Originally Posted by johno
I noticed several riders using the old downtube shifter for the front der. on the Alpe D'Huez hillclimb. For reliability reasons? They aren't likely to use it much on that TT.
There is one other unusual thing about Lance's climbing bike... probably the greatest difference between it and any other bike...
it has Lance on it.
According to wikipedia the downtube shifter is used to save weight (about 200 grams in fact). Since they are probably only shifting the chainring at the bottom of a climb and at the top there is little need to complex shifters and more of a need to cut down on weight.