prefer the trigger shifters. I started out with gripshifts a long time ago, and moved to the xt trigger shifters, and now i have gone to these and they seem to work better than all the others. Im able to drop multiple gears, and the rise seems great. with the alternate cable routing on my deraleur they work great at indexing my xt 8 speed casette even though they are 9 speed shifters. The other thing is people seem to be complaining about the switch and things, or saying they are bad when paired with a normal rise deraleur. Could anyone give me some insight or feedback on this? Or got any comments? I want to hear your guys opinions!!

I used to have the XT ones, took the little lever off from underneith and just used the up and down on the actual brake lever to change gears.
They're real fast and easy to use, love them!
I think the people who don't like them are either roadie haters or never used them.
The fact that you can brake and shift with the tips of your fingers is great!

The first dual controls I had were the XTR ones (M960?-they were polished grey). I found them to be one of the best shift levers I'd used to date. A very natural action imo. On of the few shifters that you could actually brake and shift at the same time without any strange contortions.

I've gone for thumbies now, however. Can't put dual controls on a '94 Saracen!

I had some for a very short while a few years back but then the bike was nicked. They worked OK but I have to say that I prefer seperates. Road STI offers a big advantage as levers were down on the frame until then but MTBs have always had both brake and gear controls close together so I didn't really feel any advantage was to be had.

Oh and they are as ugly as sin!

I don't think the function was ever a question, but rather that most retro minded folks see Dual Control as just another way that Shimano increased to proprietary reliance on Shimano parts for Shimano Drivetrains.

If you break a Dual Control lever, it's garbage. Break a thumbshifter and only the shifter is garbage. Break a Grip Shift, same same. Break an STI lever, and the shifter pods can be mounted to Grafton style adaptors and run with after market levers.

Dual Control is about as proprietary as it gets, and in my view, completely unnecessarily so. Sure they work great, but do they really need to be all one completely unservicable chunk?

AS above, not really practical if you break a lot of parts!

Xesh":1tnrwkme said:

I've gone for thumbie now, however. Can't put dual controls on a '94 Saracen!

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lol well... you could, but i dont think itd be retro like your shooting for

& utahdog2003 makes some good points! its nice to see the otherside of things and you make some good points.

typically when i break a part (such as the gripshifts) i have to replace them anyways so its not that big of a deal though...

The thing that annoyed me was that i kept dabbing the brake when shifting to the big ring. It was like i struggled to push down so far without pulling in a smidge as well. Didnt really affect speed or anything but just irritated me so I swaped back.