Originally Posted by
seypat
Specifically, I want to be able to shift to any gear I want with just 1 or 2 actions of the levers, period. I know that STI can jump multiple cogs with one hit now. Maybe electronic can go to any gear with one hit now of each lever. If it can't, I don't need it that much. I have a ride coming up in 2 weekends that has constant transitions from one end the gear range to the other. I see a lot of chains getting dropped or momentum being lost in those transitions while people are rifling through their gears. They can't get clipped out fast enough and do the sideways fall.
Have you tried anything with modern Campy levers? I don't recall the exact number of gears, but their groups from Chorus on up allow you to shift multiple gears with a longer sweep of either the thumb trigger or the paddle (so both directions on the cassette).
I had an old bike with Chorus and I'd regularly dump multiple gears at once when hitting a hill using the thumb lever. Worked perfectly.
Shimano downshifts work the same way, just with fewer gears per lever sweep.