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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@Teocalli
If he went back to the NL, Frank would be the least Dutch guy in the room. I'm not sure he could cope with that.
In Hoxton, Frank would feel at home with all the other Rule 50 deniers...
@chris
Shit, I read that as a different meaning of "deniers" and was worried you knew something about @Frohnkk we did not..........
@Oli
That is just soooo COOL that you have actually ridden this mech before. I should not be surprised but I am, surprised and amazed! I did not know that there were still working ones out there.
@Teocalli
Oi!!! You lucky bastardo!!! I felt lucky to have cleared the RVV with the VMH and kiddos!
Next year I will either ride the LBL or the Strade Bianchi cyclo. I really think it will be the Strade as that is just a dream for me.
We'll have to meet up at the RVV for a pint (or three) and you can tell me all about it!
Super jealous here that you are doing both!
@frank
Well, you do know that we have a room reserved for you at our place in Germany if you need a place to crash while getting the London flat worked out!
@Buck Rogers
Entered. I think. Not the easiest web site I've ever used............
@Oli
Presumably the lever lifted to come over the chain to push "the other way" for up and down shifting? On the colour photo it's not obvious that the lever can do that. Though is that the other lever and it worked on the feed side of the chain that is out of shot. In the lead photo there only seems to be a single lever that must have been able to push both ways..........
Photo uploads are working again. Sidebar: When David saw my bike and the seatpin height he said, "Well, it's got to look good when it's just sitting there, doesn't it?"
@chris
I got a good laugh out of that!
Speaking of old shifters, my front downtube shifter on the Somec isn't tightening down properly. I have to use so much force that I'm sure the D-ring is going to snap off. Hand-tightening is not possible. I've taken it apart and everything appears to be assembled correctly. Maybe one of you seasoned mechanics like @Oli can help me. It's C Record, Syncros era.