# Thumb shifters for kids?



## stevelim (Jul 23, 2008)

My 5 year old has been having some difficulty SRAM trigger shifters, particular changing to a bigger cog. She'll probably get used to it over time but was curious if anyone has had a good experience with kids and thumb shifters? 

I have some microshift mtn bar ends that I'm considering trying out with some Paul thumbies. Was thinking the long levers might be good for kids with less hand strength.


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## 6_Myles (Sep 8, 2012)

My kids always rolled with grip shift, for better or worse. 

I'm moving my 9yo up to thumbshifters on his new bike and I'm curious how he will do. 5 feels a little young for long throw shifters (compared to their fingers)


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## bme107 (Jul 23, 2008)

The low level grip shift that come on kids bikes are hard to twist. Both my kids did better with a high quality trigger driving even the stock rear derailleur. 

I tried the thumb shifter route on our trail-a-bike back in the day. They took their hand off the grip and shifted it like a "3 on the tree" manual transmission. Not good, but not devastating because I was providing most of the balance and control. The lever throw was just too long and too tough to finesse into the index location. I guess it depends on the trails/terrain they are riding.

When starting out the kids only shift 1 gear at a time so lever throw for an easier gear isn't that far of a movement for small hands. Dumping 2-3 gears in one motion is too much to comprehend while analyzing the trail ahead and adjusting cadence/force for a smooth shift at the beginning. Once they get that down they've usually grown into the equipment more.


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## Eric_Sulit (Jun 18, 2016)

Hi, I have a 5 yr old son. He is a little taller than others but am not sure that makes him stronger. He has enjoyed riding trails more w thumb shifters. He uses the full range. For practice, What we do is look at an incline and estimate the gear he should be in then he will shift to it. When going downhill he already knows to use a higher gear. What's important is for him to see the number of which gear he is at (1-8). I hope this helps. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## BullSCit (Mar 26, 2004)

Both my kids starting using trigger shifters in the 3-4 year old range, on a Spawn Banshee I modified to have a 3 speed cassette in back. The key like bme noted above, is to get decent quality shifters and derailleurs, but also really important to get a good housing / teflon coated cable or good lube on a normal stainless cable. It is all about reducing the friction, as their little fingers and thumbs need all the help they can get. The bikes my kids started on had grip shifts, and they couldn't shift the bikes to save their lives, and typically had to have their hand just on the grip shift, which made me question the safety of it.

But getting kids on gears as soon as possible is a good thing, as it will make it be more intuitive to them as they get older, and for my kids they had 11-42 rears, so they had a lot of range too.


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## jestep (Jul 23, 2004)

I haven't tried thumb shifters, but trigger shifters are great, grip shifts are horrible for kids. The one thing I'd be concerned about with thumb shifters is that shifting gears on them isn't such a binary action as with triggers, it's possible for them to be in between gears. 

Shimano makes a 7 speed acera triggers that works with the standard 7 speed stuff on the majority of kids bikes if that's what you're dealing with. 

If you do go with the indexed thumb shifter route, double check the cassette to make sure it isn't one with different spacing on the big cogs like some of the older suntour ones.


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## stevelim (Jul 23, 2008)

Thanks all, this is very helpful.


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## RMCDan (Feb 28, 2008)

BullSCit said:


> The key like bme noted above, is to get decent quality shifters and derailleurs


This. My 6 y.o. has no issues at all with GX.


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## watts888 (Oct 2, 2012)

My kid's bike has some cheap housing, cheap derailure, cheap grip shift, and I have a hard time shifting that thing. She just started riding it though, so I haven't had a chance to swap parts. good housing, derailure, and shifters make a world of difference.


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