I find myself almost disturbingly unconcerned with the makeup of a drivetrain as long as it works for the bike it's on, and I can find the bits somewhere (I always can). 6-and-7speed freewheels, 8-speed cassettes, friction, indexed downtube, indexed trigger shifters, sidepulls, dual-pivots, cantis, V-brakes, and disks. I tend to like lugged-steel frames, Brooks saddles, and uprightish bars. Other than that, it's important to me that the drivetrain look nice and work well, but I seem to find something good about just about every variation of age/technology/number-of-cogs. And yes, I would love to set my Saluki up with Shimano electronic shifting on a Moustache Bar :) Joe Bernard Vallejo, CA.
On Thursday, January 3, 2013 1:55:38 PM UTC-8, William wrote: > Can you get any wide range 8 > speed cassette that doesn't start with 11? > > Apparently yes. IRD offers a 12-32 (among other less-wide variants). > > http://store.interlocracing.com/9and8spmtca.html > > > > On Thursday, January 3, 2013 4:54:56 AM UTC-8, Steve Palincsar wrote: >> >> On Thu, 2013-01-03 at 00:18 -0800, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery wrote: >> > As far as I can see, we bike consumer types have NOTHING to complain >> > about. There has never been such a wide selection of bikes, parts, and >> > accessories from which to choose. 5/6/7 speed freewheels are still >> > available (and becoming more so, not less), if that's your thing. >> >> Barely available, and with a tremendously restricted availability of >> gearing combinations, compared to years past. Where is the old cog >> board that let you make custom gearing? Where do you find 5 or 6 speed >> freewheels for half-step gearing? Where do you find quality freewheels? >> Nowhere. >> >> But it's indexed shifters where the pressure gets applied. Do you like >> 9 speed and brifters? What do you do when your Shimano STI units fail, >> as they all eventually do? Can you even buy a replacement other than >> NOS? >> >> > Yeah, you can buy 10sp or 11sp systems, too, but nobody is forcing >> > you to do that. >> >> Yes, actually they are forcing you. Can you get a new 7, 8 or 9 speed >> Ultegra or Dura Ace quality STI unit? Can you get any wide range 8 >> speed cassette that doesn't start with 11? Can you buy a new road bike >> equipped with a Shimano group of 105 quality level or above with >> anything but 10? Can you buy any new road bike equipped with Campagnolo >> that isn't either 10 or 11 (and almost all 11)? >> >> > There is no retro-grouch persecution for us to rally around, though I >> > will concede that you'd be hard pressed to find a new rear derailleur >> > as crappy as what was considered state-of-the-art in the 1970s. >> >> "Inexorable pressure and the ever-present threat of obsolescence" is how >> I'd characterize it. "Persecution" is putting it a bit strong, but >> claiming the pressure does not exist is denying the truth. >> >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/HGNJApKA81IJ. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
