Evening,

I have thought about this last summer after fixing up my old touring bike that I hadnt ridden in about 6 or 7 years, maybe even a bit more. It was bought new in 91 or 92, a nice quad butted steel tourer that took me on some very memorable trips, a few times in France, down the west coast, here and there near Montreal (Vermont, NY, NH). Spent a lot of time on that bike and it performed really well, wheels held up excellently especially, not once a broken spoke and they are still true. Obviously never had to use the two spare spokes on the chainstay....
Ive always taken great care with my bikes, clean and lube after rain, chain, derailleurs, rims. It works as this gal is in very good shape.

A bunch of years ago I bought a mtn bike from my brother in law and ended up using that for all the commuting I did, was great, front suspension, perfect for the not so great Montreal streets. Later put slicks on it as I hardly ever did off road, and it was a neat change. A Spec. Rock Hopper with nice trigger shifters--it was great bang bang bang shifting with hands on bars. I loved it and with slicks it was reasonable on the road and did all duty for me.

The tourer ended up hanging on the wall for years, and I finally fixed it up last summer. Put new cables and linings on it, new tires, tubes, a new headset and getting back on it was like meeting an old friend. It really was, brought back so many memories.

It surprised me how naturally my right hand went back to shifting. RD an indexed LX that has worked incredibly well and consistently over all those years. Front is a friction one that just works.
It was really nice getting back to a 700c wheeled bike compared to the mtn bike, quite a bit faster, and the frame is a sweet supple ride over bumps. I have never owned a bike with sti brifters, until this summer, so I did spend a large part of my life riding downtube shifters.

Despite the downsides to them, dont you all find that there is a real tactile pleasure of changing chainrings whilst at the same time shifting rear gears, using multiple fingers? Its a neat coordination of fingerwork that I pleasantly found that I still enjoyed doing.

I am not kidding myself, when you have shifting headwinds, or constant up and down roller coaster roads, especially with fully loaded touring, constant shifting is a pain in the ass, and believe me, I remember being sick of the "bend over" to shift at times.
Having your hands on the hood at all times is so much safer, on downhills, around cars, potholes you name it. Not to mention in the drops and you can upshift on big downhills at good speeds.

Riding now just for fun, and unloaded, it still is fun to shift. I was quite fast and precise at downshifting on hills not to lose any momentum, and I am sure it is something that a generation of riders cannot do now.

Dont get me wrong, I love my Integra brifters on the new cyclocross, just love em. Would never go back, but I, as you guys do I am sure, still appreciate the act of shifting downtubers. Makes me think of before index too, although I only rode crappy bikes of that era, so they were a real pain, shifting on their own etc. But all the bikes pre-whatever were like that. When did index derailleurs come in? 80s?

New stuff works great, but downtube shifting does have an appeal doesnt it?
I realize I must be officially an old fart now, with those comments and the fact that I bought myself a Brooks for the first time this summer too (is on the alu frame/carbon forked cyclocross bike though! I like the new/old look, for me it works)

cheers