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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@KogaLover
I've noticed that on a few routes I have when I have gone faster on sections on the Gios with Down Tube shifters. Partly I put this down to the cassette having a smallest cog of 14 so I am naturally spinning vs a 12 or 11 on 11sp rigs. Also on steel bikes I have a couple of places where the road surface is really coarse and rough and I'm faster on steel on those sections as the ride is smoother.
Though back to @ChrisO's post, at 14 yrs I'm not sure she should be grinding out big gears.
@Teocalli
That reminds me I've got to find a 16t cassette for Angus' bike for the next road season.
@KogaLover
Ah, I see, I thought you were referring to the ease of shifting with Di2.
Not sure teenage girls are keen on developing heavy artillery... although horse-riding is her main sport so I guess it might help.
@chris
I think they're Rotor cranks with round rings?
My cycling journey has taken me through all manner of shifting. My first bike, a Raleigh touring model, featured friction shifters. The first road bike that I owned, a Bottecchia, was an upgrade to indexing on the down tube. The nine speed Trek 5200 that I rode for years shifted via the brake lever, which was a quantum leap in shifting ease. My current eleven speed Ultegra is very similar to the nine speed with the exception of having a 22.2% increase in gear choices.
I loved riding each of these machines. The experience of riding each one was a bit different but the enjoyment of the ride was always the same. The more the technology changed, the more the joy of riding stayed the same. Oddly, I think my favorite ride was the Bottecchia that had indexed shifters on the down tube. There was something very pure and old school about riding a Chromor frame that necessitated reaching down for shifting gears.
Enjoy your new Groupo Frank, and happy belated birthday.
Both have the sacred 16t which I’m missing more and more on the cassettes I currently own.
cannot do without a 16t. i spend 90% of my life in a 42x15 or 16.
I'm thinking about going to a 42/52 with an 11/32, but I'd like to have it go 11/13--25/27/32 so I effectively have 8 very useful gears in the middle and three at the extremes. The smaller gap up front would make for seamless shifts and the 42 would allow me to cruise efficiently up to 22-24mph before up shifting.
Here's an example of a dual lever racer from 1948 - 'The Lightning' - a version of Bianchi's Tipo Corsa. This bike is, appropriately enough, from the Gino Bartali Museum, which is a great museum across the street from Gino's birthplace on the outskirts of Florence. The museum is notably on the route of the 2017 Giro.
@Oli
I know we've been out of rotation, but hands down, that wins the +1 badge right there!
@Buck Rogers
Me this! My 90's steed, 00's steed, and current steed, just add air and ride. (Slowly building 80's steed). i can imagine when my time is down here and my Pedalwan's see my collection, they can just pump up the tyres and ride. If there was batteries involved, it would ruin the experience!