Categories: Accessories and GearDefining MomentsLa Vie VelominatusLook ProTradition

Shifting Sands

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.

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

Teocalli says:

Nov 9 2016 at 1:16 am

Wonder how well that Dual Rod actually worked and/or whether they had to spin backwards to shift. Still having the option of additional gears, even if sketchy, has to be better than none. With no chain tension and the roads they raced on , I have to imagine dropped chains were frequent - though cogs did tent to have bigger teeth back then (at least they appeared to be bigger).
KogaLover says:

Nov 9 2016 at 1:33 am

@Teocalli

Wonder how well that Dual Rod actually worked and/or whether they had to spin backwards to shift. Still having the option of additional gears, even if sketchy, has to be better than none. With no chain tension and the roads they raced on , I have to imagine dropped chains were frequent – though cogs did tent to have bigger teeth back then (at least they appeared to be bigger).

Ditto. Tried already to find something with Sheldon Brown, but no description of how the Dual Rod works. Looks life a "lift and drop" type of lever: you lift the chain, shift it onto another cog and then drop it. I think I see a mechanism to adjust the chain tension, but just a bit.

Btw: while the world has changed today and not necessarily for the better, am glad to announce that the weather in South England remains stable. Awesome 9-weather....
Oli says:

Nov 9 2016 at 1:53 am

@Teocalli

It was called the Cambio Corsa and you certainly did have to pedal backwards to shift. I've tried one and it's fiendishly hard to use at first!
Oli says:

Nov 9 2016 at 1:54 am

@frank

Thanks mate!

...now can we have our photo privileges back please?
RobSandy says:

Nov 9 2016 at 2:55 am

@Cary

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 42×15 or 16.

I think I can live without it on my training wheels, but I'm sure I'd use it a lot TTing and racing.

In fact, 52x16 is about 42kph at about 100rpm so I'd probably be shifting between the 15t and the 16t.

It'd be quite nice to have an 18t too.
frank says:

Nov 9 2016 at 5:45 am

@GogglesPizano

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…..

There was something amuck with the shifting for a moment (which somehow resolved itself magically) but I do remember that moment where I realized I couldn't do anything about it; I felt very disconnected from the bike for a second there.

We'll see. I do imagine I'll start shifting the front mech a lot more, that shit works amazingly well compared to mechanical.
frank says:

Nov 9 2016 at 5:46 am

@KogaLover

I'll try to get to that...not sure what's gone sideways here with that.
frank says:

Nov 9 2016 at 5:49 am

@Teocalli

@Buck Rogers

@Oli

@Buck Rogers

Bartali – Bartoli was the guy who won those 90s classics. :wink:

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!!!

I have a couple of buddies going to the Strada Bianchi – very sorely tempted to join them……be a nice run in for RVV.

Well, given the development here yesterday, I may move to London which would make doing both those rides a lot easier!

FFS.
Teocalli says:

Nov 9 2016 at 5:54 am

@frank

You may be better going back to the NL!

The good news is that the Vbugetatis has OKed the Strada Bianchi. So just need to be online for the next release slot on the 26th.
RobSandy says:

Nov 9 2016 at 6:08 am

@frank

@Teocalli

Well, given the development here yesterday, I may move to London which would make doing both those rides a lot easier!

FFS.

After the EU vote I was thinking about where I could move. After the result yesterday I think that place might be Mars.

But the rocky surface of Mars means I could probably finally justify getting a cross bike.