Hey Larry and all,
Happy New Year!
I've seen a few cases when the endless bands were undertightened and slipped. Once or twice I saw them way overtorqued, resulting in twisting deformation underneath the der/lever mount, unseen, which could eventually fail. Mostly they provided an extremely reliable, clean and lightweight method of attachment, evidence of some very talented engineers thinking outside the box.
The self-trimming shifters, on the other hand, were a great idea never reliably executed. The front derailleur shift lever would constantly loosen, resulting in self-shifting. The bolt head was a smallish non-standard size and I could never find a D-ring bolt that would fit. Blue loctite didn't hold it and I was always scared of anything stronger. I wound up riding with a 4mm allen key in my jersey pocket so I could tighten it on the fly. That got old really quick, so I went back to standard dt shifters until SunTour came out with a non-cammed top-mount shifter. These are wonderful, putting the levers in a very convenient position both for the waistline-challenged and habitual double-shifters. The lever mount accepts most any standard dt shifter, so you can use just about anything you want.
Happy trails to all....
Paul Brodek Hillsdale, NJ
On Tue, 31 Dec 2002 22:26:23 EST, ABikie@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 12/31/2002 10:06:35 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>mitchell@gassworks.com writes:
>
>> The shifters were extremely light for their day, but I wouldn't recommend
>> them unless light weight is your only goal.
>>
>
>Properly installed and maintained, these shifters have never been any less
>reliable than any other I've used.
>There were also factory braze-ons for them and we even installed both brazed
>and cold bosses for them- a simple water bottle boss was all it took.
>One model 'topmount' lever set had a cam mechanism (the name is temporarily
>escaping me) that trimmed the front derailleur when the rear lever was
>actuated.
>
>Larry Black
>Maryland
Paul C. Brodek
Hillsdale, N.J. U.S.A.
E-mail: pcb@skyweb.net