Cycling UK Forum

I can do a double shift using bar end or downtube levers quicker than I can read this sentence.
To drink from my bottle, I have to get it out of the cage, undo the valve, drink (when I'm not concentrating on my "driving") shut the valve and put it back in the cage.
As I'm not racing, I'm just out for a ride on my bike, I drink when I'm stopped.
The comparison between moving my hand for an instant to change gear, and taking a drink from a bottle is a comparison of chalk and cheese.
The comparison between moving my hand to change gear and moving it to wipe my brow is valid.....I would say they take a similar amount of time.
However, if I take my glasses off to wipe the sweat away from my eyes, that takes longer than changing gear.
Most (95%?) of the time, its perfectly safe to move a hand to change gear....that's how it worked when everybody had downtube levers.
Occasionally its better not to change gear.....if you need both hands for hard braking, avoiding a pothole, that sort of thing. If that means delaying as many as one shift in twenty, that's OK with me.
Spending a significant amount of time on a ride frightened to let go with one hand is not my experience.....or my wish.
I conclude that STIs are of benefit if you are racing when every split second and every gearshift counts, but for general riding the baggage outweighs the benefit. (baggage is more gears than I need, more fragile chain than I want, indexed front shift that doesn't work with MTB front mech.)
For general riding, I prefer a bike that's stable enough that I can take my eyes off the road ahead for a second without ending up in the ditch......such a bike is more than stable enough for me to be able to move a hand to change gear.
I suppose if you must have a race bike for general riding but lack the reflexes to steer the thing confidently, then having both hands on the bars at all times is a comfort.

I suppose if you must have a race bike for general riding but lack the reflexes to steer the thing confidently, then having both hands on the bars at all times is a comfort.

Yes STIs are only for incompetent cyclists who cant ride their bikes properly. Is that winning an argument by denigration?

Though in my case I was not even trying to steer around anything, I was just trying to keep going in a straight line without having the bike jerked out from under me.

It doesnt really matter if the bars get yanked out of your one hand during a 10 second drink or a one second change, same result, it is just 10 times as likely.

I dont claim that this is a worry for most of my riding time, it is only an issue on a small fraction of roads which is why I stuck to downtube levers for thousands of miles without crashes. It was just that the STIs are so much better (though possibly only for moderately capable cyclists) and enable me to change gear when otherwise I couldnt, or wouldnt dare to.

Flat bars are the future of touring, of that I'm certain. They're already the norm in all countries where cycling is mainstream, rather than something weird where you have to pretend to look like a racer to have any respectability.

I'm not convinced. I think that these countries have grown up with a cycling culture from birth [unlike the UK]. All their utility riding has been,and still is, on flat barred hybrid bikes.
As they progress into using a touring bike they stay within their comfort zone.
Our kids hardly ride bikes any more, but when we did, our first bike as a teenager would usually be supplied with drop bars. My mates and I in the 60s all rode dropped bar bikes and they were used for everything from the paper round to touring. My sons did exactly the same.
I know it's changing with our youngsters being more impressed with MTBs, but I can't see most of them ever touring on a bike anyway.

my take on this is that most flat bars only offer one or two positions, which (in terms of both progress and performance) is a bit like not having gears.

Doubtless there are folk out there who like their butterfly bars etc having traded drops for them. Well, the shape of these bars is a red herring; the hand positions that you have with them are so far away from the original ones you had that it surely means only one thing; you bought the wrong bike to start with. The exact same logic would often apply in the reverse direction, too.

To date, (regardless of bar shape) if you actually use more than two handlebar positions, you will find that you can't change gear in all of them, regardless of the (conventional) shifters that you have. If this is a priority, then you should be able to fulfil this desire anytime now; electric shifting means you can have buttons anywhere. Like most anything else, it comes at a price though....

I have never, ever, felt the need to prioritise gear changing in situations where I am in any danger of 'losing control' etc. It can always wait. 'Convenience' does not play well as 'necessity', even with such blandishments.

cheers

bigjim wrote:I know it's changing with our youngsters being more impressed with MTBs, but I can't see most of them ever touring on a bike anyway.

Don't you believe it. A lot of young people are going touring these days, but not with local CTC groups. My daughter (age 24) isn't even a CTC member now, though she's goes off on cycle tours with one or more of her friends at every opportunity. This year she's been around the Scottish Highlands with a bunch of old friends from school and university and to Slovenia with another university friend. My son (26) is not quite so much into touring but still does a bit and is so content with a bike for transport that he doesn't even have a driving license yet. You need to realise how different it is for this generation. So many now have degrees that the qualification counts almost for nothing and housing is in such short supply that much of their meagre starting salaries goes on rent. Other necesities have also inflated way ahead of wages and car insurance for the under-30s is exorbitant.

