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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@ten B
It's the V-shift. @frank being a computer geek, he would call it a feature, not a bug.
@TommyTubolare
Maybe if we ever meet you can show me some tricks, but I've always had to adjust it. Not on my steel bikes, or even on my Alu Soloist, but on the carbon bikes - always. Both on the VMH's R3 SL and my R3 and my Veloforma (which is similar to an R5 with internal routing).
I think the carbon frame with carbon wheels amplifies the chain noise so much that its not really that I'm fixing any shifting problem - it always shifts fantastically - its more that I'm perfecting the placement of the chain to eliminate noise.
@TommyTubolare
I think we're not communicating on this one - I'm talking about shifting into an easier gear. The Double-Tap breaks down in this case; you have to push through the first click (which is the upshift) and push the lever through to the downshift. Even though its one lever, its a compound movement and its too much for my brain when I'm offroad CX'ing (which is how I train for gravel since I don't have much of that around where I live.) On the gravel, I have to admit, I don't notice the problem as much.
@Weldertron
I've heard many people say this, but I've not actually had this problem. When I Jesus Shift into a lower gear than I have, the lever just stops and doesn't do anything. I wonder if this is a symptom of a mal-adjusted system?
@AndroidG
Very amusing story, and I have to say, there is no substitute for touch. This also explains why all of our drivetrains's performance diminishes after a visit from the man with the hammer.
I agree completely that using one lever to do two things is counter-intuitive and too complicated. I also agree that given that, its much more intuitive than is logically acceptable.
@eightzero
As I've said before, I spoiled my desire to run electric on Mektronic. Put a wire between me and my shifter, and I'm at the mercy of one's and zeros. Put a cable there, and I'll get that fucker on the cog I want it on one way or another.
That said, it is looking like Di2 is actually pretty great in bad weather, and it is the only Shimano system with a fixed brake lever. Campa's group has some work to do, but it also has promise.
I can see riding that stuff on CX at some point, just to focus on the other element of harmony associated with those disciplines.
On the road bike, I'm just not feeling it. I like the connection I have through a cable.
@EricW
I'm sure she's less amused by this than I am, but its a glorious statement worthy of an article in itself: How My Fucked Up, Rule Violating Abomination of a Bike Led To a Happy Marriage.
@mauibike
Art. Right there. That is why the electronic group and disc brakes (which you have on your FUCKING ROAD BIKE) are the death of the art of cycling.
I hear tell that De Vlaeminck liked to knock the shifter with his knee to shift mid-sprint. That must have won him some serious titles, but also lost him just as many - there was no precision in it. I used to do that with my indexed DT shifters, but that was easy because they had such a strong click it only needed a little nudge to pop into the gear.
I've never tried that on friction.
Your words are taken seriously, though, being the first rider to go sub-3 on Haleakala on a completely fucked bike.
@eightzero
+1 badge to you, matey. Excellent question, to which there is only one answer. Well, two, I guess. One is Rule 5, the other is "hand out a +1 Badge in order to deflect what a giant pussy you are."
@Marcus
Babe.
I have Shimango on my kinda-cross bike. 10 speed Campy shifters have exactly the same shift distance as 8 speed Shimano dérailleurs. And it's cheap - Veloce shifters are cheaper than any other brifter, and 8 speed MTB Shimano dérailleurs are even cheaper and you get that huge MTB gear range.
http://www.cxmagazine.com/shimano-campagnolo-ergopower-compatibility
@ten B
So I have to pile on with another broken shifter (2011 Rival, rear) while I was 55 miles into a one-way (not a loop) century. Well, fuck-ity-fuck. Without any tension on the cable, the rear mech puts you in the 11T. Not good when i have 45 miles of rollers to go.
I ended up pulling the cable with a set of mini-pliers I carry (but had never used) and putting it in the 19T which made for a decent 2-speed with a flandrian compact (53-39) up front
I, too, think the infrequent, but crunchy-sounding, over-shifts when already on the inside cog were part of the problem. In the end, I got the shifter RMAed (out of warranty) from SRAM through my LBS, so it didn't require any spend. But nothing can repay the mongo bad mood it put me in when that bugger broke off.
Curiously, after I got rolling again as a 2 speed, the remainder of the ride felt easier than the century before on that same route, and I did no worse on time. The adrenaline boost from the panic caused by the equipment failure freshened up the legs and put a spring in my stroke, generally speaking.
@ToeOverlap
So, you're saying that the Bro-Set made you stronger.