Doing things the hard way is a luxury. It says to the world that we’ve beat evolution; intelligence is no match for technology and economy is no match for indulgence. We need only step a bit outside our bubble to realize the scale of the illusion, but nevertheless it has become reality for many of us who live our lives happily and fortunately in the middle and upper classes of the developed world where survival has nothing whatsoever to do with being the fittest.
One of the things that struck me within weeks of moving to the Pacific Northwest was the frequency with which people die here; not from disease (although Ebola can go fuck itself, pardon my francais) but from tucking into the wilderness for some weekend relaxation. The PNW has some of the world’s biggest cities, but most of it is untamed wilderness – including radical weather systems, cougars, rattlesnakes, bear, The Sasquatch, and possibly ManBearPig. This place will mess you up, son; your GPS or iPhone isn’t going to be your savior.
The first-hand experience of the realities of a system provides a more intimate learning tool than does the passive observation, although in an evolutionary sense the latter is the more effective method for the survival of a species; our ancestors learned to stay away from bees by watching the guy who drew the short straw poke at a hive and die from anaphylactic shock without needing to then poke at the hive themselves. Nevertheless the tangible nature of repercussions forges an indelible bond between action and result.
It is also interesting that complexity and abstraction are inversely bound; the more complex the system, the farther the user is removed from its operation. The simplicity of the friction downtube shifter is in sharp contrast to the complexity of an electronic drivetrain. My steel bike has friction downtube shifters, a fact that makes itself especially well known while climbing. To shift requires planning and skill; I have to find a part of the climb where I can be seated, unload the chain, and shift by feeling the chain as it slides across the block and listen for the telltale silence when the chain is securely seated back onto an adjacent cog. At that point, I’m committed to that gear until the climb grants me the next opportunity to shift. On Bike #1, I can shift under full load at my whim and without consequence. The artistry of shifting is lost, though I wouldn’t go back to downtube shifters on any bike I plan to ride seriously.
I love the contrast of evolution and tradition in the modern racing bicycle, with carbon tubulars being perhaps the most fitting contrast where the most modern technology is dependent on the oldest form of affixing a tire to a rim. Gluing on a set of tubular tires is no longer a necessary skill in our sport with good clinchers being readily available. Gluing tubs takes time and careful attention, two things that are in short supply in our modern society. But to glue on a set of tires brings you closer to the machine and from where our sport has progressed. To build a set of wheels does so even more, and I imagine building a frame by hand builds the ultimate bond to our history.
We live at a time when the things that are irrelevant to survival take on their own crucial importance; we return to tradition in order to remember where we came from so we may understand where we are going. Doing things the hard way is a beautiful way to remind ourselves of the history that built the luxuries we surround ourselves with.
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@markb
Agreed 100%. I read about the benefits of full-power gear changes with Di2, but I've never been able to bring myself to do it, it just doesn't make sense to me. Just because the mech is capable of shoving the chain across irrespective of the load on said chain, doesn't mean it's good for the chain, or the rings or cassette, to do so. I still anticipate the need to change gear and soft-pedal slightly to make life easier for the mechanical parts, just like I had to back in the distant past when I had six cogs and down tube levers.
As for doing things the hard way, I'm not one for wearing a hair shirt for the sake of it, but in some cases I do relish the additional involvement it brings, and also the peace of mind that comes with knowing something has been done correctly. Building wheels is a great example.
Down tube levers seem anathema to me now, but part of me wants to go back there and try them again. They worked perfectly well, when that's all there was.
@frank
Does carbon love acetone ?
@ Geraint
So did sheep's intestines for condoms and arsenic for syphilis.
@Ken Ho
If you got the first one right, you wouldn't need the second. Those that failed provided the lesson for the rest, the same way the guy with the bees did in the original post. Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for the education of others. Probably.
@frank
10-4 to that. Though even on Di2 there are good shifts and bad shifts. And I'm always playing around with the FD position and the micro-adjust on the RD in an effort to make the shifts even more seamless. Or at least give me the best opportunity to make good shifts. A really good day on Di2 is better than a really good day on mech.
Regardless of the system, anticipating the right gear and getting in to it right before it is needed... that is where I see my young daughter having most opportunity to making smoother shifts. And that is learned skill especially critical for fast mtn biking.
A good story: I converted to 11 sp on both bikes and swapped the Di FD's too. I was running FSA "10sp" rings on my CAAD10 and no surprise, FSA said was best to change to 11 sp specific rings... on the front (?). Would be "optimized". Yea, right. I had 10/11 sp s-works rings on the other bike. I didn't change the FSA rings and front shifts are damn near perfect. They are good rings. I guess if I'd have swapped to "11-sp" specific rings they'd shift themselves?? I'm still trying to dial in the perfect FD position on the "11-sp" specific s-works rings to get smoother shifts. And I'm to the point of trying different rings.
I will NOT go electronic on the mtn bike. Once a season I'm replacing a RD after a stick gets hung up in the back. I did go 1x11 and am glad to be done with the FD on the mtn bike. I'm guessing too that a cyclocross bike would be best run as a 1x11.
@Ken Ho
I'm afraid I'll have to defer to your clearly superior experience in that respect.
I upgraded to SRAM Red this season, and was not previously aware just how hard you could shift this stuff. When I have it dialed in just right (which seems to take a fucking oscilloscope and a scale of justice), all gear changes are like silk. If I haven't sit with it, and got it just right, there are a few gears that shift with slight delay and annoy me to no end. But it will still shift flawlessly under load. Out of the saddle, up hill, click... No problem. (I never even attempted such a shift until a fellow club member did this in front of me, pulling away with multiple shifts, climbing out of the saddle)
It is taking practice to do it well, but what a thing of beauty.
@Geraint
To be fair, it's not as if Shimano endorses it. It just means that should you find yourself in a situation where you need to shift under load - which, after all, happens in racing quite often - then you can. I'm usually gentle with my machine, but all is fair in love and war.
Also, part of why shifting under load used to be a problem and isn't now it's the derailleur - it's the chainrings. The pick-up ramps, the lifting pins and subtle differences in the shape of the rings makes a huge difference in the shifting quality of modern drivetrains (same with cassettes). I'm willing to bet that if you took '70s shifting componentry and replaced rings, cassette and chain with a modern part, they'd shift quite well under load. Some interesting reading here.
@RVester wait, tell us more about these lever espresso machines. I can see the next evolution (devolution) in eclectic coffee shops right there.
Nothing like shifting to bring out the minutae in this group...
... unless it's tire selection
or bar tape colour...
or valve stem length...
I feel very strongly that all Pedalwan should first ride the path upon an old bike. Wrought from alloy, graced with downtube shifters, 32-spoke box-section wheels, and massing in excess of 12kg, this bike should cost less than $400.
The bike must be maintained with total commitment to perfection. Rides in excess of 200km must be undertaken. Carbon craplets must be passed on climbs. Snide comments from fools must be ignored.
Only then shall the Pedalwan make the purchase, and thus emerge from the LBS as a fully-fledged Velominatus, possessed of carbon, unobtanium, and modern shifting.
In all seriousness, there's no better way to learn to shift with precision than to learn on a set of downtube shifters. All the better if it's like @frank's and running a 10-speed cluster that demands total precision.