Nigeyy

I've decided that it's best never to discuss people's politics, religion, pets, children or the shifters they use for touring

Must resist.... any.... more..... commenting.... on this thread... must.... must.......

rodar y rodar

Brake and shifter choice aren`t a matter of religion???
Stop the columns! The crusade has been cancelled!

Bacciagalupe

I'm not seeing why this thread is (or ought to be) about "which shifters are best for touring."

The OP is making an assertion, based on anecdotal correlations rather than any sort of quantifiable testing or methodology, that "STI's make you faster." Since that claim is well-meaning but almost certainly incorrect, it really doesn't have anything to do with which shifters you do or ought to prefer for touring....

robow

I enjoy all the shifters (except dt's) and of course we're not going to change anyone's mind here but come ride with me in southern Missouri and Kentucky for a day, where all you see is rollers all day long. You're never in the same gear for more than a few seconds at a time and you shift in 2's and 3's, not single clicks, you'll appreciate the convenience of STI and being able to shift from the tops and the drops without your hands leaving the bar along with near simultaneous front and rear shifting.

gregw

Actually my claim is most certainly correct, virtually impossible for it to be wrong. The easier and safer it is to shift, the more you will do it. The more your shifting the more time you are in the most efficient gears. The more time you spend in the most efficient gears the easier you tour will be. How much easier has mostly to do with the terrain of your tour. If your touring in west Kansas and eastern Colorado, then it won't make much difference but if your on the roads of Kentucky or Missouri or the ones in Robow's post, it will make a BIG difference. And also as I stated, STI shifters are not the issue, it's having the shifters in the hand position where you spend most of your time and one that you use while standing on the pedals on hills.

gregw

I know that road, or at least many just like it. Your right, to effectively cycle a road like that, shifting is nearly constant to maintain momentum. Maximize speed going into the hill and spinning all the way to the top, down shifting in rapid concession. If you judge the roller wrong, you waste a lot of energy.

mcahill844

'Actually my claim is most certainly correct, virtually impossible for it to be wrong.'

Of course you think your claim is correct. You've chosen to simply ignore two very persuasive arguments to the contrary:

1. Your size diffrerences resulted in advantage to you when you added the weight of touring.

2. Studies that show that you don't need to be at an absolute ideal rpm to maintain efficiency.

robow

Along similar lines, but I realize not related, I once saw a study of mountain biking cyclists who rode with camelbacks vs. riders who kept their fluid in standard bottles on the frame, and the study revealed that those who wore the camel backs kept better hydrated then their counterparts with the speculation being that it was easier to grab a quick drink and therefore they did. Also interesting was that the higher performance was somewhat correlated with those that wore the camel back for the said same benefit. Oh, and I hate wearing camel backs : )

gregw

1. How being 15 lbs heavier and less aerodynamic gives me an advantage is a joke.
2. Provide link to this study. I'm sure that the optimum Rpm is a range not a single speed, but that does nothing to refute my claim.

Let me guess, you have BE or DT shifters?

akansaskid

I rode with DT shifters for 30 years, and have only had STI shifters for 9 months. Never had to change a DT cable. My (105) STI rear cable broke in the shifter at 3800 miles. Broke again at 8200 miles, but the head stayed buried and Shimano warrantied a replacement shifter overnight. Thus after breaking after 3800 and 4200 miles, I got proactive and changed it yesterday at 11,250 miles before it broke. Even for that 3000 mile stretch, when I pulled the cable out of the shifter one strand was already broken.

With that record, I'd be hesitant to embark on a long tour with (Shimano) STI shifters. Guess I could stop and replace the cable enroute... Two LBS head mechanics have told me the problem is most pronounced with Shimano 10-speed shifters.

For me, nothing beats STI shifters on a road bike, and I'm keeping mine. But if I'm going thousands of miles on a tourer before getting back home, I'm thinking bar-ends.

Bacciagalupe

Oh, it's quite possible.

You aren't doing rigorous, repeatable, consistent tests with objective equipment. You aren't using accurate methods to quantify anything. You aren't citing any studies. Even the debates over electronic shifters and 11-speed cassettes -- heck, even the marketing talk -- do not suggest that "you can shift more often, therefore you will be faster."

All you have is your own anecdotal observations ("I'm faster than my buddy"), isolating one specific element ("I shift more than he does"), without considering or doing anything to rule out other possibilities, and insisting that this is the only viable explanation. It's not very persuasive.


(Edited to analyze the claims)

I agree with 1).

2) is incorrect. Shifting more means you are fine-tuning your cadence. However, you will generally be in the same efficiency range, unless your cadence drops to 60 or less -- which, really is not a function of how fine-tuned your gears and cadence are, rather how low of gears you have and/or choose to use.

3) is incorrect. Your tour will be easier as long as you keep a comfortable cadence, which does not necessarily require constant shifting.

4) Not sure what you're getting at here, since "shifting all the time" doesn't seem to have the effect you think it does. And climbing ability will absolutely trump something as small as "frequent shifting" in terms of performance.


Not really. If you have a better power-to-weight ratio, you'll have a small edge when the two of you are carrying greater loads.

Plus, aerodynamics are far less critical at touring speeds than unloaded road bike speeds, and probably negligible when climbing at, say, 8-10 mph. At that point it's all power-to-weight ratio.


You missed the links in my previous post. They were a little buried, but I assure you I did not make that stuff up.

https://www2.bsn.com/cycling/articles/cadence.html (a very in-depth technical study)
https://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=4011 (a summary and analysis of multiple studies)

mcahill844

Bacciagalupe addressed your first comments far better than I could. I suggest you read what he provided.

'Let me guess, you have BE or DT shifters?'

Actually, I have a bike with brifters, a bike with bar ends, and even a single speed/fixed gear. My performance isn't that much different between all three of them! Level of fitness matters much more than gears.

I don't tour with the single speed/fixed but I know of people that do.