Additional to Friday’s put up, I’ve now obtained my trendy slotted cleat scenario collectively:
The important thing (along with a pair of sneakers with laces) is this cleat from Yellow Jersey:
Additionally, a reader informs me which you can additionally get slotted cleats with float:
It’s a intelligent thought, although I do object to it on the premise that the complete level of utilizing clips and straps an slotted cleats is to inconvenience your self as a lot as doable and this looks as if a violation of that ethos.
If you happen to’ve by no means used slotted cleats earlier than, getting out and in of them takes a little bit getting used to, and naturally you’ve obtained to recollect you’re strapped in earlier than you attempt to put a foot down otherwise you’re going over like a felled tree:
Oh, and to the reader who left this remark, I’ve fastened the strap.
Anyway, I’ll repeat as soon as once more that I’m not in any means advocating for a return to this setup, and I’m merely utilizing it within the spirit of having fun with the bike in its correct historic context–and it’s extra enjoyable to journey the bike with “correct” sneakers than it’s with sneakers and even classic bowling sneakers, simply so long as you bear in mind to not fall over:
By the way in which, I’m assuming the bike as soon as belonged to somebody named Alfredo Binda, as a result of he put his title on the straps:
Anyway, now that I’ve obtained not just one however two pairs of sneakers for this factor, I can actually get right down to the enterprise of having fun with it–and I’m tremendously having fun with it, though the shifters are shut sufficient collectively that I shifted the incorrect one the opposite day:
It’s nearly like they’re flipping me off:
Talking of shifting specifically and obsolescence basically, I’m now deep into the Basic Cycle twenty first Century Friction Shifter Shootout…which ought to extra correctly be referred to as a derailleur shootout, however we’re particularly evaluating how they every work with friction shifters on a contemporary bike, so I’m sticking with it:
After being pleasantly shocked with the efficiency of the Altus LT, the oldest derailleur of the bunch, I moved onto the following derailleur within the take a look at:
The Shimano 600 is after all the predecessor to Ultegra, and it’s impressively smooth and chic, particularly compared to the very mechanical-looking Altus LT. Word the cable anchor bolt:
The pinnacle of which is hidden within the parallelogram:
I consider Shimano launched this derailleur in 1982, and it wasn’t even their top-of-the-line mannequin. (That distinction after all went to Dura Ace.) In the meantime, right here’s what Campagnolo was doing in ’82:
You may see that they have been in bother.
It’s impressively mild, too, at simply an eyelash over 200 grams:
After all it doesn’t have a barrel adjuster, however on a friction drivetrain you don’t really want that anyway.
I used to be very excited to check this derailleur, and was rooting for it on the premise that it’s concurrently classic and ultra-light, which makes for a excessive “cool” issue. Alas, once I tried to put in it, I discovered that the little retainer thingy that holds the derailleur in place on the dropout tab and maintains spring pressure is out of place:
So far as I can inform, the spring itself works simply positive, so I’m undecided what’s occurring right here. Perhaps somebody overhauled it in some unspecified time in the future and put it again collectively incorrect, I dunno. Regardless of the purpose, the upshot is that I couldn’t set up it correctly, and so I used to be pressured to sideline it till I determine it out. So in case you’ve obtained any perception be happy to let me know.
Within the meantime, I moved proper onto the following deralleur, the so-called “Deerhead” Shimano M700, which was the primary iteration of XT:
As Disraeli Gears notes, it’s just like the 600 in design, and it additionally has that Centeron arm which will or is probably not necessary:
Even with the longer cage, the barrel adjuster, and the Centeron thingy, it’s nonetheless lighter than you’d assume.
As soon as put in, shifter place within the lowest gear is roughly 90 levels in relation to the downtube:
Right here it’s within the largest cog and within the small chainring:
And right here it’s within the largest cog and the big chainring:
The match was good, the cable pull was good, and it had retro-cred virtually dripping from its antlers. Sadly, as I shifted by means of all of the gears, I found an issue: even with the excessive restrict screw all the way in which out, I couldn’t shift into my highest gear.
All of us have our hang-ups, and given the sorry state of my bikes its might shock you to be taught there are specific issues I merely can’t tolerate. I don’t thoughts soiled bar tape, or scratches, or dings, or mismatched elements. (My Rock Combo has two totally different shifters and it doesn’t trouble me within the least.) Nonetheless, I can’t cope with unusable gears. It’s dangerous sufficient I’ve to journey round with out and finish cap on the derailleur cable whereas I’m doing this take a look at–one thing else that drives me loopy, though it’s meaningless. But when I’m using a motorbike it had higher have the ability shift into all of the gears, even when I don’t truly use all of them. I wouldn’t even be capable of journey a motorbike with 10-speed shifters shifting solely 8 cogs, as a result of though it’s a superbly affordable factor to do if that’s what you’ve obtained, the data of these unused clicks would prey upon my tiny mind. So clearly in apply not with the ability to use your highest gear on a 10-speed drivetrain is sort of a non-issue, however nonetheless, I don’t prefer it, and definitely if a derailleur goes to win a Friction Shifter Shootout it had higher display most compatibility and full usability on the test-cycle.
So I disqualified it:
Although it’s a DOHS (derailler of historic significance) and so I do plan to strive it on one other bike within the not-too-distant future.
I did discover it shocking that the Altus LT labored on each cog however the M700 didn’t. So I took a more in-depth take a look at the Altus LT and located that it was at its absolute most excessive restrict. The distinction between making that final shift and never making it’s in all probability a matter of lower than a millimeter, so it’s mainly luck that one vintage derailleer may do it and the opposite one couldn’t.
Subsequent up chronologically would have been the Suntour XC Comp, with which I’ve expertise as a result of it’s the identical derailleur that was on my Rock Combo once I obtained it:
By this level nonetheless I used to be desperate to journey the bike and I couldn’t cope with the chance of yet one more ’80s derailleur not working, and so I made a decision to put it aside for later:
As an alternative, I went to the Campagnolo Veloce:
I had excessive hopes for this one. Specifically, it’s the closest match to the 10-speed Campagnolo cassette on the test-cycle, and I puzzled if that might nonetheless matter with out listed shifting. After all, an precise 10-speed Campagnolo derailleur has an important mechanical distinction, which is that it says “10 pace” on it:
[Thanks, eBay.]
Apart from that I believe they’re just about equivalent, and I didn’t even have to regulate the restrict screws after putting in it.
At 255 grams, it was the second-heaviest derailleur I’d examined to date, which clearly means nothing, however continues to be value noting:
And lever throw was about the identical because the 5700:
The medium cage was excellent for the test-cycle. Right here it’s within the small ring:
And right here it’s within the massive ring:
Then I went for a journey:
My first impression of the Altus LT was that it shifted no less than in addition to the 5700. From this I concluded that perhaps stuff like a slant parallelogram doesn’t matter all that a lot when you add trendy tooth profiles and all the remainder of it. However my first impression of the Veloce was that it shifted higher than each of them and that this was one of the best the bike had ever felt:
Perhaps it’s the slant parallelogram, perhaps it’s that the cable pull ratio is a greater match for the Campy cassette (although with friction shifters I nonetheless can’t see why that might matter), or perhaps it’s simply the psychological impact of placing a pleasant shiny silver Campy derailleur on a shiny crimson bicycle. Regardless of the case, it felt excellent and I barely missed a shift:
Looks like issues can solely go downhill from right here.
