Reverence: The Double Shift

Jan Janssen, a master of the double-shift.

There was a time when shifting was an art. Friction down-tube shifters required a finess and a light touch of the fingers; a slight overshift to pop the chain onto the cog, and then ease the shifter forward to rest the chain perfectly in its place. Over time, and with the advancement of technology, the art has slipped out of shifting, first with index shifters, then with STI and Ergo shifters – until finally, with Shimano’s Di2 electronic drivetrain, the rider is completely removed from the act of changing gears.

For those of us still riding cable-powered drivetrains, there is still one artform remaining: The Double-Shift. As I approach a climb, I start to tingle with anticipation as the road starts to point upward and I feel the pressure in my legs growing. I’ll gradually shift into lower gears as the gradient increases until I start to near the end of the cluster. Enter the Double-shift, my favorite of shifts. On my Campy Ergos, I just pop both the Go-Buttons at exactly the same time, dropping the chain onto the inner ring in front and dropping it down one gear in back, making a perfectly smooth transition to the next gear. (The Double-Shift on STI is still possible, but feels somehow less dignified.)

When executed properly, it all passes so smoothly and silently that you hardly noticed a thing; the only clue being that moments ago, you were slightly over-geared and now you are in the small ring and pedalling smoothly. It is also a gamble; the change in chain tension in the Double Shift is prone drop the chain entirely; resulting in a catastrophic flail to get the chain back on, either through a front dérailleur Hail-Mary, or a full stop to right the chain onto its ring.

Indeed, it is a thing to cherish, the perfect double shift, and I’m not ashamed to say I congratulate myself with every successful execution.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Kermitpunk says:

Jul 11 2010 at 3:30 pm

Nice one! It's these little things"”and little victories"”that continue to thrill me, too!
john says:

Jul 11 2010 at 4:16 pm

mmmmmmmm...the double shift. Remember doing it with downtube shifters? I know Rob does because that's all he has still. He is Mr. Old School. Push both shifters forward, just so and boom, onwards and upwards. You are right Frank, when it goes smoothly it is a thing of beauty. Once in a while I still reach down to the nonexistent downtube shifter. The old wiring is hard to completely rip out of the wall and remove.

Do I miss that down-tube tech? Not for a minute, I loves my go-buttons. Am I interested in electronic shifters, not so much.
Dan O says:

Jul 11 2010 at 5:11 pm

Cool post - something I do occasionally, but never really think about it. I've lost my chain doing at times also.

I've been riding long enough to have experienced friction downtube, bar end, and STI shifting. I'll take STI every time. There's no going back. The shape of the hoods, the click click, the shifting while standing. I've never owned a Campy bike, but hope to someday. Dream bike build would include Chorus 10 speed. I don't need Record or 11 speeds. I also don't need Di2 - looks cool, but overkill to semi old school me. Batteries to shift still seems damn weird to me.

On the mountain bike side, experienced the original Shimano friction top mount thumb shifters, to SIS thumb shifters, to Sun Tour XC Pro, and later XTR paddle shifters. Latest rig has SRAM trigger shifters - different feel, but work just fine. I even like the SRAM twist shifters and thought I'd hate 'em. I'd consider swapping to X0 twister - they weigh nothing and work great.

As always dude, great blog you have going here.
Rob says:

Jul 11 2010 at 10:09 pm

Your so right John boy - Yes to the double shift, especially from the 53 to the 42 - your stompin on the big ring and hit the hill and its that moment when at just the right instant you throw both those down tube shifters to the right point and you are spinning in just the right gear to the top, nothing better!

Frank, love the image of J.J. 1960 something TdF? Swweet - the glasses, gloves, shoes, frame geometry, fork rake, jersey and shorts - all classic.
Joe says:

Jul 12 2010 at 2:35 am

The doubleshift normally coincides with my feeble body bouncing off it's internal revlimiter as I attempt a big ring ascent, Museeuw style...always a blessing to slip into the spin!
frank says:

Jul 12 2010 at 10:31 am

@Dan O
Oh, yeah - I'm with you. I'd never get rid of my Ergos or STI levers. Like you say, you can shift standing, under load, whatever. Amazing. I'm with you and John, though, with the electronic; it worries me somehow to be without the cable between me and the dÃ©railleur. It feels so detached.
frank says:

Jul 12 2010 at 10:35 am

@Rob
That's such a cool picture; I always loved his look, despite his breaking Rule 36. That time trial of his to win the 1968 Tour by 38 seconds, who can argue with that? All class.
Nathan Edwards says:

Jul 12 2010 at 11:40 am

I'm interested, that it's only one sprocket you change. I've always found that it's two (3 on a compact) to keep a smooth pedalling motion.
frank says:

Jul 12 2010 at 11:53 am

@Nathan Edwards
It can be two, definitely, in which case it's just an extra push on the right Go-Button (a benefit of Campy is you can do multiple shifts in one swipe, as opposed to Shimano's on-click-per-shift setup).

For my cluster and cranks, though, it seems one in back is exactly the the "next gear" most of the time, but it definitely depends on the gradient of the hill and the speed and how much you're slowing down as you shift. But that's part of the beauty; when everything is "just so", it's a art!

I'm riding a 53/39 with a 13-26 10spd block, so I'm going from 53x23 or so, to a 39x21. Looks like that would results in an increase of about 8 rpms, keeping in account that your speed will drop, too (assuming for purposes of this example going from 25kph to 23kph. A double-shift into the same ratio and staying at the same speed would probably be more inclined to require dropping two gears or more in back.

All this based on the cadence calculator which may or may not be accurate. It would be interesting to calculate the size of those gears and see if it corroborates it.
Joshua says:

Jul 12 2010 at 12:26 pm

The Ergos are definitely helpful, but if you pay due reverence to the old school technique, it's smooth as butter every time on any bike. Preload the double shift by giving it just a bit more in back of your stroke for the two pedal strokes leading up to the shift and then back off just a touch while you fire the double. Takes all the tension out of the chain, and you may as well be shifting on the bike stand. Then spin away from Le Frank in the saddle and listen to him wheeze "Tripelllll!" as he stomps on his pedals behind you.