repechage

If nothing terrific is on offer for membership, then I will just keep the 1 out of 50 that has Ergo, and that is the only indexed, save for the one Sturmey-Archer 3 speed.
It was necessary to see what all the fuss was about.

Pistard

right, you guys dropped on your heads a few too many times while taking your hand of the drops...I got both, I like indoor plumbing also
this club sucks!

rootboy 

I would never be the member of a club that would have me for one...

To paraphrase.

Narhay

I really like this bike and would like it even more if it had leather coloured bar wrap and skin/tan wall tires.

davester

I've always been in the no-brifter (not anti-brifter) club up until about six months ago when I picked up a brifter-equipped Trek for commuting. I've now concluded that it is too big for me so it's for sale and has already been replaced with an '86 Miyata Seven Ten (DT non-indexed shifters). So, I think I'll be able to reapply for membership after answering a couple of craigslist buyer calls. I'm not anti-brifter because I quite like using the ones on the Trek. However, it's not a big deal to me whether I have them or not.

I do like the fact that while riding with my sister in law (who fancies herself as a total bikie since she's been riding for about a year) a few months ago she looked over she looked over and said very loudly "Oh my god, your shift levers are down there? (on the down tube)...that is crazy, how can you even do that without falling!?"

brianinc-ville

I have never owned a brifter (downtube, barcon, or 3-speed only), but I do find myself enticed by the Retroshift/Gevenalle friction brifters. Somebody tell me why I shouldn't be?

Mr IGH

Out of my cold, dead hands you can have my brifters. You wouldn't be able to ride with my club without brifters. Besides, IGHs are indexed.

mrv 

i've got two bike with bar end shifters, one with DT shifters, an MTB with Shimano Rapdifire (uh oh... kind of like a brifter...), a single speed that won't shift at all, AND my most favorite bike for 3 years running, my former Schwinn race bike (amateurishly photographed from the non-drive train side at the doughnut shop) with Shimano 8-spd STI - yes! BRIFTERS!
so - am I in...?

fietsbob

Only Rohloff * will work 'when ever' , as they have only a smooth rotating pull-pull 2 cable shift grip .
I can get all 14 gears with a wrench on the Hub rotart sequence shifter if needed ..

(& Nuvinci CVR, another pull-pull)

IMO index is the syncro'd pairing of the klicks in the lever on the bars ,and the action at the other end of the single cable .

crank_addict

Brifters- who coined the word anyways?

BTW: Mr. IGH, these road warriors look rather intimidating. Your group would probably be weeping miles behind them.

dweenk 

I have no bikes with brifters, but I agree with squirtdad.

But

I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.

Groucho Marx

RaleighSport

Where's the club for the guys with brifter bikes but only ride their fixed gear bikes really? Or can I get an honorary ABC membership for that?

gaucho777 

Disqualified!

Nice try. This is an all or nothing kind of thing. You may have one foot in the old world, but most Saturdays you willfully cross over to the dark side. I've seen your modern bike. It's nice, but it disqualifies you.

Um, but...not to rub salt in it...this club won't have you as a member until you do something about that STI Miyata. I can tell you really do want to join.

Et tu rootboy? Or are you just repeating the Groucho quote? I had you pegged you as one of the brifter-less.

Point taken. To be honest, I'm not completely anti-brifter. In fact, I can see foresee a point where I, too, may not qualify for membership. I almost called this the No Brifter Club, but that would have meant an acronym of NBC, which I didn't like as much as ABC.

It is funny to me how people think it is such an inconvenience to have to reach the DT shifters, but don't think twice about grabbing a water bottle.

jimmuller 

My name is Jim (but you knew that already if you read my username) and I am a DT friction-shifter addict. I own no bike with brifters. I have never owned a bike with brifters. All of my bikes have DT friction shifters and always have, except for my first derailleur bike, a UO8 which came with stem shifters which I switched over to DT shifters after perhaps a year of ownership.

I confess I am in the process of building up a brifter bike for my sweetie in hopes of getting her back out on the road again, but that a labor of necessity rather than preference. Can I still be a member?

It would do me so much good, perhaps improve my self-image, help me get through this dreadful winter of snow and desolation. I really like the sense of being connected with my bike when I pull off a well-executed shift with the purity of a direct friction-cable shifter. I feel that qualifies me for membership, whether you'd have me or not.

I have never deflated any footballs. I have deflated tires only for the purpose of moving them from one wheel to another.

I await your decision. In the meantime I promise not to entertain brifter thoughts.

Thanks.

(I thought Woody Allen said that quote, but maybe he was copying Groucho.)

clubman 

I'm in, 4 or 5 working road bikes and I even removed the stock RSX brifters from this Lemond and converted to bar-cons. Brifters are in parts box. Mountain bikes are all thumbies, indexed or not.


Do I get a major award or anything?

79pmooney

No brifters here. (I put SunTour Command shifters on my Mooney 19 years ago as my dip into index. Interesting. But while they are still on the bike, that experiment was never duplicated. My best bike and my "newest" bike are both DT. (The builder of the good bike put cable guides on the head tube for those brifty things but I just view them as decorations.) Other two bikes are fix gears.

Ben

jyl

What is the ABC position on Retroshift? On Gripshift? How about Di2 with button controls (like on a time trial bike)?

gaucho777 

Absolutely. Let us not be straddled by the deficiencies of our spouses (lovely as they may be)! I speak on behalf of the ABC when I say we would be honored to count you among our ranks.

(I think Woody Allen simply paraphrased the Groucho Marx quote during Annie Hall.)

gioscinelli 

Racist Brifter P***!

justin10054

I agree about putting tan wall tires on there. I'll probably do it some day, but I already had these Paselas sitting around waiting to be used when I got the bike.

But I'm sticking with the green Newbaums bar tape. I'm not of fan of leather.

Lone

riding with brifters is like riding a bug with backwards antennas. antennas are very sensitive, and you are constantly worried you will touch the antennas and upset the bug.

the worst thing about brifters is changing gears, and having to push on the handlebars. i like downtube shifters, because i just push a pivot on the frame.

gaucho777 

I am willing to open the discussion up the the membership. I don't want to be the final arbiter. That said, I did consider Retroshift, and, reluctantly, I think it should be excluded. Retroshift has the advantage of being able to fit a classic/vintage shifter, but it's still the step-child of a brifter. From an aesthetic point of view, it's still clunky compared to a non-integrated brake lever. I don't think there are many people with retroshift bikes but no other brifter-equipped bikes.

Gripshifts. I don't like them, but I see them as similar to bar-end shifters. They do not require an integrated brake/shift lever, so having a gripshift bike will not disqualify you, but it won't earn you a lot of respect either.

Di2 of any kind, including control buttons, is grounds for immediate disqualification in my book.

CV-6 

I will soon be announcing the PDTS club. Pre Down Tube Shifter. Cambio Corsa forever! DT shifters are for wusses. Real men/women don't use DT shifters..

eschlwc

can this be like the kiss army, like when i was a kid?

i'm gonna need an iron-on patch.

iab

I tried that. I was disqualified anyway.

His club. His rules. Oh well. I'll just go for clickity click click ride.