[Rich] is embarking on a relatively long bike trip in a few weeks – Seattle to Portland – as well as believed including some 3D printed gear on his trip would be a fun endeavor. His very first concept was a printed belt drive, however the much more he looked at that concept the less reasonable it seemed. He lastly hit upon the concept of producing a 3D printed bike shifter, as well as after an afternoon of engineering as well as printing, the shifter ended up working extremely well.

[Rich]’s shifter is really a friction shifter. instead of ‘clicking’ into position, this type moves the derailleur gradually. It’s much much more tolerant of small misalignment, as well as many touring bikes – the type that would embark on long journeys along the coastline of the Pacific northwest – have these kinds of shifters.

Total printing time was about one as well as a half hours, as well as was connected to [Rich]’s bike with off-the-shelf hardware. He’s already put about 150 miles on his customized developed shifter without any indications of failure.