The Pinion gearbox on my Deviate Guide originally came with grip shifting as its gear change mechanism. I’ve never really been a fan of grip shift, it feels awkward as a movement, disrupts braking and makes your bars/grips asymmetric. There is no real upside to it for me, besides having the ability to dump a bunch of gears at once.
When the confusingly named German company Tout Terrain launched the Cinq Shift:R trigger shifting system, I was sold basically immediately. I had used their similar Rohloff trigger system, so I expected this new product to work well, which it did. Installing the mechanism on the gearbox however, it became apparent that the cables needed to turn uncomfortably tightly in order to fit through the frame cutouts. What I needed was a couple of cable “noodles” as you’d find on old school Shimano V-brakes. I could have scoured the internet for something suitable, but I had a 3D printer, so why not just make them myself?
I didn’t expect these to last long at all, they are just plastic after all, but they never missed a beat; basically the ideal solution to the problem. I looks like Cinq isn’t around as an entity anymore, understandably I guess since their niche has been more or less supplanted by Pinion’s own Smart.Shift system.