I suspect that whoever first put a set of downtube shifters on a bike immediately knew that while it was superior to having the shifter on the seat stay, it was a design that was going to be improved upon. Not only did it require being seated to shift, it also required taking your hands off the bars. Shimano got close with the introduction of the STI shifter in the early bit of the 90’s, although the decision to allow the brake lever to pivot laterally was a fundamental flaw.
I remember the first time I saw a set of STI levers in person; I was at County Cycles and they had a complete set of Dura Ace 7400 in the box. It was a truly beautiful groupset, and the metal details on the shifters were as stunning in my hands as they were glinting sunlight off the Pros as they crossed countless finish lines with their arms aloft. The price point was well out of reach, and so I dove headlong into various experiments to find a way to get my shifters on the bars.
Bar-end shifters didn’t look cool so they were out, full stop. I first tried Grip Shift, which was a complete disaster, partly because they didn’t shift well, and partly because they required twisting the bars and invariably introduced a terrifying wobble toward either traffic or the ditch. The low point of my experimentation involved mountain bike thumb shifters mounted near the brake levers, but I couldn’t get them positioned in a way that I could reach them. Cue more wobbling into traffic. Finally I got a set of Suntour Command Shifters, which were basically double-ended thumb shifters that were mounted at the brake lever. These might have worked well, except I couldn’t afford a Suntour rear mech, and the Command Shifters couldn’t get along with my Shimano 105 drivetrain. I had no alternative but to set those shifters to friction, which meant even more wobbling about as I tried to coax it from one gear to the next. But being unsuccessful didn’t mean it wasn’t fun, and when Shimano finally released a 105 STI version – which I could afford – I was that much happier to finally realize my dream of having functional handle-bar mounted shifters.
I’ve never liked the lateral pivot off the STI system, though, and once I could afford to, I moved to Campa and their superior design of incorporating a Go Button along with a paddle shifter. Campagnolo, for all its beauty and functional flawlessness, does require some coddling. It doesn’t particularly like being dirty, and I find myself tweaking the cable tension a few times a week – just a fraction of a turn – to keep it perfect. Because a perfectly tuned Campa drive train runs more perfectly and more silently than anything else – and the Principle of Silence holds sway over all else.
When it came time to building up my Graveur, I never seriously considered Campa because doing that on a bike intended for taking regular mud baths demands something less finicky. And I really don’t want my brake lever wobbling about as I’m trying to control a bouncing, bobbing machine on a twisting gravel or single track descent. Shimano was out, which left me with the choice between Command Shifters and SRAM. SRAM it is, then.
It took me an age to get used to how to adjust it, and how to shift. It requires a lot less cable tension than Shimano or Campa, a trick that took me a while to discover. Upshifts are totally awesome – tap, tap, tap and the chain just drops down along the cassette irrespective of mud or sticks or whatever is in there. I found half a tree trunk in my cassette after my ride this morning, and it didn’t adversely affect the shifting. The front shifting is absolutely blazingly fast, once you get the thing adjusted correctly. And the hoods themselves are very comfortable, possibly even more so than my 10spd Ergos.
But to this day, I still have to think about downshifting (push, *click*, push a bit more, *click*). And Merckx forbid I try shifting more than one gear at a time – I’ll invariably lose track of my clicks and wind up air-shifting between cogs. That’s going to inspire some new curses in a race situation, so there’s that to look forward to.
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Having all 3 main variants mentioned above across the bikes, one thing is certain IMHO; I've realised that I don't have a particular preference. I've grown accustomed to each ones subtleties in difference and feel, the same as with the bikes they adorn.
I'll choose which to ride depending on how I feel, where and how far I'm going or racing or just because I haven't shown enough love to one of the stable in recent times. All is fair and equitable in the medio household.
@il ciclista medio
So it's kind of like a Mormon Groupset thing, eh?
@mouse
Right Ultegra STI on the right (because they were less $$ than DA, and actually a bit lighter), DT on the left for the big dog. Hampsten did it so I immediately followed suit. The brace I guess helped with the stiffness, but mostly was used as a place to put your hands when you were "getting aero" during a breakaway. Was kinda awkward though.
@ten B
For my money, I find saying a shift is either in(ward) or out(ward) is unambiguous, so long as it's clear if speaking about the front or rear mech (which is not a problem in use, as We who Ride with the V typically loc-tite our FD in situ so that it cannot be inadvertently dropped into the little ring, which is for pussies).
Trying to make the terms up and down clear in usage will be a fruitless enterprise, any ruling from @frank notwithstanding, due to the following:
If upshifting were moving to an inward cog -- truly a downshift, w.r.t gear ratio - the chain physically 'climbs' up the cassette to this 'lower' gear... meaning it should be a downshift... Reductio ad absurdum.
Inward and outward stops all this nonsense.
When I'm riding my non campag bike my thumbs get restless and start feeling around on the inside edge hoods for those magic buttons.
There are many things in this article that pertain to my interests, @Frank.
Let's talk about SRAM. I've always been a big Campagnolo fan but I guess there is just something pretty cool about a top of the line group that is lighter than and cost lots less than a top shelf grouppo or group-san and is made in Merika. I've been using Red and Force for a couple of years now and I have no complaints other than how noisy the Red cassette was. But I fixed that by running a DA cassette and chain and now everything is smoove like budda'.
The plan for the next personal Deacon is a road frame made with True Temper tubes, ENVE everything (wheels, forks, stem, bars, seat pin), and a SRAM group. The only thing on the bike not domestic will be tyres and contact points. Hmmm, interesting.
The next item of interest is the subject of a (hopefully soon posted) guest article about a recent acquisition of mine. I won't go into details but there are D/T shifters involved. I'm thinking a revamp that would involve lots of carbon bits and a 10sp cassette in conjunction with a Simplex friction D/T shifters. I'm pretty certain that there would be no wobbling toward traffic involved.
I still remember the first time I really encountered Campagnolo shifting out in the wild. I was riding with a dude I'd met, much older and incredibly strong. I was on 105 9-speed stuff, which was wonderful to me at the time. I heard him double shift a few times at the top of climbs and had no damn clue what was going on. "What are all those noises?" I was too busy trying to hold his wheel to ask.
I bumped into a guy last weekend out riding and we cruised together for a bit. When he saw my 2007 Centaur he actually said, "Man, it has been years since I've seen that stuff!" Must be nice to live in a fantasy world where everyone is on brand new stuff at all times. He does live in the location roadie heaven stomping grounds though.
@mouse
Those bars, if I recall correctly, came out from the headset at about 45 degrees to the frame, so her hands would have been over the wheel as usual and the handling should have been "normal".
@scaler911
You didin't put up the whole thing. STI right lever, std left, 1 dt shifter, broomstick. The only way that could have been cooler was if you'd had some spinazis on there.
@frank
I was Rule 37 complaint before The Rules even existed.
@roger
Take the shifters off and tighten the dt shifter bosses. They screw into each other from opposite ends. If they are not tight, they will do what you're describing here.
@piwakawaka
I do a bit of this myself, same effort but taller gear on a climb is usually good sign that I'm coming along on my form.
And spinning uphill is for blood dopers; saves the muscles over a 3 week tour, but strains the cardio too much. Not so much a worry when you're getting your blood changed out every several days.