Why not raise the bars so the drops become a more comfortable and more controlled-feeling option? On most of my bikes I have ridden on the hoods most of the time because the bars were always on the low end of the acceptable range. On my Sam I jacked up the bars to accommodate a stem-mounted child seat, and now find myself riding the drops a lot more, and enjoying it. In MHO, BEs give the fastest double shifts and suffer the least from fatigue and soreness issues, though Campy Ergo isn't bad, either. Right now I have BEs on 4 out of 5 bikes, and rapid fire shifters on the mtn tandem, which will probably be replaced by BEs at some point. I have had Ergos on two bikes and liked them. Another couple of arcane options: Kelly Take-offs or Suntour Command Shifters (my ex had them, and I liked them, but they do require thumb force, and I'd say they are slower than BEs). I think BEs rock, though my next project will have DTs (first DTs EVER for me; I reserve the right to convert them to BEs later).
Good luck, Gernot On Jun 24, 7:04 pm, MichaelH <mhech...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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.
