SB-R472 Double 2X7 Speed Road Bike Shifter Brake Levers for Shimano 2 x 7 Speed Drop Bar Shifters Black Pair

I had tube shifters on my bike when I got it and it was annoying to reach down to shift gears. These make it a lot easier to shift when you're up on the handles. I had almost 0 bike mechanic experience, and these were easy and straight forward to install after watching a few youtube videos. Them coming with shifter cables is a plus and brake cables should be able to be easily reused if they're in good condition.Shifting feels great on both front and rear derailleurs. Left side for front brakes and 2-speed, and right for rear brakes and 7 speed.

It is a great value for upgrading an existing bike and does the job, but is not perfect. The hoods feel good and grippy. The right shifter worked well, but the left shifter has more than one click position even though it is for two chainrings. I found shifting to another chainring requires more than one shift to complete.

These brifters are such a great value for the money. I first used them when I needed to replace some old Shimano RSX brifters that were unfixable on a '96 Bianchi Volpe, and they worked great. I recently was getting my old centennial Schwinn Super Sport back into riding condition and it's brifters we're also broken (RSX again!), So I once again went with Micronew. Easy to get installed and easy to adjust. They might not feel quite as good as my Shimano 105, but they were also around 1/4 of the price. I'll be back for more if I need them.

I put these R472's on a Specialized Epic Carbon bike (early 1990s) that has Shimano 105 components with downtube shifters, and what a difference. The hoods are very comfortable and the shifts are very crisp, maybe partly due to installing Shimano Optislick cables instead of the included ones. After cleaning and lubing the drivetrain it feels like a new bike - it's still only 7-speed rear cassette but who needs 10 or 11 speed?

I know this is a more budget friendly option and these are decent for the price. They are ok and work decent. The fit and finish is lacking and the gaps and adjustment on them is poor. They will work, I wouldn't run them on a race bike.

So I'll start with the bad for these because there is really only two bad things that I can say about these shifters after installing and using them for about two weeks of commuting with them.For reference, I put these on a Schwinn Solara.That is that the clamps they attach to the handlebars with do not have much adjustability in them. They were very big on my handlebars and the only way I could get them to actually hold onto the bars was to use the old handlebar tape and some electrical tap as a spacer. This works, but if I try hard enough it moves side to side pretty easily. If I had known about this fitment issue beforehand, I would have found something better to work as a spacer. I didn't think to take any exact measurements before I taped anything up, but as a word of caution it would not be a bad idea to keep some thin flexible metal shims on you to help with that. The other issue is that as several others have said, the front shifter has 3 clicks instead of 2. I don't use the front that often so its not a big deal for me, but it might be something to keep in mind.As for the good: These things feel great once they're on, this is my first integrated shifter and perhaps more expensive shifters will look/feel better. But these are miles better than using separate brake levers and thumb shifters. After proper indexing and tension adjustment, the lever actuation is smooth and the shift mechanism provides a tactile and satisfying click on both up and downshifts. I do wish this was the kind that had the shift cable routed through the back and along the handlebars like the brake lines. Having them come out the sides makes it look a little less clean to me, but at this price point it makes sense so I won't complain about that.The ergonomics are great, the build feels sturdy and gives me confidence in the amount of control when I grip them. Having the shifters integrated into the brake levers makes shifting less of a task and safer when riding through a busy university campus on my way to work now that shifting no longer requires taking my hands off the brakes. They have already helped me avoid a couple of shaky situations with cars that didn't see me when pulling out.They have a couple of issues, but on the whole, I would still 100% recommend them to anyone that is thinking about upgrading to integrated shifters on a budget. Just with a small caveat of the spacers.

We used these levers to replace the separate brake and shifter levers on my son's fuji ace 650. This really cleaned up the way the handlebars look and improved the riding experience for him. The shifting is smooth with a slightly long throw to shift but my son has no problem accomplishing the shift and he is a small 11 yrs old. The levers have a nice feel to them and the lever hoods are very comfortable.

These breathed new life into my cheap road bike. They were super easy to install and adjust. Now I look like all the cool kids with their more expensive bikes. Suckers.These are a great upgrade for a cheap road bike that has downtube shifters or any index shifters. Comfortable and seem to be good quality.