Originally Posted by
RobbieTunes
I disagree. Thunder Ridge, The Dairyland Dare, and The Hilly Hundred are "serious about climbing." On them, I've used 9sp and 10sp DA DT shifting. It is great, both on the front and rear. You can grab multiple gears if you need, and the chain settles in almost immediately. I built those bikes that way, specifically for the easier use of DT shifting.
That being said, nothing beats anticipating shifts, and practice. Sure beats the chicken-wing flapping I see at a lot of rides, when the STI crowd realizes they're behind the curve.
Not sure why the DT shifter has anything to do with 42/26, but I agree that the gearing on some older bikes, especially the older 42/24, can really hurt.
I've seen a number of brifter whacking riders go down on that first climb at Thunder Ridge. You tell them it's coming, but they don't listen. They make that turn and start frantically whacking away trying to get to the other end of the cassette. It's too late! They quickly come to a halt and fall over. A lot of them don't even get unclipped.