Shifters on the downtube...why?
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Shifters on the down tube. Where else would you put shifters? I have one bike with Brifters. They are decent DA Pic #2 . I personally hate the flex feel of the levers. A properly tightened braze on, or Campy record lever feels solid and correct. IMHO which is exactly what it cost. But, just looking at my current bikes closest to door, I seem to have a preference for Bar-Cons???
Last edited by Katiesmalls; 01-18-15 at 06:27 PM.
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I ride a lot of different bikes and am always at the start of my rides, kinda reaching up, down, here and there for the shifters 'til I get used to what ever bike I am riding! Brake levers, too. Chicken wings, no chicken wings.
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it is easy to be in the current time looking back at previous "technology" and ask why "did they do that" without seeing what came before. New tech often builds on old tech and some things "old" just work well across generations. A diamond frame bike and Brooks saddle are examples.
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When I was browsing craigslist for my first road bike, I noticed a lot of older bikes with shifters on the downtube.
Why?
I just can't understand why they'd ever put them there. They seem incredibly difficult to access compared to any other style shifter I've seen. Why would they put them in a spot where you have to take a hand off your handlebars to shift, when there are numerous styles without that drawback? What possible advantage does this style have over literally every other common style from the past 4 decades?
Why?
I just can't understand why they'd ever put them there. They seem incredibly difficult to access compared to any other style shifter I've seen. Why would they put them in a spot where you have to take a hand off your handlebars to shift, when there are numerous styles without that drawback? What possible advantage does this style have over literally every other common style from the past 4 decades?
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To bad command shifters never really took off.
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I think a better question is: Why aren't they still offering the option of downtube shifters on new bikes?
Seriously!
They're cheap!
They're 100% reliable.
Last forever.
Very low-maintenance and super-easy when you need to change cables.
You can switch from one end of the cassette to the other with one flick of the lever.
As someone else mentioned: Instant compatibility with EVERYTHING!
You have infinite, precise control- Trim that FD exactly where you want it!
It's no big deal reaching down to shift. Did it as a kid and through my teens- never a problem; never a shift-related crash.
So they've upped the technology with brifters and electronic shifting- but you can't improve on something when that something it is the simplest and most efficient way of achieving a given task- and DT shifters were indeed that!
My next bike is goin to be a vintage with DTs. These modern fancy bikes are O-K, and nice as far as the look and feel- but one of the things I love about bikes is their simplicity and directness- and DTs achieve the height of that. We're getting too far away from that with all this other crap: Brifters; internal cable routing; eighteen-zillion cog cassettes/skinny chains that only last 1000 miles; hydraulic/disc brakes- sheesh! Enough already! What's the point of all this stuff? It's adding weight and complexity; and making money for the bike companies with half of the riders acting like salivating dogs who have to have the latest and greatest fad of the month [Don't get stuck with lowly 10-speed! Don't get left behind! Get on board with 11-speed, or you're nOTHING! ]- but what is it doing for the rider? Nothing!
Seriously!
They're cheap!
They're 100% reliable.
Last forever.
Very low-maintenance and super-easy when you need to change cables.
You can switch from one end of the cassette to the other with one flick of the lever.
As someone else mentioned: Instant compatibility with EVERYTHING!
You have infinite, precise control- Trim that FD exactly where you want it!
It's no big deal reaching down to shift. Did it as a kid and through my teens- never a problem; never a shift-related crash.
So they've upped the technology with brifters and electronic shifting- but you can't improve on something when that something it is the simplest and most efficient way of achieving a given task- and DT shifters were indeed that!
My next bike is goin to be a vintage with DTs. These modern fancy bikes are O-K, and nice as far as the look and feel- but one of the things I love about bikes is their simplicity and directness- and DTs achieve the height of that. We're getting too far away from that with all this other crap: Brifters; internal cable routing; eighteen-zillion cog cassettes/skinny chains that only last 1000 miles; hydraulic/disc brakes- sheesh! Enough already! What's the point of all this stuff? It's adding weight and complexity; and making money for the bike companies with half of the riders acting like salivating dogs who have to have the latest and greatest fad of the month [Don't get stuck with lowly 10-speed! Don't get left behind! Get on board with 11-speed, or you're nOTHING! ]- but what is it doing for the rider? Nothing!
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With brifters, you can generate artificial demand just by introducing new pull ratios.
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Anybody else hear Sheldon from Big Bang Theory while reading The OP questions?
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You can still buy bikes with downtime shifters. Places like Bike Direct will build and sell anything when there's a demand. The problem is the demand is so small all they sell are a couple low end models.
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Except there are extremely inconvenient when you are out of saddle climbing and need to shift, come around a sharp turn and you face a monster incline, or need to suddenly sprint and change gear.
You can still buy bikes with downtime shifters. Places like Bike Direct will build and sell anything when there's a demand. The problem is the demand is so small all they sell are a couple low end models.
You can still buy bikes with downtime shifters. Places like Bike Direct will build and sell anything when there's a demand. The problem is the demand is so small all they sell are a couple low end models.
