Three gears: a lever and no more wing nuts. Luxury.
One of my favorite stories in Cycling is of the 1989 World Championships. It was a very lumpy parcours, with a particularly tough climb near the end of the circuit. Sean Kelly had a brilliant sprint but could get over the climbs handily enough that he fancied his chance to finally win the rainbow bands. With only 7 gears at his disposal and a 53/39 chainset, he faced a catch 22: should he select a 13-25 block, or a 12-23. With the 25, he could spare his guns but would be on the short side of his sprinting gear. On the other hand, with the 12-23 he would have the optimal gear for the sprint but risked blowing the guns out with too big a gear on the climb.
The question was: spare the guns and arrive at the finish with good legs but a short gear, or chose the gear to win the sprint but risk getting dropped on the final climb? (LeMond, who won the race, chose a 54/42 and a 12-23 for the race. They were obviously different kinds of riders.)
The modern Cyclist is a spoiled one, with 11 speeds at their disposal. The most common cassette in use today is the 11-28, which features a bigger sprinting gear and a much lower climbing gear than Kelly could ever have dreamt of. Gear choice is not one that seems to factor any more; riders are more concerned with compact versus standard than they are with how closely packed their rear sprockets are. We’ve lost a bit of the art; a bit of the thinking and weighing of options that used to factor into winning races.
To take this even further, I was recently given a Super Record EPS groupset as part of a 40th birthday gift from Campagnolo. I haven’t ridden it enough yet to have an opinion of it, but two things are certain: the shifting is flawless and I have less to do with it than I did before.
Even riding downtube shifters was a way of managing your effort; if climbing out of the saddle, shifting would require sitting down in order to move the gear lever. In a sprint, you could shift with your knee, but this was more hammer and nail than it was precision in action. Even that was comparatively luxurious when compared to the Campagnolo Dual-Rod shifting system and the flip-flop hub which was changed with wing nuts before that.
One of the beautiful things about Cycling is that while it is fiercely traditional, it also embraces technology and the evolution that comes with it. Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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God, I love Bartoli.
Every picture of him that I see just reminds me of my logging Grandfather who was raised on a farm in northern Maine and was a mountain of man (at least for the 1920's--6'4'' and around 220 in his prime) who then switched to granite mining in Vermont in his 30's and passed away about 10 years ago.
Just a Hardman thru and thru.
As for EPS, I have a 2015 SR groupo waiting for my Hampsten Ti frame to arrive (any day now) but I still just cannot get behind electronic. That being said, no one has ever just FUCKING GIVEN me one, either! Now THAT is a mighty fine birthday gift if I have ever seen one!
Enjoy and give us more updates as you ride her more and more.
Don't think that I will ever buy electronic but then I guess I should "Never say never", eh?
I have been riding Record EPS for the last year on one of mine, I've also been riding Di2 on one of the others. Both systems are Fawesome but the EPS seems to just have that little bit of something I can't explain. Still for whatever reason the next N+1 is going to be mechanical Super-record.....
@Frank "I was recently given a Super Record EPS groupset as part of a 40th birthday gift from Campagnolo.
@Buck Rogers
Please do not, am way too jealous here. How come he gets to post pictures of his bikes while other mere mortals have to suffer that we cannot post any pitchers. And on top of that he gets that as a brib/thday gift.
@Buck Rogers
Bartali - Bartoli was the guy who won those 90s classics. :wink:
Happy Birthday, Frank! Stylie rig, maing!
@KogaLover
Because he can write half-way coherently and us mere mortals love to read the shit he throws on the page (Exhibit A from your post on why he gets fucking awesome gifts and you and I are lucky to get a new tube from the VMH for our birthday: we cannot post any "pitchers"--Don't you just love the "no Edit" of the V site!).
@Oli
Ahhh FARK! See, we really need that edit function!!!
Must be b/c I literally just watched the '96 RVV on youtube yesterday while doing an hour on the rollers. Getting so psyched for the 2017 RVV cyclo this spring!!!
@Buck Rogers
Haha, you know it's better to be wrong and fit than right and fat!
If photo's worked I could post my collection of Campag Mechs still in use. If.......
I upgraded #1 to Campy SR Mechanical from Chorus this Summer and wondered whether I would tell the difference s Chorus is pretty slick. Happy to say SR is even slicker. Though I couldn't quite persuade myself to go EPS though I have ridden electronic and it was pretty sweet.
@Buck Rogers
I have a couple of buddies going to the Strada Bianchi - very sorely tempted to join them......be a nice run in for RVV.