1992 Konas - why all thumb shifters?

The first generation of STI was utter dogshit in terms of reliability, and I was sufficiently burned that I didn't try it again until the early 2000s.
Did you ever see the early GripShift (pre-SRAM) advert where they showed you all the parts in a first-generation STI shifter? 😳
 
Massive thumbie fanboy here.

I remember reading a pro's rides article in MBUK back in the day, that I think was about a Pace that could well have belonged to Brant Richards. They did a series with a one page spread of the bike and then an overview. It mentioned upside down thumbies. Being an impressionable teen I went and faffed in the garage for a good while. That man must have had thumbs like popeye, as they got quickly changed back again!
 
I think it was a marketing gimmic. Faffing around with indexing certainly doesn’t make you faster.

When I got a thumbie equipped bike ~15 years after the last one, I remembered why I hated them, especially over rough terrain.
 
Massive thumbie fanboy here.

I remember reading a pro's rides article in MBUK back in the day, that I think was about a Pace that could well have belonged to Brant Richards. They did a series with a one page spread of the bike and then an overview. It mentioned upside down thumbies. Being an impressionable teen I went and faffed in the garage for a good while. That man must have had thumbs like popeye, as they got quickly changed back again!
Did you also see the MTBs with Road handlebars on. What a daft idea that is.
 
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