Shifter Replaced, and Made a Match

Avid Matchmaker installed, with (still clean and scratchless) new left X9 shifter pod.

Lotsa space on the handlebar.

 

I went to Kevin's shop on Saturday to send my SRAM X9 left shifter and see if he can repair it. The problem with it is that the upshift is sluggish and it doesn't spring back to ready for another shift. This happened quite some time ago. I put the problem to rest and replaced it with a Shimano SLX left shifter. A downhiller who sees no use to it sold me his. It was considered cheap, and it sort of matches with my XT FD.

 

Upon acknowledging my problem, Kevin did what I have dreamt of what retailers in Malaysia would do for a long, long time. Well, he didn't even attempt to fix the unit! Instead, he took my faulty shifter, and handed out a new left shifter from a SRAM box to me while saying, "you're lucky I have a last unit of this".

 

Wow! Until today I can't shake the awesome feeling off. A faulty parts replacement in an instant, no questions asked.

 

The other purpose of the shop visit was to see if I could get my hands on a pair of Avid Matchmaker. Well, as my problem for the shifter was solved there and then, the decision for the MM was made in an instant, too. I got the last pair in his shop, so he discounted RM5 further for me. I paid RM80 for an item that sits in my 'wants' list (starve the 'needs' list for now). Still okay, I guess. It's 19.99 pounds from CRC and USD19.99 from Art's Cyclery (just to name 2 overseas online shop) at the time of writing, excluding shipping (I like the Matchmaker description at Art's Cyclery page).

 

Now, I can mount a GPS unit, headlight, meter, bell, ride buddy toy figurines, videocam and shock lever pump on my handlebar.

:)

 

note: if you're mounting SRAM shifters and using Hayes Stroker brakes, you can use the Matchmaker, too.