Do you really enjoy riding with downtube shifters?

[Tandem Rider]

I just use whatever is on the bike. All my bikes are "period original", I think that's the code phrase for cheapskate that doesn't "upgrade" anything. Anyway, it all works and works great. I probably have about 250K miles on down tube shifters before STI came out. I got a new bike with STI when it was time for a new bike, it was great, faster and better for racing than my old bike. It was a better race bike and the shifters were part of what made it a better race bike. All my new bikes since then have had STI. Sometimes I still ride the old bikes, they're cool, like "classic car cool" it's not a problem to shift them either. To me, it's kind of like having classic cars, I wouldn't rip the Hurst 4 speed out of an original '67 GTO Goat and put in an automatic and I also wouldn't stuff a Hurst 4 speed into a modern sports car either, you drive them as they were made.

[choke]

Originally Posted by jamesdak

My old 80s Orbea is still using it's original friction DT shifters with a modern 9 speed Ultegra RD over a 10 speed Campagnolo cassette. I honestly consider this my best shifting bike of all of them. For whatever reason it just works. I'm sure a lot is due to the modern RD with pulleys designed to have play to accomandate index shifting. Just wanted to share this as many seem to think friction DT shifting is limited to around 6 gears.

Originally Posted by rccardr

Agreed. This Davidson Discovery custom has a 10 speed cassette, 8 speed Deore RD and Deore FD, with 6207 friction shifters. Works beautifully even at Eroica, which is not known for its smooth road surfaces:

Count me in as well. These are friction shifting a 10sp Chorus RD on a 10sp Campy cassette.....works perfectly IMO.

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by Louis

I'd say ride the bike for a few months and see if you get used to them, I bet you will. Sometimes it takes a bit more skill to take your hand off the bars to shift, say if you're in a turn, but that's something you'll pick up after a while.

After reading through all this, I've very glad I asked the question. And I think I'll be leaving the DT's in place for a while to really see if they're for me or not. I'm 39 and DO ride fast groups and race, so I think that's where my hang-up has been over this bike. I want to be the guy that shows up and podiums on a 30 year old bike.

Originally Posted by jamesdak

My old 80s Orbea is still using it's original friction DT shifters with a modern 9 speed Ultegra RD over a 10 speed Campagnolo cassette. I honestly consider this my best shifting bike of all of them. For whatever reason it just works. I'm sure a lot is due to the modern RD with pulleys designed to have play to accomandate index shifting. Just wanted to share this as many seem to think friction DT shifting is limited to around 6 gears.

More gears is also part of my idea. Right now I'm using the 7spd 1055 shifter as friction on an 8spd cassette because that's all I had and the 7spd chain will still work. It's good to hear that I can make a 9 cover a 10 in friction. That may happen down the road (another pun intended).

Originally Posted by Tandem Rider

Sometimes I still ride the old bikes, they're cool, like "classic car cool" it's not a problem to shift them either. To me, it's kind of like having classic cars, I wouldn't rip the Hurst 4 speed out of an original '67 GTO Goat and put in an automatic and I also wouldn't stuff a Hurst 4 speed into a modern sports car either, you drive them as they were made.

THIS is exactly why I'm even thinking about this. If I had gotten the frame with mismatched or missing parts, I wouldn't have thought twice about putting on the Ultegra 6600 group that's in my bin... but this bike is about as original as it ever was, minus wheels and seat/post. I like the idea of keeping it that way just because.

[shoota]

I can't stand them.

[bicycletricycle]

6 foot 3 and 40 and I greatly prefer friction DT shifters.

Originally Posted by donevwil

I'm waiting for the first person over 6' tall and 50 years old who says they truly enjoy riding with DT shifters (more so than brake/shift levers or bar ends).

[FriarQuade]

I cringe every time I see the B word, hearing it is even worse.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by FriarQuade

I cringe every time I see the B word, hearing it is even worse.

??
Bisc Brakes?
Bubular?
Bubeless?
Bram?
Bru axle?
Bne by?

[Ken Robb]

I never liked DT shifters but I have loved some bar-end shifters.

[Black Dog]

You are all a bunch of hippies. Real riders put their shifters on the drive side chain stay.

[Tony Edwards]

I am 49. I began my riding career with friction downtube shifters, but the overwhelming majority of my riding has been with Campy brifters (including 8-speed, 9-speed, 10-speed and 11-speed). In my view this is one instance in which the modern tech is just better. Safer, more ergonomic, more functional. I can understand why one might be agnostic between the two, but I can't understand how anyone would prefer DT shifters given the choice.

[FlashUNC]

I'd rather walk than use downtube shifters. Whatever floats your boat though.

[bicycletricycle]

For roughly the same reason people prefer

manual transmissions
cooking from scratch
old houses
etc.

In my bicycle rating system DT shifters are the "Safer, more ergonomic, more functional" choice.

Originally Posted by Tony Edwards

I began my riding career with friction
downtube shifters, but the overwhelming majority of my riding has been with Campy brifters (including 8-speed, 9-speed, 10-speed and 11-speed). In my view this is one instance in which the modern tech is just better. Safer, more ergonomic, more functional. I can understand why one might be agnostic between the two, but I can't understand how anyone would prefer DT shifters given the choice.

[Tony Edwards]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

For roughly the same reason people prefer

manual transmissions
cooking from scratch
old houses
etc.

In my bicycle rating system DT shifters are the "Safer, more ergonomic, more functional" choice.

I prefer all of those things. My favorite of my cars (an E46 M3) has a manual transmission, and I've only ever owned two cars, out of about 10, with automatics. I love cooking from scratch (I cook at least 95% of the time for my family), and live in a house built in 1905. I will never, ever prefer DT shifters. IMO that preference is more akin to saying you prefer to heat your home with a woodburning stove rather than a gas boiler or furnace, or that you prefer to wash your clothes on a washboard in a river rather than use a washer. To each his own, I guess, but this one is hard for me to wrap my mind around.

[jtbadge]

A lot of complaints across this forum about the cycling activities of "hipsters," but I can't think of anything that would qualify more directly than using downtube shifters in 2020.

[colker]

Originally Posted by jtbadge

A lot of complaints across this forum about the cycling activities of "hipsters," but I can't think of anything that would qualify more directly than using downtube shifters in 2020.

Maybe... but i wellcome diversity especially when it´s diverse time frames colliding.