clubman 

Best inadvertent troll post of recent years, except for the Grant "who shall not be named" posts.

Fahrenheit531 

Dammit. I totally qualified for this club until Sunday. But as of this moment?
DISQUALIFIED.

tacreamer

Ahh, the joy of down tube friction shifters, so elegant!

Drillium Dude 

Before I began this thread, I'd have been knocking down your door to be a member: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...blasphemy.html

It's okay, tho - I've got my own club

DD

gaucho777 

^Yeah, that was an epic thread and a drillium masterpiece. For old-time's sake:

gaucho777 

I hereby cancel my membership in the anti-brifter club. I'll miss you guys.

obrentharris 

Welcome to The Dark Side.
Looks fabulous Randy!
Brent

curbtender

LOOK! Brifterzzz

eschlwc

after all that ...

it's like bob dylan releasing a christian album.

or the sag union president running for office as a republican.

or porsche developing an suv.

this club will never be the same.

sadness.

nesteel 

If you're getting kicked out, at least you did it with style. Nice build.

gaucho777 

Oh, Mercy, I knew this day may come. It was like A Slow Train Coming. I felt like I was destined to have this frame, so I'm glad I Saved it. I know how I built it is not for everybody, but It's Gotta Serve Somebody (me).

bikemig 

You founded the club and now you quit with this fancy looking bike? Wow, traitor.

The Golden Boy 

It's like Spanky breaking up the He Man Woman Haters Club by making out with Darla.

Yucky.


Wait...







OK, I had to look- Spanky wasn't making out with Darla... but she was the queen of the He Man Woman Haters Club.

gugie 

I've been riding bikes with multiple gears for 43 years. Not a single one of them has had, or ever had, brifters. Hell, I gave up on indexing years ago-too much adjusting, all the time. I don't like being stuck with one system. And what brifters qualify as C&V?

Please allow me entrance into this club. I submit my signature for evidence.

Please also note that I have no hate for those that use brifters. I just hope that someday they all will learn how to keep them adjusted.

gugie 

Damn, I feel like an idiot.

I was set up!

Here I thought I'd found the One True Leader...

Now I'm back on my own.

seypat

I put some brifters on my wife's bike. When I took it out for the test ride, I encountered a few hills. I had to start slapping on the lever until I got to the other end of the cassette. I decided that brifters, or indexed even, was not for me.

mtnbke

Point of clarification?

Mitey-mites that mostly resemble the stature of a Basque climber spinning around on their 57cm and under frames might scoff at those using alternative placement points for downtube shifters, but keep in mind that most cyclists have no frame of reference regarding how bikes for true Clydesdales ride. I'm not talking about Fat Ponies, but rather the big draft horses in the cycling community. When the frame sizes get big (67cm and up) strange things start to happen for frames built with "too small" 622/700c wheels. Zinn specializes in building frames for those playing in the Association, and others that need and can afford a custom Project Big. He knows a thing or two about bikes, has an undergraduate Physics degree, was an amateur racer, and considering he's been the Author of the Zinn how-to books and also the Tech Editor for Velonews, for seemingly forever. Even Zinn's custom frames made from magnesium, aluminum, and titanium (also obviously his steel bikes) still are affected by issues related to "death wobble." It has nothing to do with his materials or his geometry. In fact the opposite.

Zinn customs and stock Project Big bikes have a signature geometry characteristic to help minimize the "death wobble" that is endemic in ALL large frames. Zinn uses raised head tubes to approximate a larger frame, while utilizing a smaller triangle. The real issue with large frames is that the frames can NOT manage to find the same relative stiffness using given tubing than can be achieved with smaller frames. In frame building smaller triangles are better. There is NO simple solution. Most small cyclists think they are good bike handlers because they can impress themselves riding "with no hands" without understanding that the weight distribution and relative perch on the bike has a lot to do with frame size and the interaction with the given standard 622/700c wheel set. Put the average diminutive cyclist on something approximating the "bike fit" that a 6'8" and taller cyclist have to conform to and they would be flabbergasted by the poor handling characteristics of that "too small" wheel size and frame geometry. It has a lot more to do with how a diminutive cyclist naturally has a lower center of gravity as they sit in the compartment of a typical "normal" frame size on 622/700c wheels than anything relating to actual bike handling skills.