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My first road bike was a 1990s Trek 1500 with DT shifters. They were not at all difficult to use and were as bombproof as shifters can be. I like my current 105 brifters but there was nothing wrong with the old school DTs either.
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Probably because DA downtube shifters are about $80 and weigh next to nothing, so why bother with the lower end of the range. You can find lower end models or even make your own. I saw a story posted somewhere about this dude that makes them for an African bike relief program and they are about $5 a pop. Long lasting, precise and repairable if needed, what's not to like. If I ever get a custom steel frame built, I plan to put them on.
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The down tube shifters are mechanically elegant. They are light, the cable is shorter so it has less stretch. Also the cable slides under the bottom bracket and has only the turn around where the cable is inside. Once adjusted they stayed in adjustment much longer. The "brifters" are heavy and way up on the bike and has cables flopping around. Bikes with down tube shifters are amazingly clean. IMO they were not hard to reach.
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The down tube shifters are mechanically elegant. They are light, the cable is shorter so it has less stretch. Also the cable slides under the bottom bracket and has only the turn around where the cable is inside. Once adjusted they stayed in adjustment much longer. The "brifters" are heavy and way up on the bike and has cables flopping around. Bikes with down tube shifters are amazingly clean. IMO they were not hard to reach.
Originally Posted by Bandera;17482038
Modern-ish DT controls w/ 10 cog indexed shifting: simple, light, clean & reliable.
-Bandera
#43
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Race Posture, bent way over in the drops, the down tube Lever is right near your hands . though Bar end shifters are nearer,
but as pointed out, involves More Cable & Housing..
but as pointed out, involves More Cable & Housing..
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Bike manufacturers have dealt with all sorts of liability lawsuits over the years. Brifters keep your hands near your brakes, literally on top of them. That's very appealing from a legal standpoint.
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Originally Posted by 79pmooney
Another plus where racing was a way to escape generations of poverty for young men - your competitor couldn't reach over going in to a sprint and dump you into the wrong gear. (You never saw bar-end shifters on sprinter's bikes. And if the competitor tried you could knock his hand away with a sharp chop with yours. A tip I learned 35 years ago from folks who had raced at the amateur level in Europe.)
Originally Posted by CliffordK
Did people intentionally try to shift a competitor's bike?
In the >40 years I've been in and around road racing in the USA I've seen and felt a lot of contact, almost all unintentional, but Never anything remotely like that.
Someone must have been watching "Breaking Away" again........
-Bandera
Edit: When I saw the pump scene in Breaking Away, it was believable to me. Those Italians would have been lesser amateurs sent to the US instead of local races where they might be noticed by pro teams. To salvage anything out of the trip they had to dominate every race. And here was this US kid who knew nothing but was so strong they couldn't drop him, making them look bad. Now, about the pump. It wouldn't be on the bike if they were racing in Europe, but this was the US. They carried the pump so they might finish the race in this land where they didn't speak the language and didn't think for a second that this hick race would have any real support.
Completely in line with shifting a competitor to the wrong gear, except here no one is watching so if they crash, so what? (Think of this in the light of a suburban teen playing pickup basketball in the inner city with teens driven to be noticed and get out of the ghetto. Get too cocky and you will get an elbow in the ribs. Hard.)
Ben
Last edited by 79pmooney; 01-19-15 at 01:39 PM.
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It's why some people don't use the string trees on guitars. You want to minimize the amount of friction so it'll hold tune better.
Well Gibsons dont need any .. Fenders may to get the pull down angle behind the Nut.
Making a worm gear turn Backwards by its capstan turning the round gear is like trying to push a car sideways to Make it Go forward ..
Back to the original Hamster Wheel ..
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Now there's an idea. What with di2 I wonder if there's an i phone app for that. I could yell "faster" or "easier" and Seri could shift my bike for me. I'd just need to clamp my i phone onto my bike. I'm thinking the down tube would be a good place for such a "command shifter".
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Now there's an idea. What with di2 I wonder if there's an i phone app for that. I could yell "faster" or "easier" and Seri could shift my bike for me. I'd just need to clamp my i phone onto my bike. I'm thinking the down tube would be a good place for such a "command shifter".
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Some of the folks I ride with call "DT" shifters "suicides". I assume it's because they are nearly incompetent at being able to handle their $4k tri-bikes, and reaching for a bottle is an adventure is zig-zagging across the road. (and if any of you are reading this, I don't me YOU, but you know, those OTHER people we ride with.... really!)
I've got three flavors of shifter - DT, bar end, STI (the STI is 'bout 20 years old by the way - good stuff - hose down with WD40 if it quits working properly).
I wouldn't use stem shifters. If you end up going knee-caps over coffee cups flying over the bars, you don't want your important parts (boys) impaling on anything more pointy than the bike stem.
I've got three flavors of shifter - DT, bar end, STI (the STI is 'bout 20 years old by the way - good stuff - hose down with WD40 if it quits working properly).
I wouldn't use stem shifters. If you end up going knee-caps over coffee cups flying over the bars, you don't want your important parts (boys) impaling on anything more pointy than the bike stem.