Originally Posted by
RichSPK
Originally Posted by Carbonfiberboy
I was happy riding my old steel bike with downtube shifters . . . until I got behind a guy with brifters. I could keep up with him fine as long as the gradient didn't change. But if I had to shift, I'd drop behind a bit, partly because my gears were further apart than his were, partly because I had to take one hand off the bars.
That's where I part ways with some of y'all. I can't remember an instance where I worried about catching or keeping up with another rider. I've never ridden competitively, even informally. I did one charity ride, decades ago, but I was just participating, not competing.
I can't remember any time that down-tube shifters put me at such a disadvantage. True, they wouldn't work well in a final sprint in a race; but I do ride hard, and sometimes with someone else who also does, but not in a pack. What might make it a little harder is the bigger jumps we used to have between gears back in down-tube friction shifters' heyday; but today you can get 10-speed Dura Ace indexed down-tube shifters, and maybe 11 or more—I haven't checked.