As a devout sub-10 speed DT friction shifter retro grouch, I hope Rivendell sells a ton of these thumb shifters and prospers, then takes some of the profit and "improves" the beautiful Silver shifters by making the groove diameter a little larger! Now, I gotta go and buy up all the existing stock of Silver shifters.
On Wednesday, December 6, 2017 at 12:51:01 PM UTC-5, Grant @ Rivendell wrote: > > Sentence 3 should be "..we CAN'T afford to do everything." > > On Wednesday, December 6, 2017 at 9:37:12 AM UTC-8, Grant @ Rivendell > wrote: >> >> All is well here with the SS2 thing. We're not oblivious to double-digit >> speed cassettes and the 1xwhatevers, and aren't even dismissive of them. We >> can afford to address everything and we can't afford to do most of what we >> do that makes us good or special. Nothing we do makes sense financially, >> and at some point when I'm gone or RIV's gone and somebody sees an >> opportunity to write the story of our demise, they'll have tons of >> low-hanging fruit to pluck. MUSA, SACKVILLE, STEEL. THere are all kinds of >> external forces threatening us that we can't control. A huge rent raise in >> a few years? NITTO bars on Amazon at our cost? A young and irreplaceable >> workforce hoping to settle down in life and pressured to make more money in >> another field? >> Those are everyday pressures, not always front-burner, but always not far >> from it, and so there's only so little I can fret about somebody >> double-after-the-facting saying we should do the SS2 this way or that. >> The S1 groove diameter is 20.5. Campy NR was 16. Simplex Alfred E. >> Neumanns were 14. Dia-Compe makes an 11-speed that's 30, but it won't fit >> into a pod or thumb-mount, and it pulls a lot of cable way fast, which has >> its own drawbacks when you're shifting 9. The amount of lever-tip movement >> required to move the derailer X depends on the length of the lever. It's >> not obvious unless mentioning it forces you to thing of the physics, or >> until you mount one and try it, but it's there. >> We experiment a lot with shifters, modifying one mount to fit another >> shifter, putting them different places, trying out with diff >> cassettes...and we do it as users-riders, not as marketers. The SS project >> started out a dumb lark in the early 2000s, and has been tremendously >> successful. Not financially, but from the point of view that lots of riders >> have been given the chance to learn friction shifting, and if no SILVER, no >> chance. That's not important in the big picture, but to me, personally, it >> is huge. I'm really proud of it, not in an outward chest-thump way or a >> smug way, but in an inward way. Friction shifting (or, more accurately, >> shifting with a micro power-ratchet that is better than pure friction, but >> is so similar to it, and "friction" flows off the tongue better) isn't >> every going to come out of its flatlining and make a blip, but at some >> level below the visible blip, it's pretty fantastic. When you move the >> lever and pull the cable and make that not-guaranteed shift, in a tiny way >> you're resisting the powerful forces of modern times that tell you you're >> smarter when you remove skill and feel from the bike riding experience. You >> WILL miss some shifts and go KLUNK now and then. Your wingnut will loosen >> and you'll have to snug it. There's no "auto-snug" feature to do it for >> you, and so the bike fantastically nags at you and reminds you that you and >> it are dancing or interacting and are interdependent. That's not the force >> and direction that flies in the mainstream. >> When SS2 comes out--March, if I can believe what I'm told—it won't be >> news in any bike magazine (maybe our never having written a press release >> isn't helping us). But on the other hand, can you imagine a 26-year old >> rookie former intern journalist getting a press release about that shifter >> and knowing what to do with it? Or getting a sample for test purposes? >> We survive because of our current and repeat customers, and this forum >> has been key. For me, it's super important, because even when there's >> swatting and squawking, it's about stuff I can relate to and love, and it's >> among geeky bike riders (like I am!) who feel strongly about insignificant >> stuff (like I do!). Everybody here knows all of your names. Igor, Steve, >> Patrick, Joe, the Deacon, many more. We know your quirks and sensitivities. >> Yay to all! >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.