Originally Posted by
CliffordK
I think there is a mix of new and old on the internet websites.
I have friction shifters because they're what my bike came with, and what I have.
Most new "high-end" bikes are coming out with "brifters", and that seems to be the expected standard. Hopefully I'll get some setup soon.
Newer isn't always better. On another website, there was a discussion about how long cable housings should last. My thoughts was somewhere around 30 years or so. But, apparently the newer, more expensive housings are wearing out in less than a year.
I suppose that is progress if one lives in a disposable world. Many of the new parts are lighter because they are half plastic. I just have to wonder.
The only problem I have ever had with my downtube shifters is too much drilling weakened them. I put on stock levers (somehow managing to get two lefts, and no rights), and they have worked fine ever since. How many of the brifters will still be functional after 30 to 40 years?
DT friction and ratchet shifters. Old, bygone technology that requires skill. Who needs that? They interchange with every derailleur and every freewheel and cassette. They are light. They do not get damaged and work, virtually guaranteed after every crash and bike tip-over, no matter how minor or severe. The scrapes on the old Campy Record levers used to be a badge of honor.
Now, modern bikes do not crash or fall over, and proprietary systems are SO much better for everybody (and require so much less skill to operate) that clearly those dinosaur era DT shifters should be tossed out. (Or just send them to this dinosaur that has it somewhere in his DNA the skill to operate them.)
This dinosaur has been known to crash. Multi-hundred dollar spills, just to keep the bike operating, isn't in his budget. But if I upgrade to this new technology, crashes don't happen, right?
Ben