Categories: NostalgiaTechnologyTradition

The Golden Era: Downtube Shifters and Delta Brakes

I miss downtube shifters. I miss them in the same way I miss the days before the widespread use of race radios, when races were less choreographed and more unpredictable. Racing on downtube shifters, a rider had to be seated and take one hand off the bars to shift. Shifting had to be planned into race tactics. These days, we can enter a hairpin bend in one gear and exit out of the saddle in another all while never moving our fingers off the brakes. We can shift into any gear we want while mashing the pedals up a steep incline. With downtube shifters, a rider had to plan for corners and enter the turns in the gear they planned to exit it in; they had to commit to the gear they were going to sprint in. If they were in the wrong gear when an attack went, they had to stay (or get) seated, reach down and feather the derailleur into the proper gear – overshifting slightly and easing the chain back into the cog. Similarly, a rider planning to attack had to choose a gear before launching themselves up the road. A far cry from today’s bar mounted shifters. Besides, downtube shifters were beautiful: simple, elegant, and light.

Flipping through my old cycling books, it feels like the late eighties and early nineties were the golden age of component design. Even up to the early eighties, components were rife with nuts and bolts and square edges. But in the late eighties, it seems manufacturers spontaneously mastered aluminum forgery; Mavic, Shimano, and Campagnolo suddenly poured out elegant parts with sexy curves and polished finishes. In my opinion, the best and most beautiful groupo ever made was the 1989 and 1990 editions of Campagnolo C-Record.

Those were the years just before Campy put out the first version of the Ergo-Power lever which, to my taste, was always too bulbous and large; I much preferred their distinctive standard brake levers and their loose-fitting white hoods. The Campy crankset and derailleurs were stunning, complete with that unmistakable aluminum finish, polished to produce a luster that looked like it was something from a dream. The rear hub, with its sweeping curve from the freehub body to the axle, was mesmerizing to watch as it gleamed in the sunlight. But the piéce de résistance of the groupset was the delta brake, in its full triangular glory. In today’s weight-obsessed cycling culture, there is no possibility of such a brakeset ever being built again.

I already have plenty of bikes, but I think we all know that the correct number of bikes to own is n+1. It is a dream of mine to hunt around and collect an entire ’89-’90 C-Record groupo and build up a bike around it, right down to a set of hand-built (by me) three-cross wheels, downtube shifters, and delta brakes.

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.

Next Di Luca Confidential »

Previous « Rock Hoppin'

View Comments

frank says:

Jun 2 2010 at 1:53 pm

@Jarvis
105 is actually amazing stuff. I've got a 105 group that I bought in...1992?...that I still use on my rain bike. To this day, it shifts better and is easier to maintain than my 2004 Dura-Ace set.

But, I will never understand the Campy-bashing. They had a bad run in the mid-1990's, but I have it on 4 bikes and each set is top-notch and works flawlessly.
david says:

Jun 2 2010 at 2:17 pm

@frank

@Jarvis

The old 105 brakes are tremendous. I took a set off a Raliegh I bought in 89 or 90 and put them on my #2 bike. (And, they are elegantly designed, if that matters.)
Jarvis says:

Jun 2 2010 at 2:48 pm

Ah, the '89-'90 era Raleigh's. My first "proper" road bike was a 1990 Raleigh Delta, 531 with 1051 throughout. I'd wanted the Quadra, as it was in the team colours, but that was out of my reach.

@frank

They had a bad run in the mid-1990's

The levers were so stiff you couldn't brake on the hoods and when you did they were...vague...The thumbshift was so badly placed you need to be double-jointed to shift on the drops. So you either pre-selected your gear and rode on the drops, or rode on the hoods and hoped you didn't need the brakes any time this side of winter.

After that I never saw the need to try Campag
Jarvis says:

Jun 2 2010 at 2:53 pm

Ah, the '89-'90 era Raleigh's. My first "proper" road bike was a 1990 Raleigh Delta, 531 with 1051 throughout. I'd wanted the Quadra, as it was in the team colours, but that was out of my reach.

The nicest bike I ever had, I ran Dura-ace throughout, apart from 105 calipers

@frank

They had a bad run in the mid-1990's

The levers were so stiff you couldn't brake on the hoods and when you did they were...vague...The thumbshift was so badly placed you need to be double-jointed to shift on the drops. So you either pre-selected your gear and rode on the drops, or rode on the hoods and hoped you didn't need the brakes any time this side of winter.

I even had the '98, made of cheese, vintage Ultegra and still thought it better than Campag
Jarvis says:

Jun 2 2010 at 2:54 pm

Ick...weird double-post. Apologies
chasmm says:

Jun 23 2010 at 10:10 am

@john
The original Branford Bike in Branford CT was a great place to shop. I remember when it was in the basement of the house...I spent a lot of hours there talking to Tim and Tom and spending money I didn't have...

Charles
Nathan Scot says:

Sep 11 2010 at 1:26 pm

Delta brakes, I have had a pair since 1987. There are going to my time trial bike now, but what I have noticed is they need good pads, and then they are fine stoppers. Sometimes hard to get the right pads to fit, but that is something that can be managed. My wife used Modolo synt pads (the ones with World Champion 1983 on them.) Those work great. The white hoods that came with C-Record levers were horrible!
frank says:

Sep 11 2010 at 8:37 pm

@Nathan Scot
Wow, it sounds like you and your Velomihottie have some pretty amazing bikes in the stable.

Sure, there may be a challenge here and there to get them working right, but I've heard that once they are set up properly, they are great. The set on my dad's Merckx seem to work so well, the act like anti-lock breaks. Amazing.

But, like everything good in life, it takes work to keep them in proper working order.
michael says:

Sep 12 2010 at 12:07 am

I have a set of these hubs, never used, never laced. Not sure what I'm doing with them, but I keep them.
Mr Haven says:

Oct 16 2010 at 12:18 pm

Another nostalgia piece, great stuff. Although I came to the road too late for down tube shifters I did have thumbies on the MTB, so I grok you.