Originally Posted by
jefnvk
Old cheap stock is a great reason to ride them, and a reason that has been mentioned. As to preventing theft, I doubt it, junkies will steal anything they can get their hands on, and vintage is in fashion and values are rising that may encourage it.
No one here is saying those that want to ride them should be forced to use STIs either, just that there is little market sense for a whole myriad of reasons to make new ones, the beginning of which is that any objective observer can admit to them requiring considerably more involvement to use without much, if any benefit.
And it is you that is writing quite the long, elaborate responses about how difficult STIs were to setup, and now, use, I would personally quantify that as akin to "insisting on".
I can't predict what someone will actually try to steal, but I don't want too much money tied up in any bike that I lock and leave.
Fortunately vintage bike valuations seemed to have returned to normal after the earlier years of "fad pricing" on Ebay, so decent-quality vintage bikes (with DT or STI levers) can be had for little more than WalMart's prices (less in some cases).
New downtube shift levers with premium fine-tooth racheting action are currently being offered under Rivendell branding iir, the best of the best being brought to market for the discerning rider. Marketing commitment in evidence here, even if said market is relatively small.
I'm not saying that STI levers aren't good, I do use them regularly myself, but definitely it is a chore to set up a bike with these versus any kind of downtube levers.
It is good practice to figure out what the minimum lengths are for all of the housings going from the handlebars to the frame are, and this is a process with a good number of steps, so setting up a bike with STI levers definitely takes up a good part of the total time needed to assemble a complete bike.
Those longer cables also often cause problems when for instance the internal routing has the cable exiting any internal guide radii at a tangent, with the wire tending to bow and straighten with changes in cable tension. This proves to never be a problem with downtube levers, no "fussyness" as to what kind of cable wire is used or whether a cable housing is quite new and clean enough to give good shifting performance.
I caution riders with current STI levers to be vigilant in detecting the onset of any hesitation of shifting to the smallest cogs, as this is the first and last symptom of impending cable failure inside of the shifter.