Categories: TechniqueThe HardmenThe Rules

Changer de Braquet

The classic gear lever

Some people are supremely good at it, reducing complex situations into matters of simple black and white. This isn’t my particular area of expertise; I enjoy wading through the pools of ambiguity a bit too much to go about bludgeoning this beautiful world into absolutes. In fact, I would venture that delighting in nuance is part of what distinguishes La Vie Velominatus from the simple act of riding a bicycle.

I’ve spent the summer wrapping myself in the Rules handed down by the Apostle Museeuw during Keepers Tour 2012, with particular emphasis on Rule #90. Climbing Sur la Plaque is a cruel business, rising upwards under the crushing weight of physics as you fight to maintain your rhythm and momentum. At first, it’s a struggle to maintain speed on the smaller climbs as you learn how to change your pedaling action to compensate for changes in gradient. You focus on loading the pedals and forcing them around; the moment you lose the rhythm, gravity sinks her claws into your tires and tries to drag you back down the hill. On the other hand, if you maintain your cadence and power through the ramps, what is usually an intimidating slope will disappear under your wheels, making molehills of mountains.

If the Big Ring is a hammer, then not every climb is a nail. (I realize too late that referring to the road as a nail is sure to bring the Puncture Apocalypse on today’s ride.) The guns get more massive from the practice of Rule #90, but it comes at a hefty price: souplesse withers like a delicate flower as one seeks to conquer the art of mashing a huge gear. Indeed, one of the great pleasures in Cycling is to sense a certain fluidity of your stroke which belies the feeling of strength in your muscles as you continue to heap coals on the fire.

This requires an art altogether different from moving Sur la Plaque; it relies on turning the pedals at a higher cadence and shifting gear whenever the gradient changes. Rhythm holds court over everything else and is maintained at all costs. As the gradient steepens, the chain is slipped into the next smaller gear; as the gradient eases, it is droped back down. Not every climb suits this style of riding; the rear cluster must be matched perfectly to accomodate the changes in pitch such that maximum speed is maintained and the legs allowed to continue their relentless churn. When synchronized perfectly, it is the gateway to La Volupté; when not: disaster.

Such is the nuance of shifting gear, such is the nature of Cycling.

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

unversio says:

Oct 8 2012 at 1:28 pm

@graham d.m. Changing back to 52/42 real soon (next week). I needed to take a 54 with the 44 that I wanted to try. The 54 feels like throwing up a shotgun. I started keeping a flat drawer with 3 to 4 sets ahead of myself (wear and tear).
G'rilla says:

Oct 8 2012 at 1:54 pm

@eightzero I was browsing the sites of custom framebuilders and found English Cycles in Oregon. They did a bike with Di2 where the battery is inside the seat tube (charging port exposed on the side) and the other connection is in the stem. It makes for a really clean bike without the usual messy rats nest of wires under the bars on Di2 bikes.

http://www.englishcycles.com/custombikes/custom-di2-road-bike/
czmiel says:

Oct 8 2012 at 1:56 pm

In my flat as Cameron Diaz's chest countryside the hills ain't a challenge. That's why I really love them because they aren't too hard to conquer and on the other hand they give me lots of motivation after getting to the their top. I love flat routes. I hate flat Cameron Diaz. \/!
Ron says:

Oct 8 2012 at 2:12 pm

I'm still pissed about a misshift I had three years ago when going into the small ring. I never liked small ringing it before that and I surely hate it more afterwards. I'd much rather stand and power through a climb, if I can, than sit and spin.

Wow, that Buick is amazing!

When I watch old races I still pay particular attention to how/when the dudes shift with DT shifters. I'm intrigued by this since I've had very limited experience with them & am not skilled in removing my hands from the bars when things go up. I guess it was just a necessity at the time.
the Engine says:

Oct 8 2012 at 2:14 pm

@eightzero

At the risk of (inappropriate) threadjack, this one (and the very appropriate picture) plays directly into a debate I've had with myself whilst focused on the V-Locus: if I could place gear change command inputs anywhere on the bike, where would they be?

Remember that downtube levers were a huge inprovement to derailleur set ups. And then STI levers became derigeur for all modern bikes. In the last few years,we've seen electronic shifting make its appearance, but oddly, electronic shifters have left the "buttons" at the same place as the STI lever. Yes, there are remotes available, and TT bar options as well.

But...if you could put that button anywhere on the bike, where would it be? And remember....it theoreticlly doesn't even need to have a wire leading there. Maybe on a glove? Or is the STI placement the ultimate refinement?

We now return you to our regularly scheduled thread.

I bed that somewhere someone is thinking, "What if we used the output from the power meter to make automatic gear changes to keep a constant cadence (obviously within load parameters) with a manual override - bit like a flappy paddle auto box on a car?"

