MY TWO CENTS ON STEM SHIFTERS:
To me, the drag was that you almost have to sit up to shift.
I don't know how many of you actually use your fingertips to shift (OK, maybe those with Simplex retrofriction levers can get away with that) but I generally shift my somewhat stiff Campy-style levers by grasping the downtube-mounted lever from above -- sandwiching the lever between the heal of my thumb on the 'front' side and the remainder of my fingers on the 'back' side - so I'm sort of pushing the lever with my wrist/palm rather than my relatively weaker fingertips. Is this verbiage making any sense?
Well, so, if you're gonna shift the rear derailleur with stem shifters you've gotta sit up, put your left hand on the bar tops near the stem, then shift with the right hand, then resume your original position on the hoods or the drops or where ever.
(True confessions: my first 10-speed was a Nishiki Olympic with 'champagne' paint, 'safety' levers, stem shifters, a plastic 'quilted look' saddle, and reflector-weighted-always-right-side-up pedals. This bike was stolen 2 months later, and replaced 8 months later by a used Zeus Competition.)
Now, with down-tube levers you can stay right where you are. You get plenty of leverage fulcruming against the frame and there is no effect on steering.
I don't know, maybe it's just me. I also have issues with bar-ends.
Brad "put 'em on the dog-gone downtube, thank you" Stockwell Palo Alto
-----Original Message----- From: Jerry Moos [mailto:moos@penn.com] Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2000 5:34 AM To: John Cc: brian blum; jfbender@umich.edu; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [Classicrendezvous] Atala and "Schwinn Approved" plus commercial
I think you have a point, John. There is a certain amount of snobbery that creaps into our thinking. These shifters do present an injury hazard in a crash - but the same could be said of those adjustable Cinelli steel track stems or pre-WWII Paramount stems. We probably think of stem shifters as ridiculous because they appeared on some pretty junky bikes. If Rene Herse had used them extensively, we'd probably be calling them "classic".
Regards,
Jerry Moos
John wrote:
> Just out of curiosity, what is it, exactly, that makes
stem mounted shifters
> "ridiculous"?? Stop guffawing, you veteran experts. I
really want to know.
>
> John Dunn in Napa Valley
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: brian blum <brianblum@hotmail.com>
> To: <jfbender@umich.edu>
> Cc: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 29, 2000 5:10 PM
> Subject: Re: [Classicrendezvous] Atala and "Schwinn
Approved" plus
> commercial
>
> > I find it hard to imagine a Varsity as quality, though
it could be
> > consistant. I have a photo of an abandoned Schwinn
Sports Tourer that has
> > been lock in this rack for many years. It was there when
I started working
> > here 4 years ago. Grand Tourismo, TA cranks, brazed
Reynolds 531 and
> > rediculous stem mounted shifters just like a Varsity.
> >
http://albums.photopoint.com/
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Classicrendezvous mailing list
> > Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> >
http://www.bikelist.org/
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