Low Gear Guy
Veteran
- Location
- Surrey
Hmmm. Why exactly were they called suicide levers?
What old cycling technology etc would you like to see return?
- Thread starter davidphilips
- Start date
-
- Tags
- technology
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battered
Guru
Heavy and lardy are what e bike customers want. What they don't want is pedal it yourself. Will it do 10mph in town, with minimal effort on my part? Good enough.
battered
Guru
I don't like downtube shifters. They're in the wrong place. You don't put a car's gearshift behind the passenger seat, after all. Years ago I had a 10 speed bike with the shifters moved to the stem. I never knew why they weren't more popular. They were very close to being thumbies before thumbies were invented.
GuyBoden
Guru
- Location
- Warrington
More heavy durable components, most cyclists don't need light weight components, we're not in the TdF.
I prefer old stove enamelled painted frames, not this thin modern paint that so easily scratches.
Too much Seat post showing on modern bikes needs addressing, too much seatpost puts unnecessary stress onto the frame.
I prefer old stove enamelled painted frames, not this thin modern paint that so easily scratches.
Too much Seat post showing on modern bikes needs addressing, too much seatpost puts unnecessary stress onto the frame.
GuyBoden
Guru
- Location
- Warrington
Apparently, they stuck into your chest when you braked suddenly and were propelled forward.
Bar ends can hit your knees on small frames and are more easily broken when put into the car or other transportation.
Downtube friction levers work on any number of gears and are easily fixed. That's why a lot of world expedition touring cyclists still use friction shifters, you can't replace a sti lever in the middle of nowhere.
classic33
Leg End Member
Not much use at speed. On the flat, when you're going slower, they'll slow you.
Badly set up brakes and limited lever movement were a "suicidal" combination.
battered
Guru
Not when I had them on my bike. I never got close to it happening, even during any number of teenage crashes.
That's as may be if you are planning a trip round the world. I'm not, I live in Yorkshire and don't need to put up with a more difficult solution that may be a good idea if I break down in Afghanistan. I don't have to put up with a Land Rover every day so that I can drive off road either. If either of these situations changes, I'll review it, but my road bike would be useless in Afghanistan for any number of reasons, the shifters would be the least of my worries.
Eric Olthwaite
Guest
I believe they exist in an improved form and are not uncommon on CX bikes.
They're called 'interrupter levers' or 'in line levers' and act on the cable directly rather than via a mechanical linkage to the primary brake levers.
This gives them the not inconsiderable benefit of actually being capable of hard braking.
- Location
- Inside my skull
They work perfectly fine in non emergency braking situations. I never had a situation where they didn’t stop me safely in plenty of time.
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matticus
Guru
haha - I was going to post that! They are, after all, extinct according to many ...
Eric Olthwaite
Guest
32 spoke wheels
- Location
- Inside my skull
pfffft, I used down tube shifters for 18 years and they worked perfectly all that time. Riders have no problem reaching for water bottles which are lower down and more awkward to handle.
matticus
Guru
That sounds like a good description of most utterly crap brakes.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Frame mounted pumps.
battered
Guru
Rim brakes nearly made me extinct coming off Ventoux. It was filthy weather, couldn't see 10 metres, heavy rain. I was wearing everything I had, 5 layers, and I was freezing. I had to stop and run up and down halfway down the descent. 10mph was an absolute maximum speed until we dropped out of the cloud, so my pal and I were both hard on the brakes. Both of us needed new rear blocks at the bottom, and mine had been nearly new.