I mean the computer power is already there and could easily be incorporated in the available space on any bike set up to run electronic shifting.

Wish I had some engineering ability because it would sell like hotcakes to time trialists - no need to move even a finger out of that perfect aero position.
Ken Ho says:

Oct 8 2012 at 2:15 pm

I've been going the other way, meditating on Breaking the Rules a bit more, finding love for La Petit Plaque. Having a natural inclination to grind, it took me a while, but then I got the special chain-breaker in the post that allowed me to separate my ego from my crankset.

In a fit of pure rebellion I fitted a 50/34 a while ago. I didn't notice much difference actually, though I find the torque curve of my legs goes well with it, and I like the slightly closer ratios. I change gear a lot less than I used to. I counted the teeth again the other day, not convinced that the rings were actually smaller.

THe new P3 has a 53 on it though, and I switch back and forth easily. The guns and the gradient determine the gear. I just obey.
Ron says:

Oct 8 2012 at 2:17 pm

@G'rilla

@eightzero I was browsing the sites of custom framebuilders and found English Cycles in Oregon. They did a bike with Di2 where the battery is inside the seat tube (charging port exposed on the side) and the other connection is in the stem. It makes for a really clean bike without the usual messy rats nest of wires under the bars on Di2 bikes. http://www.englishcycles.com/custombikes/custom-di2-road-bike/

A custom bike with a sloping TT? No thank you.
mothslayer says:

Oct 8 2012 at 2:18 pm

@Cyclops

Fred will start down shifting to bring his cadence up while the pro simply stays in the same gear and the same cadence and just mashes on the pedals harder. I've been trying that a lot on (not so steep) gradients and it is amazing the damage you do to people when your speed, cadence, body position, breathing, and facial expression does not change as you start going up hill. It's pretty demoralizing to them. I like it.

Amen. All of the passing moans and grunts of "I hate you" and "You make me sick" do indeed confirm that I am, at that point in time, appropriately dishing pain out on the rest of the pack.
Ron says:

Oct 8 2012 at 2:21 pm

@Ken Ho

I've been going the other way, meditating on Breaking the Rules a bit more, finding love for La Petit Plaque. Having a natural inclination to grind, it took me a while, but then I got the special chain-breaker in the post that allowed me to separate my ego from my crankset.

In a fit of pure rebellion I fitted a 50/34 a while ago. I didn't notice much difference actually, though I find the torque curve of my legs goes well with it, and I like the slightly closer ratios. I change gear a lot less than I used to. I counted the teeth again the other day, not convinced that the rings were actually smaller.

THe new P3 has a 53 on it though, and I switch back and forth easily. The guns and the gradient determine the gear. I just obey.

If anyone else is going such a route, please let me know. I have a compact Campa Centaur crankset that I'm dying to swap out. Never liked it & I'd be more pissed at myself but at the time I was a serious goddamn neophyte and didn't even know what in the hell a compact was, thus, I'm stuck with the bastard for the time being.
Ron says:

Oct 8 2012 at 2:25 pm

@the Engine

@eightzero

At the risk of (inappropriate) threadjack, this one (and the very appropriate picture) plays directly into a debate I've had with myself whilst focused on the V-Locus: if I could place gear change command inputs anywhere on the bike, where would they be?

Remember that downtube levers were a huge inprovement to derailleur set ups. And then STI levers became derigeur for all modern bikes. In the last few years,we've seen electronic shifting make its appearance, but oddly, electronic shifters have left the "buttons" at the same place as the STI lever. Yes, there are remotes available, and TT bar options as well.

But...if you could put that button anywhere on the bike, where would it be? And remember....it theoreticlly doesn't even need to have a wire leading there. Maybe on a glove? Or is the STI placement the ultimate refinement?

We now return you to our regularly scheduled thread.

I bed that somewhere someone is thinking, "What if we used the output from the power meter to make automatic gear changes to keep a constant cadence (obviously within load parameters) with a manual override - bit like a flappy paddle auto box on a car?"

I mean the computer power is already there and could easily be incorporated in the available space on any bike set up to run electronic shifting.

Wish I had some engineering ability because it would sell like hotcakes to time trialists - no need to move even a finger out of that perfect aero position.

I've been avoiding a group ride I used to do for about a year now. The majority of the folks on it are total duds. Can't see past their fucking power numbers to enjoy a nice bike or even riding one.

I went last week because I told myself I'd go to at least one this year and the season is winding down due to low light. One of the leading assholes decided we should start a rotating paceline. Okay, not a big deal. Then he starts yelling because his powermeter is telling him we're surging too much. Fucking jerk. I left coaches behind with college sports, dude. And this is just a group ride, not some team with rules. Calm down.

He'd snap up an auto-shifter in a second. I'm sticking with my V-Meter.