Yes, they are standard equipment on the Aurora. It is handy for over-riding the automatic cadence that a user establishes when they set up the hub with the phone app. You can increase or decrease your cadence 'on the fly'. Really not a bad option to have, unfortunately Evelo does not supply it as standard on the new Omega. But I really miss the previous Harmody system that included a push button for automatic or manual gearing and a twist grip for selecting cadence (a very slick system!)