Patent ID: 7681472

Claim:
A shifter for a bicycle transmission comprising: a housing including a detent contour, the housing fixedly mountable to a bicycle frame member; a cable spool rotated relative to the housing for winding and unwinding a control cable thereon; an actuator displaced relative to the cable spool and including a spring detent pawl release element, a spring seat and a first spool driver operatively engaging and rotating the spool; and a single-piece spring element discrete from the cable spool including: a detent pawl engageable with the detent contour to maintain the shifter in a current detent position; a base supported by the spring seat; and a second spool driver operatively engaging and rotating the spool, the shifter configured such that during the onset of a cable-release operation the actuator is initially displaced from a rest position relative to the cable spool to preload and reversibly deform the spring element to assist the unwinding rotation of the cable spool without releasing the detent pawl from the current detent position.