Replacing grip shifts with rapid fire.

[momule]

My Cannondale Q5 has Alivio Rapid Fires on a flat bar and they work very well. As has been said you lose the ability to locate the brakes in a different position from the shifter but it's a pretty easy thing to get used to. The shifters are smooth and work well even though they are, as Jon B points out, budget shifters. It could also be said with some correctness that at $450 the bike itself is a budget bike but it does exactly what I need it to and very reliably so I see no reason to spend more unless by doing so I am soothing my need to spend money on my hobby.