I’ve accomplished lots of Actually Large Issues in my life. I graduated highschool and faculty. I’ve put collectively a number of items of Ikea furnishings in a single day. I’ve negotiated with cable corporations and cell phone suppliers and obtained considerably profitable outcomes. But none of those feats rivals in issue and magnitude my execution of the Basic Cycle twenty first Century Friction Shifter Shootout, the winner of which I’ll formally announce as we speak.
You may see all of the derailleur contestants right here, and these are those I’ve efficiently examined to date:
And naturally the test-cycle began off with the common-or-garden Shimano 105 5700:
So to recap:
Then there was the Shimano 600, which was a DNS as a consequence of a mechanical difficulty:
In addition to the Deore XT “Deerhead,” which I DQed as a result of it wouldn’t shift into the test-cycle’s highest gear:
All of which brings us to our remaining contestant, the Campagnolo Athena “11 pace:”
It’s modern-looking, however not freakishly so in the way in which just about all derailleurs are actually:
It’s additionally silver:
And other than Potenza, which got here out just a few years later, it’s secure to say the group of which it was half represents just about the final time we’ll see something remotely “basic”-looking out of Campagnolo:
…which in flip means it’s the final time we’ll see something classic-looking out of anyone. (Or no less than the foremost element producers.)
This specific derailleur is the long-cage model, and it’s meant for a triple. You’d assume that may make it heavy, nevertheless it’s lighter than each different derailleur within the take a look at except for the Dura Ace and the 600:
It’s additionally the latest derailleur within the take a look at, and it required a type of bizarre Torx thingies so as to mount:
In distinction, the Altus LT had an old style hex nut for a cable anchor, that means this take a look at has borne witness to each the delivery and the demise of the Allen key period:
I can’t hold observe of Campagnolo’s cable pull adjustments all through the listed period and I don’t know what’s appropriate with what. Will this additionally work with a 10-speed Ergo shifter, or a 9-speed? I dunno. However it is a friction shifting take a look at so we don’t must care. Right here’s the shifter place when in low gear, in addition to each the massive cog/small chainring and enormous cog/giant chainring eventualities:
Clearly you’d need extra chain for those who had been going to journey it within the giant/giant, which isn’t stunning, because it’s a long-cage derailleur made for a triple–additionally one of many final we’ll ever see from Campagnolo:
After I put the Veloce on the test-cycle (all the time watch out when putting derailleurs on or close to your test-cycles) my fast response was, “Wow, good.” I had the identical response to the Athena:
Easy, exact…good:
It truly is wonderful how decadent a pair of Silver shifters feels on a contemporary drivetrain, and the extra I give it some thought the extra I consider it’s factor that the trade has deserted friction shifting, as a result of in any other case they’d be charging us a fortune for it:
As a substitute, all it takes to place an incredible one collectively is a smattering of first rate mid-range components. Actually, it’s onerous to think about a highway bike drivetrain feeling any higher than this. AND IT DOESN’T EVEN NEED BATTERIES!!!
This isn’t simply true of the Athena, both; other than the DNS and the DQ, all of them yielded lovely shifting–although I’m undecided any of them had been quieter than the Athena, which I may barely hear in any gear mixture:
I’m undecided how a lot the oversized-and-rubberized pulleys must do with that, nevertheless it in all probability couldn’t harm:
Regardless of the cause, whereas I bought good-to-great outcomes with all of them, I knew instantly that I needed to award the Athena first prize:
It’s mild, it’s quiet, it’s exact, and in contrast to among the different contestants it’s not on the restrict of its adjustment vary so as to entry your entire cassette. The identical can be true of the Veloce, however the Athena can be lighter, which after all is totally meaningless, however on this case makes for a handy tiebreaker. Additionally, the long-cage Athena has a better chain-wrap capability (40) than the Veloce medium-cage (36)–additionally meaningless, because the test-cycle doesn’t want it, nevertheless it does imply you’ve in the end bought wider gearing prospects with the Athena, so it will get further factors for versatility. Certain, the identical goes for the SunTour, however the Athena is a bit more refined, which actually solely issues a little bit, however it is a contest and that’s how contests work.
In fact, because the curator of the shootout I get to choose certainly one of these derailleurs to dwell completely on the test-cycle, and clearly I went with…
…the Veloce?
Certain. It additionally labored completely, and it’s a greater match with the chain I’ve bought on the bike now. Like, what? I’m gonna get an entire new chain simply to make use of a lighter derailleur? Please.
So there it’s. Sure, the latest half gained, and for a friction shifter shootout that’s kinda lame. However the true lesson is that the 40-plus year-old Altus LT that got here on a Schwinn Voyageur was nearly pretty much as good. And sure, simply since you’ve bought friction shifters in your bike, that doesn’t imply you should utilize each single derailleur in existence, as we noticed with the “Deerhead.” However you should utilize a fuckload of them, and simply so long as you pay an affordable quantity of consideration to stuff like max cog measurement, chain size, and naturally chain wrap capability, you in all probability gained’t be capable to inform a lot if any distinction between them.
Most significantly, after opening and shutting a quick-link chain no less than seven instances in as many days, I can let you know the best strategy to do it with out shopping for a particular instrument is to make use of a Channellock. Not simply any pliers, however a Channellock. You’re welcome.
