My favorite feature of BE's on long rides is the ability to shift while holding a water bottle. You drink, you're swallowing, you want more, so you want to keep the bottle in your hand, but the grade changes, and you need to shift in between drinks while still holding the water bottle.
However, this is just a tangential comment, because I guess you could do the same with thumbshifters. -----Original Message----- >From: Dave Craig <dcr...@prescott.edu> >Sent: Jun 23, 2011 8:06 AM >To: RBW Owners Bunch <rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com> >Subject: [RBW] Re: Thumbies vs BEs > >I do have experience with this change-including changes made to the >same bikes and my stable of bikes with DT shifters, BE's, brifters >and thumbies. > >There's no magic bullet. The issue is one of technique and >anticipation. On my touring bike, the closest approximation I have to >your situation with the tandem, my strategy for rolling hills is to >downshift just before or in the "valleys" then coast until I can spin >comfortably up the hill. On a loaded tourer, momentum is lost quickly. >I imagine the situation is the same on a tandem. At the top of the >hill, if I'm not simply going to coast down the other side, I upshift. >I seldom go into the big ring. This isn't racing technique, but it >works just fine for casual riding. > >I've found my preference for touring to be barend shifters. My left >thumb got really sore using thumbies on my last, long tour. > > > > > >On Jun 23, 6:20 am, MichaelH <mhech...@gmail.com> wrote: >> I am considering a switch to thumbies on our tandem. I am finding the >> BEs too slow on the tandem for the kind of rolling hills of Vt, which >> require a lot of fast, double shifts to attack hills that often swing >> from minus to plus 10%. The long cables, long rear derailleur cage, >> and the need to move each separately from the shifter back to the bar >> before I can reach for the other shifter causes too much delay and I >> end up with too much pressure to drop the chain, or I shift early and >> we end up spinning wildly, or even dropping the chain all together. >> >> Does anyone have any experience going from one to the other on a road >> bike, that they can share. I suppose the other option is to ride more >> on the drops, where I can reach the shifters faster. >> >> Michael >> Westford, Vt > >-- >You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW >Owners Bunch" group. >To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. >To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >For more options, visit this group at >http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
