Is this the future of remote buttons?

cappuccino34

Active member
Nov 24, 2020
530
328
Helmshore
I was recently looking at the parts catalogue for my bike motor (Polini) and saw that they do some new style buttons.

My current buttons were a bit worse for wear (read- 'crashes') and these new buttons looked like they would be less vulnerable so I ordered some to try.

Fitting the buttons themselves was super easy, but packaging them with the brake lever and, more significantly, the dropper post lever was a bit of a faff to get the ergonomics how they needed to be.

In the end I swapped dropper post levers with another bike I have which is adjustable in all directions, because I needed to raise the lever so that it didn't strike (or press) the buttons when the dropper is activated. I believe the lever is made by 'Tranz-x'.

Anyway, I absolutely love the way it all works, plus the added benefit of being able to flip the bike upside down without anything being vulnerable to damage, because the highest points are the grips and the saddle.

There's two buttons '+' and '-'. A single press does as you'd expect. Pressing both together quickly changes the 'page' on the display, holding both goes to the menu, long press on '+' is walk mode and long press on '-' turns on the lights, which I don't have wired in to the bike battery anyway.

I honestly think this setup will be adopted widely.
IMG20230311200307.jpg
IMG20230311200350~2.jpg
 
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Peaky Rider

E*POWAH Master
Feb 9, 2019
821
520
Derbyshire Dales
My 2018 Focus Jam2 came with under the bars power mode levers (Shimano E8000) and an above the bars dropper post lever. I changed them for their (Shimano) over the bar buttons. which are pretty low profile and discreet, unlike Bosch mode buttons.
 

OldnSlow

Member
Dec 31, 2021
20
31
New Zealand
I was recently looking at the parts catalogue for my bike motor (Polini) and saw that they do some new style buttons.

My current buttons were a bit worse for wear (read- 'crashes') and these new buttons looked like they would be less vulnerable so I ordered some to try.

Fitting the buttons themselves was super easy, but packaging them with the brake lever and, more significantly, the dropper post lever was a bit of a faff to get the ergonomics how they needed to be.

In the end I swapped dropper post levers with another bike I have which is adjustable in all directions, because I needed to raise the lever so that it didn't strike (or press) the buttons when the dropper is activated. I believe the lever is made by 'Tranz-x'.

Anyway, I absolutely love the way it all works, plus the added benefit of being able to flip the bike upside down without anything being vulnerable to damage, because the highest points are the grips and the saddle.

There's two buttons '+' and '-'. A single press does as you'd expect. Pressing both together quickly changes the 'page' on the display, holding both goes to the menu, long press on '+' is walk mode and long press on '-' turns on the lights, which I don't have wired in to the bike battery anyway.

I honestly think this setup will be adopted widely. View attachment 108896 View attachment 108899
These are incredibly simple electronic shift and dropper controllers. Seems like the concept could be extended to support level control pretty easily too.
 

cappuccino34

Active member
Nov 24, 2020
530
328
Helmshore
My 2018 Focus Jam2 came with under the bars power mode levers (Shimano E8000) and an above the bars dropper post lever. I changed them for their (Shimano) over the bar buttons. which are pretty low profile and discreet, unlike Bosch mode buttons.
I've not seen any under-bar buttons before these ones, I assumed that the convenience of over bar buttons had won out over the protection of them at the design stage.

A friend of mine has the newer Shimano remote, and he really doesn't like it compared with his older one, so their update is seemingly a step backwards. His main issue is catching them and changing modes when he doesn't want to.

In our bike 'fleet' at home we've got both Generations of Bosch Gen-4, Giant, Specialized SL and this Polini-powered Fulgur Mula. This style of remote is my favorite by far. The '+' button is in the same position as the derailleur 'up' shift lever, with the dropper in the 'down' shift position, so the ergonomics and muscle memory is kind of already there, and the '-' button is just a dab of the forefinger inside the brake lever.

I'm so pleased with it, you can probably tell. 😃
 
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cappuccino34

Active member
Nov 24, 2020
530
328
Helmshore
These are incredibly simple electronic shift and dropper controllers. Seems like the concept could be extended to support level control pretty easily too.
Those are cool. 👍

I think most motor control systems are wired, rather than Bluetooth, so some sort of receiver and driver unit would be required to physically action the commands to the motor or display.
 

cappuccino34

Active member
Nov 24, 2020
530
328
Helmshore
There's a really nice install of them here with a modded axs install in the bars.

I did see that AXS installation, but I wasn't keen on the idea of the PCB being open to the moisture that inevitably gets into everything here.
 

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