Reporting back: I found an old but lightly used Shimano XCE braze-on front der. on eBay. I swapped it for the IRD Alpina-d and, sure enough, the action of my Silver shifter is a bit easier on my thumb. Perhaps the lever arm provides more leverage or the spring is a bit lighter. Either way, I'm sticking with the XCE. I imagine that if indexing, specifically with brifters or rapid fire, the difference would be less noticeable if at all.
If I can find a few more XCE's or similar to stock pile, I'll probably unload my IRD's here! Ginz -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.