The point? Show me someone 6'8" and up and I'll show you someone terrified of the reach to downtube shifters in the "typical" down tube position. On micronaut sized frames that's a comfortable reach. For Clydesdale cyclists that reach is downright dangerous considering how twitchy the frames already behave (even with stiff aluminum and carbon, or vibration absorbing magnesium).

So I'd recommend that the ABC cartel consider reconsider such alternative shifting mounts as Kelly Take-Offs. Kelly Take-Offs aren't shifters, just a different position mount that completely transform a grown-up size bicycle into something less harrowing, to mitigate the spooky "death wobble" inherent in all large frames.

I have no problem with Kelly Take-Off cyclists being banned for having Brifter bikes, or upon being discovered that Brifters or Ergo equipped bicycles/componentry were shipped to them (or their wives…yes I'm poking fun of you Peyton Manning). However, to categorically dismiss membership into the ABC because of where one mounts their downtube shifters assumes that all cyclists fit bicycles for which mounting the shifters at the downtube is actually feasible. For Clydesdale cyclists, the actual position where the downtube shifters "should be" is just open space in our frames. The downtube is much much much much lower than that. No one should feel like they are having to reach to the bottom bracket just to shift, a bit of hyperbole, but not as much as you think.

Clydesdales everywhere await the just and merciful decision of the ABC cartel.

gaucho777 

@mtnbke, sounds like this club is not for you. Tall riders have longer arms. The ABC scoffs at inclusionary politics.

eschlwc

b^)

72Paramount

I have yet to keep a set of brifters...... Maybe one day..... But not today. Long live the ABC (anti-brifters club)

mtnbke

Actually what makes a tall person tall is their disproportionately longer legs. While taller people have longer arms that mitey-mites they aren't disproportionately longer, they are proportionately longer. What is disproportionately longer is the legs. Tall people with longer torsos are the absolute exception, which is why when Zinn actually builds a custom Project Big for someone with a long torso, it can languish upon attempt to resell. Believe it or not a 60cm top tube on a 73cm bike isn't atypical. Most tall bikes have much too long top tubes because frame builders don't understand that tall people aren't proportionately bigger, they are disproportionately taller. Most have too steep a seat tube angle and would be better served with something much more slack. As the frame size gets bigger using a standard seat tube angle gives too long of a top tube. On big frames it actually needs to be slacker. You'll never see a 73cm top tube on a bike, probably ever.

I don't think mitey-mites understand just how far of an impossible reach from the drops to the down tube stops it is on say a 70cm-73cm frame. Its actually insane.

Tall people…out of the ABC. Got it. We'll be back when 36er wheel size catches on and we can get "racing" tire 36er wheels built up! Then our down tube stops will be positioned like all the little people's bikes. Until then…ABC isn't for us. Which sucks. I guess we can dunk, or at least used to be able to. There's that.

gaucho777 

Tall people aren't out. Tall people with brifters are out. Rules are rules and the ABC doesn't care. Not everything is for everybody and that's okay. (This thread is ridiculous.)

Chombi1 

Uhmmmm...... will you just send me any Simplex/Spidel/Mavic Retrofriction DT shifters you might still have in your stash then???.....Former great leader of the anti-brifter club....
Now that your TVT is irreversibly contaminated with the brifter/ergo bar virus, those DT shifter might cause a nasty asplosion if you get them too close to that newly built up bike......

rootboy 

What's a brifter?

SJX426 

This is me too, except earlier. My high point in biking was from early age to about 1975. Liked the RVW analogy.

@nlerner did point out a lower cost approach from Ribble. Very tempting to try them out at that price point.

I have appreciated the index shifting of the DA 7400 parts on the Pinarello. Now that I have more miles under me, I am about to go back to the friction shifting of the Colnago. The only other index shifting bikes I have are the Duet (Accushift barcons), Masi (105) and the RockHopper with twist grips. The others are all friction or SS/FX.

The 8 speed DA is the highest count block on any of my bikes. Most are 7 speed. Even the 8 spd is too much, as I only use about 6-7 of them. Either I need more time on the saddle or a smaller big ring (53 now). I have looked for a smaller DA 7400 ring around 50t but haven't found one.