Just discovered 'I-Spec' 🙁
- Thread starter JimK404
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synchronicity
Senior Retro Guru
Came on a complete bike I had and to be fair it worked fine. Then I had Shimano leaky Shimano caliper syndrome. Swapped the brakes and was cheaper the buy a normal shifter than an adapter.
Still don’t mind the concept but why are they on the fourth incompatible iteration?
At least SRAMs Matchmaker hasn’t changed in years and even then the original mount only depends on the brake lever not the shifter. Plus, they supply a normal clamp with the shifter.
Still don’t mind the concept but why are they on the fourth incompatible iteration?
At least SRAMs Matchmaker hasn’t changed in years and even then the original mount only depends on the brake lever not the shifter. Plus, they supply a normal clamp with the shifter.
Madmax1993
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Perhaps controversially, I've butchered a hope adaptor to pair with an 11spd i-spec B XT shifter, as the length of the 2010ish Hope Tech levers put them right in the way of where I would locate a shifter band. If I put the shifter inside of the hope lever position, it's miles away from where I want it. If I put a band on shifter outside, my knuckles scrub against it. Ergo, situating it directly under the brake lever body was ideal.
I've replicated this combination on my hard tail and my full suss.
I've replicated this combination on my hard tail and my full suss.
That's the exact issue I was having. Adapter put the shifter in unusable positions or wouldn't clear the hope tech lever reservoir and meant the lever was out of reach. Interested to see more of your solution as I have a few hope bar clamp adapters for shifters I don't have anymore so willing to butcher if it puts the lever in a better place than I can with my current options.
Madmax1993
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To be fair there wasn't much butchering involved, more guesswork, as the hope tech brakes I'm using were obsolete before Shimano 11 SPD i-spec b was a thing. I decided to try an HBSP263 with the shifter, and you take off the top part of the i-spec shifter and it fits the HBSP263 with just a little bit of filing required on the lip that stops the shifter rotating when you press the lever. You can then position the lever left or right a little under the brake lever, however you can't change the angle of the shifter under the bar without also rotating your brake lever up or down, but I found the position is better that way than any clamp based shifter position I tried in conjunction with the hope levers. I run my hope brakes with a 3.5 finger gap to the lockring of my handlebar grip and use just one finger to actuate the lever without the lever hitting the knuckle of my middle finger.