So lots of them are maintaining the cycling habit they got into at Uni; and a 'road trip' on bikes (as they would call it rather than boring touring), in addition to being a great way to hang out with mates, is one cheap holiday. And yes, drops and flats are used in roughly equal measure by their generation. Why aren't they in CTC? Because they can find everything they need - from like-minded friends to the latest reports on cycling conditions in Outer Mongolia - for free on the internet.

A lot of young people are going touring these days,

It depends on the concept of "a lot". In my comment I said most.

You need to realise how different it is for this generation.

No I don't. I'm well aware of it. I've got four children. Three of them struggle with finances.

bigjim wrote:

A lot of young people are going touring these days,

It depends on the concept of "a lot". In my comment I said most.

Oh all right then, I grant you that MOST 20-somethings are not into touring. Can any of us remember a time when most 20-somethings were? Only those of us over 70 perhaps, which I am not, so all I can remember is times when riding a bike (except for sport) was something for oddballs and losers. Whereas now it is even quite cool!

Perhaps your children do not enjoy cycle touring. In that case I'm sorry for you. Because I can imagine few greater pleasures than sharing the adventure of a cycling tour with your own flesh and blood.

In that case I'm sorry for you.

Don't feel sorry for me. I have wonderful shared times with my children. Cycle touring as much as we enjoy it is not everything to everybody.
People have their own joys and interests. At one time my greatest joy was running.
My eldest boy is currently 3rd in MR UK in Natural Bodybuilding and I share some of that with him. I have day rides with my other son and one of my daughters. My youngest son has a passion for kickboxing as well as riding bikes with his dad.
Our family as a whole has limited time for being away together as I have a seriously disabled grandson that has to have 24hr care. NHS does not supply this [budget cuts] so the family piches in and there always has to be at least two people around.
We all live in our own worlds, with whatever that brings us with our own joys whether is it Cycle Touring, Ballroom dancing, Hangliding, just hanging out together, whatever.

Sorry to bump an old thread but I thought it better than starting a new one.

This may be a dumb question, but how does one set up and adjust V brakes with drop levers without the barrel adjusters you get on flat bar levers?

best to fit barrel adjusters; in line or built into the noodle are two popular options. Some interrupter levers can be fitted with adjusters too.

cheers

Ahh, didn't even know you could get noodles with built in adjusters!

Thanks.

Trigger wrote:Sorry to bump an old thread but I thought it better than starting a new one.

This may be a dumb question, but how does one set up and adjust V brakes with drop levers without the barrel adjusters you get on flat bar levers?

hmm just loosen the screw in the left brake that secures the cable and pull or release a bit more cable - thats what I do, works for me & quick. I have travel agents, dont know if that makes a diference.

Trigger wrote:Ahh, didn't even know you could get noodles with built in adjusters!

Thanks.

e.g. these

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tektro-tektro-91712-v-brake-lead-pipe-with-adjuster-90-deg-prod18060/

£3 seems very reasonable to me but I bet you'll find something similar for a bit less if you hunt around.

BTW reclamping the cable is a bit faffy, (and that is bad enough) but when you fit new pads the cable needs to be paid out again. Now the part that is asked to flex most (right next to the pinch bolt) is a rather mangled piece of cable that has already been clamped onto. This is not usually a wholly blissful arrangement.

cheers

Brucey wrote:http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tektro-tektro-91712-v-brake-lead-pipe-with-adjuster-90-deg-prod18060/

£3 seems very reasonable to me but I bet you'll find something similar for a bit less if you hunt around.

Same item, same brand, 99p https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/BSTKCGP90 ... -90-degree although I agree that £3 is not unreasonable.

Brucey wrote:e.g. these

http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tektro-tektro-91712-v-brake-lead-pipe-with-adjuster-90-deg-prod18060/

£3 seems very reasonable to me but I bet you'll find something similar for a bit less if you hunt around.

BTW reclamping the cable is a bit faffy, (and that is bad enough) but when you fit new pads the cable needs to be paid out again. Now the part that is asked to flex most (right next to the pinch bolt) is a rather mangled piece of cable that has already been clamped onto. This is not usually a wholly blissful arrangement.

cheers

well the travel agents I have to use dont seem to allow the 90 degrees cable thing above. so no option but to do that. hasnt been that bad in practice.