And that calls up something I've been thinking about recently. Note that this is in no way a criticism of anyone or anybody, just a description of my own inclinations. Riding a bicycle with indexing can obviously be within the cutoff that I am describing below.
I went to friction after having used indexing for three reasons, the main one being that I was never able to get, and permanently keep, indexing as precisely adjusted as my rather finicky requirements required -- this was with XT thumbshifters and 7 speed cassettes. But also I got to like the feeling of engagement (mine, not the cogs') and control from using friction as well as the fact that I could use without any problem any combination of cogs that I cared to assemble. Later, after much skepticism and internal scoffing, I tried fixed gear riding (this was circa 1997) and immediately loved it, to the point where, for a number of years until very recently, I was riding nothing but, even off road. I now have two Riv custom road fixies. Most recently I am, I regret to say, seriously thinking of buying a BRT -- British Racing Tricycle -- because, largely, the cornering requires additional learned skills. I already love my hot rodded Worskman folding trike. And my main driver is an ancient Citroen Acadiane, a 2CV workers' van with 30 hp (and half ton payload), which requires continual anticipation of driving conditions and judicious use of the gears (1st is stump puller, fourth a high overdrive good only on the flats at above 50 mph) to keep up with modern boulevard traffic. Point? I think some people like the feeling of mastery that using such relatively primitive implements requires. I know that I find modern cars and bikes like computers: boring; all you want is that they do what they are made to do and otherwise disappear into the background. Modern life makes things too easy: they become boring and we take refuge in stupid electronic media, consuming, needless change. All of these not terribly profound meditations have been provoked by Shop Class as Soul Craft, which I finally tracked down in the library and read. The author -- a very interesting combination of academic philosopher, motorhead and counterculture rebel, and very, very well read and very, very articulate and bright -- asserts that it is precisely the manual trades that, in our day in age (note that qualification) are a route not only to a life that is satisfying because it demand human understanding and control (he contrasts this life with the life of cubicle dwellers who, he suggests, are becoming white collar factor workers) but because it develops moral and intellectual qualities -- in short, an intellectual and moral awareness and accomodation of reality -- that the automation, electronic as well as mechanical, of modern life, tends to inhibit: the trades, he says, encourage their followers to become brighter and gooder than modern life otherwise might allow. Tradesmen, in brief, are the 21st century's Jeffersonian yeomen, independent, self reliant, inquiring and --- interesting, this -- humble, since they live daily accepting the reality of things (his example: the engines of old, exotic motorcycles) while modern technology, largely a "black box" tends to keep us ignorant and, therefore, to make us find refuge in an ego-gratifying fantasy world of identity by consumption and power projections unfettered by the limitations of our real situation. One measure of this man's intelligence is that his writing has been vitiated by too many years in academia -- he writes like an acaemic-- yet he still manages to write clearly: now that is a coup that is hard to pull off! Once again, I think of friction shifting as an example of doing something for oneself; but this sort of cutoff is, if not arbitrary, at least very flexible and someone who uses indexing but builds his own bikes instead of getting a plastic wrapped model directly from the shop (where it is returned for every flat or adjustment) is of course well within the "do it myself" category. Everyone has his or her own set of preferences. On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 4:07 AM, Thomas Lynn Skean <thomaslynnsk...@comcast.net> wrote: > Hi, all! > > Yesterday was my first decent-length ride with Silver shifters. They really > are a joy to use: quiet and smooth. I understand the appeal. > > However, I do see indexed shifting as a practical improvement over friction. > While I expect that over time I'd get really good at operating these Silver > shifters (they really are smooth!), I don't think I'd ever actually get to > the point where the chain simply lands in alignment with the cog 98+% of the > time, which is how I'd characterize my Shimano-shifter indexing experience. > > Indexed shifting for me is less refined in usage. And that does matter, I > think. And I do have to be conscious of cog-spacing when purchasing > freewheels. But... appropriate freewheels are available. And indexing isn't > some harsh jolt that destroys the peace of a ride. And the tinker-y > adjustments it requires when I install a new derailer or initially set up a > new cockpit take minutes not hours. It's no big deal. And for that small rare > effort, indexed shifting works really really well without any thought, over > and over. I like it. > > So I'm not going to go all friction right now, though I will have at least > one Silver-shifter-equipped cockpit set up from now on (probably one for each > bike). I'll definitely get some practice in. Maybe I'll get better than I > expect. In any case, if I do come to find indexed shifting problematic or > even just too tedious, it's nice knowing it won't simply be a downgrade to > move away from it. Using Silver shifters is definitely a positive aspect of > friction shifting. > > Oh... I set up the Silver shifters as bar-ends for now. I'll try them as > top-of-the-bar Thumbie-mounted shifters at some point. I doubt they work as > well that way. I'll try it, though. And perhaps I'll also try mounting them > on the stem. That could be way cool. Talk about memory lane... > > Below are links to some (sorta washed-out) pictures of my Silver setup. I'm > using my lovely Tallux stem! > > Yours, > Thomas Lynn Skean > > http://db.tt/M3ag8CI - whole bike > http://db.tt/n7eQmoK - front loaded > http://db.tt/cIz8oFc - normal home of SaddleSack Medium > http://db.tt/VzRUNlC - what's wrong with pink? > http://db.tt/xv5HhIx -Bordo and prototype canvas MUT > http://db.tt/BEk8Csh - gonna make a longer one > http://db.tt/Y01RjLd - Rackaleur, Baggins, and Irish > > -- > 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. > > -- Patrick Moore Albuquerque, NM For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW http://resumespecialties.com/index.html -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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