To an extant that's just the way they are, but cable friction may be making it worse.
Old derailleurs had fairly powerful springs and on upshifts your fighting the spring and lever friction plus the opposing forces make the cable bind on curves. In the opposite direction you're working with the spring, and relaxing the cable which now has less friction, so the action is much lighter.
It's the difference between dragging a sack of onions up a hill on pavement, and down on ice.
Before index, some makers "retro-friction" levers which used a ratchet to eliminate the lever friction when up-shifting.
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Last edited by FBinNY; 03-01-11 at 08:36 PM.