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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View Comments
@MangoDave
The bosses are connected via a bolt through the frame. Make sure that bolt is tight otherwise the shifters will slip forward. Maddening.
@frank
Unless they are brazed on........I suspect he has brazed on and there is wear in the washers etc and the D-bolt is actually bottoming out on the frame or bottom of the thread in the boss.
@Teocalli
Brazed...
It's hard to imagine it would be due to wear, considering how little it's been ridden.
@MangoDave
You are not oiling them are you? That would be kinda like oiling a brake.....
Key for me is can you screw the bolt in easily without the shifter on the boss and does it go in further than it would with the shifter assembled? My Gios frame had a boss with a slightly iffy thread and the bolt would not screw in easily. I chased the thread with a thread tap (very carefully!) and it was then fine.
@Teocalli
You don't oil your brake pads? It helps get rid of the squeaking, you should try it!
No, no oil. The threads are perfect, no issues getting the bolt in/out easily. Also, two of the metal washers are cupped, they need to face the proper direction. I believe (but not certain) that they offer just a tiny amount of flex, which acts as a spring for the friction adjustment. They could be the problem if they're too crushed. I'll play with it this evening, may have to order some new internals if I still can't get it working. I appreciate the help.
Disregard my comment about the cupped metal washers, I was thinking about something different. Solved the problem tonight- I didn't have a washer that would fit, but I cut down the bolt by about 1mm. Now it doesn't bottom out before tightening the shifter. Thanks, gents,for the inspiration.
@Teocalli
There are two levers in the photo of Bartali, just one is hidden by his hand. With the Cambio Corsa one lever releases and tightens the axle and the other is attached to a fork that shoves the chain over the three sprockets as you backpedal. The single lever version is the later Paris-Roubaix mechanism that worked exactly the same, only the lever had a two-stage operation rather than the separate levers of the CC.
@MangoDave
Glad that's sorted - I was about to say I had the same problem on my Vitus, sorted the same way!
@frank
Showed this photo to my 8 year old daughter last night and said "This is daddy's friend with a very famous cyclist" and she pointed to Millar and said, "He must be the cyclist" and I said "How did you know" and she said, "He's the skinny one".
Ha! Had to share! But, in your defense Frahnk, she did not call you the fat one, only Millar the skinny one!
@Buck Rogers
Shades of Ed Clancy - Frank needs to think about having his collar bones trimmed.