Really, really newbie question

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"Tim McNamara" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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You may like DT shifters, but if you did a market study, I can practically guaranty you that no
test audience would prefer DT shifters to a bar-based shifter like GripShift.

Except in this newsfroup.

Especially in this newsgroup. Tech heads are very much prone to the "newer = better" line of
thought. Out in the world, I see as many or more bikes with DT shifting than with brifters.

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On my brevet/travel bike, I use friction downtube shifting. It's utterly reliable and will work
even if the derailleur hanger gets bent- which ain't the case with brifters. I can't easily
break the shifters in a crash, which again ain't the case with brifters.

Hmm, should I plan for my once-every-ten-years crash, or for shifting ten times a mile...

Ten times a mile? Good grief. Learn to use your legs across a wide range of cadences.

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They're quiet and don't make clicking noises

I remember different. There's the ticka-ticka-ticka noise when the derailleur is a little too far
over to the left, and the click...
clic.... click noise when it's too far to the right. That one usually happens when you're standing
and pushing hard up a hill 'cause the frame flex has pulled the lever just a bit even though
you'd just snugged it up again.

That's mostly the result of poor maintenance, actually. My DT friction bike never does this, and I'm
6'4" and 207 lbs. Hmmm, deja vu, we've had this thread before.

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Thanks for the trip down memory lane, I'd forgotten quite how far things have come since
those days.

Next we can talk about toes going numb from toe straps and having to nail your cleats into
your shoes.

You can if you want. I prefer Speedplay Frogs and Lake MX101 shoes.

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Eric (who is thankful to have been a bit too late for the wool shorts era)

They were actually very comfy, except for the tendency to bunch up. And the fabric wore out faster
than Lycra does. My wife- a relatively new cyclist- sings the praises of Swobo wool shorts although
I've never tried them.

Tim McNamara said:

And nothing much worse either, except in unusual situations like crits where 99.9% of bike riders
will never go. Yes, it's easier to move one finger rather than an arm. But it's not like it's a
while lot of work (for most people) to move an arm. I'm not denying that brifters are more
convenient- they are. I disagree with the assessment that brifters are *superior.*

How about unusual situations like downshifting before the traffic light? Yes, I know that's a place
most bicyclists never go, but I think there might be a fairly sizeable minority that occasionally
stops at traffic lights. Possibly even a bit more than crit participants.

Jasper

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Tomorrow I will be on a 375 mile bike ride- the bike had damned well better be utterly reliable
because it's a *long* walk back if it breaks.

Keep the bike maintained and you won't have a problem out on the road. Barring something unforeseen,
brifters and your DTs are both going to work at both the beginning and end of the ride. The
difference with the brifters is that you'll stay closer to your optimal cadence throughout.

Mike

"Jasper Janssen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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On Tue, 17 Jun 2003 13:53:51 -0700, "Mike S." <mikeshaw2@coxDOTnet>

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Keep the bike maintained and you won't have a problem out on the

road.

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Barring something unforeseen, brifters and your DTs are both going to

work

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at both the beginning and end of the ride. The difference with the

brifters

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is that you'll stay closer to your optimal cadence throughout.

For a long ride, I'd personally be worrying about spoke & chain

breakage

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and tire blowouts much sooner than whether my shifters were still working... After all, if your
shifters break, manually derail the

chain to

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a usable combination using hi/lo setscrews or something else , and

you'll

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get home on a single speed. Try getting home without a chain.

I was nearing the end of road race when the downtube shift lever bosses fell off my first generation
Cannondale (they were held on with a stud that passed through the middle of the down tube; the stud
broke). This goes to prove that downtube shifters are not that reliable! I had to ride the
small/small and work on my spin for the next 15 miles while trying to tie the levers up so they
would not fall on the ground or into my chainring.-- Jay Beattie.

"Jasper Janssen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Tim McNamara said:

And nothing much worse either, except in unusual situations like crits where 99.9% of bike riders
will never go. Yes, it's easier to move one finger rather than an arm. But it's not like it's a
while lot of work (for most people) to move an arm. I'm not denying that brifters are more
convenient- they are. I disagree with the assessment that brifters are *superior.*

How about unusual situations like downshifting before the traffic light? Yes, I know that's a
place most bicyclists never go, but I think there might be a fairly sizeable minority that
occasionally stops at traffic lights. Possibly even a bit more than crit participants.

I've recently taken to heart Jobst's comments about shifting too much and I rarely downshift for
stops nowadays.

--
Robin Hubert <[email hidden]

Robin Hubert said:

"Jasper Janssen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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How about unusual situations like downshifting before the traffic light? Yes, I know that's a
place most bicyclists never go, but I think there might be a fairly sizeable minority that
occasionally stops at traffic lights. Possibly even a bit more than crit participants.

I've recently taken to heart Jobst's comments about shifting too much and I rarely downshift for
stops nowadays.

I might be missing something, but if for example on my 3speed hub equipped bike, with which I'm most
often in front of lights, if I don't downshift from 3 into 2, I'm just not getting up to speed quick
enough, or to be more accurate, the first acceleration from 0 to 5 km/h or so is very slow. At a
light, this is not even perhaps all that bad. Crossing streets without lights, where you'll often
have to slip through a gap between cars that is relatively small, it's lethal.

Jasper