Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. Between this list and the tandem list I have gotten a number of good suggestions.
First, I have used chain stoppers in the past but somehow had forgotten about them, but adding one to the tandem could solve at least one problem. I am also grateful for the observation that thumbies can cause some thumb fatigue on extended rides. Since we are about to set off on a 240 mile sojourn in Quebec, this probably isn't the time to do that. Besides, one of the best things about BE is the ergonomics, which far exceeds brifters and even DTs. Besides it reminded me of why I have never considered them in the past. On a single I do 60 % of my riding on or just behind the hoods and 30% on the drops, I only occasionally use the center of the bars, so thumbies wouldn't really be all that convenient for me. On the tandem I'm on the hoods 80% of the time. I am also considering a moved to ramped and pinned rings. I have not found them to be all that beneficial on a single, but some people on the tandem list recommend them. Tandems put an enormous amount of pressure on the drive train and I have managed to train my stoker to know that when I say I'm going to drop the ring, she needs to let up on the pedals, but it's easy to get in a situation and discover that the gear you thought would take you to the top, wont, and we're pushing hard to keep going. When we bought the tandem I outfitted it with a good used DaVinci tandem crank ( a great crank, btw, I have one on my single touring bike too) and then put some used Shimano 600 rings, a 50/36/26, setup. I think I could probably do less shifting with a 53/39/28, but want to think about that. Steve and Joe have pointed out, quite correctly that BE's do shift very rapidly when you have both hands on the drops. But, I have two caveats. Our riding tends to be, as I wrote, on rural back roads, about half of which are dirt. We're not out for speed, but rather enjoying the country side, and so that tends to keep me up on the hoods. Of course I could train myself to ride the drops more when I'm in the hills, but that is most of Vt! Second a tandem is not like a single. Ours is quite long, with two long TTs and long chain stays to accommodate panniers. The two riders, the bike, water, and a couple of small bags, tools, and a pair of jackets brings the total weight up to about 385 lbs. When you're barreling along a dirt road or a broken section of chip and seal, the added sense of control from being on the hoods is quite welcome. Tandems really like to mostly go in a straight line, until the stoker starts squirming around! Finally, for the suggestion that I go over to the dark side. If all else fails I will consider brifters, probably campy and either add the jtec shiftmate, or convert the White hub. keep the rubber side down, michael, westford, vt On Jun 24, 12:00 am, Joe Bernard <joerem...@gmail.com> wrote: > Yep, that's my question, too. The easiest double-shift I've ever done > is riding the hoods, then quickly dropping both hands to the bar-ends, > snapping off that shift, then back to the hoods. > > On Jun 23, 2:29 pm, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote: > > > > > On Thu, 2011-06-23 at 06:20 -0700, MichaelH wrote: > > > 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. > > > I can shift left and right bar end shifters simultaneously, using both > > hands, holding on to the bar ends themselves. Are you saying you can > > only shift one hand at a time? -- 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.
