wphamilton

Me too, with downtube shifter. Perfect for the commute and weekend training rides, but I won't be keeping up with the 40mph surges they talk about in the road racing threads, or lightly spinning up hills with my 40 gear inch easy gear, or keeping a micro-tuned cadence with only 7 steps between all my gears. I like it that way, low-maintenance inexpensive and lighter weight, but I wouldn't expect it to catch on

Doohickie

Lucky bastard. I'm still running 7 on two different bikes.... with friction shifting.

AndyK 

I do love the relative simplicity of 8-9 speed, thicker chains, square taper cranks, etc. But I also love my complex 11 speed!

The answer: keep your 9 speed setup, get a modern setup - and enjoy both of them!

Commodus

I was a bit uncertain about this newfangled 'indexing', but I have to admit it's starting to grow on me.

Click Click Zoom!

AndyK 

I tried friction shifting on one of my C&V bikes - no f'n WAY! Maybe I'm too tall, but taking my hand off the bars, and reaching around for the down tube, fumbling with the shifter, then trying to get the gear I want - what a PITA!!

SPlKE 

Eight is a lot easier to say than seven or eleven.

Nine sounds whiny, and ten is just so bland.

rebel1916

The only issue I've seen you present is that a small minority of people both take cycling very seriously and and have retrogrouch preferences. That is not an issue. Well not for anyone besides the serious retrogrouches.

Commodus

Haha, that's an interesting debating technique. When all else fails, simply deny a disagreement even exists, while simultaneously reducing the opposing viewpoint to the absurd!

Here, I'll try:

There are no bikes or riders outside of the majority! I do not exist! My bikes do not exist! You do not exist! Most of the posters here do not either!

pallen

Its not that you dont exist, its just that enough of you dont exist and dont pay enough of a profit margin for the big players to cater to your market. Microshift is still making 8 speed though.

DS113

Well yeah. You do realize that most of us are simply fabrications of PCad's imagination right?

rebel1916

Thank you pallen for pointing out the obvious. Although I'm pretty sure it was obvious to commodus too. I think he may have intentionally been playing dumb. At least I hope so.

Commodus

Well, my entire point was that the majority of cyclists would be better served by simpler, more durable and cheaper drive trains. Further, the continued complication of things is not done at the request of the average customer - rather that of the racer (perhaps) or the marketing department (certainly).

Commodus

The problem with pointing out the obvious is that even if it is obvious, and true, there's still the question of its relevance to the matter at hand.

abstractform20

integrated cranksets > silly cranksets


...although the 7700 group i bought last year looks pretty sweet

zazenzach

youre just spoiled

i have a few downtube shifting bikes and theyre second nature to me because of all the time in the saddle i have with them. give anything time and youll adapt to it

im also 6'1

Nick Bain

If I wasn't racing I'd be on an old money 7 speed bike. When I do race I never go into the little cogs and even if I couldn't turn a 39-27 up a 15-20% grade I would just get a tripel.

Andy Somnifac 

(wrong thread)

rebel1916

The majority of average cyclists are already being ably served by altus, acera, tourney, 2600, sora and maybe microshift. These groups are perfectly functional and there are plenty of 8 and 9 speed options to be found there. Which is why I suspect that you concern here my be more motivated by a tendency towards retrogrouching than any real worry about the poor, underserved recreational or commuting cyclist.

pallen

I don't disagree, but people rarely make purchasing decisions on practicality and need (regardless of what they may say at the time of purchase). They make purchase decisions on sexy. 15 yr old technology just isn't sexy. Shimano, SRAM and Campy could put it out there, but no one would buy it. In fact, I bet there are people at Shimano that could tell you withing a 10% margin exactly how many they would sell. Its possible for successful companies to completely misread their customer base, but that is pretty rare these days.

AndyK 

Fixed!

But seriously, sure I would adapt to down tube shifters again, but I don't want to! I HAVE been spoiled by progress.

wphamilton

Most likely you're right, but on the other hand maybe they're missing the boat here by ignoring a market segment. I see a lot of new seven speed and eight speed cruisers and city bikes, with a single chain-ring that is, but not on road bikes. Is it really because no one wants them, or because offering it would eat into the market for the higher priced configurations?

rebel1916

Sora is 9 speed and 2600 is 8 speed if memory serves. So the vast majority of manufacturers have options in this market.

Commodus

Yes exactly, there are these options. But if you look at those groups, they're spending their dollars on options that ape the look and function of the higher level stuff, with none of the quality. Having worked on some of these groupsets, I would suggest again that folks would be much better off with good DT shifters, than crappy, non-rebuildable STIs.

Recently my buddy bought a cross bike for $1000 or so. I'ts an aluminum Tiagra bike, good enough for his purposes - but it has the world's crappiest wheelset. It rains here - I know I'm going to rebuilding those wheels with decent hubs within a year. I also know that the silly GXP BB is going to go, and then he'll have to either buy a new one ($50 or more in the shops) or just chuck the crankset (FSA Gossamer) and get something that takes a BB that will last. The brakes, a set of cantis from "Kore", are barely adequate. But it has STI shifting! Wouldn't he be better served by a bike with cheaper shifters, with the money saved there to put on some components that will actually last?

But, you guys are probably right. He probably just would have bought the STI bike anyways.

wphamilton

Yep I bought a Shimono 8-speed derailleur a few months ago but inexpensive shifter options are limited. The cassette is basically MTB. What I'm getting at is there aren't really many nice road bikes with 1x8 gearing available with DT, stem or even thumb-shifters (which would save a lot of weight and money). You can do it yourself if you have the knowledge, or like me can research and patch something together, but there are compromises. I think the market - if there could be a real market for it- is underserved.

Doohickie

Friction shifters with ramped cogs works pretty well as a compromise.

Indexed DT shifters are better than friction, but the reach is definitely tougher for a tall guy.