Like a number of high tech crowd sourced projects before them, XShifter has experienced a number of delays on their way to production. But they can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Initially, the rewards from Kickstarter were expected to ship by March 2017. According to inventor Paul Gallagher, a number of software development issues and bugs kept pushing back delivery meaning Kickstarter backers are still waiting for their product.
However, Paul says that they are now very close to shipping the first units – estimating about two weeks. The first XShifters to go out the door will be their 1x systems, with the 2x systems following about four weeks behind. Paul says this is due to the fact that in order to make sure the 2x systems are working properly, they have to ensure the PCBs from the 1x systems are dialed first. We spoke with Paul immediately following a testing session and he said he was very pleased with the way the shifters were working, and that it’s “pretty much ready to go.” He also confirmed that there will be both iOS and Android apps available to customize the shifting settings.
As a result, XShifter is going back to crowd sourcing, this time through Indiegogo. Current backers don’t need to fret though – Paul says that everything will ship out based on when they were ordered. So Kickstarter backers will get their XShifters first, followed by those who have pre-ordered the kits directly from the XShifter site, followed by the Indiegogo orders which are expected to arrive around December 2017. Through the Indiegogo campaign, XShifter 1x systems are available for $199 for the early bird, and $249 there after. A 2x version is also offered for $449, but it won’t be available until January for Indiegogo backers.
Farther down the line will be the XShifter TT/Tri system which was on display at Interbike (title image, and above). The system will use the same “shifter” pod as the other systems, but gains bar end compatibility which could be a godsend for complicated cable routing on tri bikes.
