Additional to Monday’s submit, I’ve now formally ridden the Official BSNYC Traditional Cycle twenty first Century Friction Shifter Take a look at Take a look at-Cycle with the 1980-ish Shimano Altus LT derailleur mounted:
That is the primary unit within the check, and whereas aesthetics clearly isn’t the first consideration right here, I’m not gonna faux prefer it isn’t vital, both. Issues of look are clearly subjective, however I believe the Altus LT appears fairly cool in an automotive kind of method, and it suits in fairly properly with the remainder of the bike:
As I discussed on Monday, the Altus LT requires fairly a bit much less lever journey than the 5700 derailleur that I’ve been utilizing, and the very first thing I observed is that this makes for some fairly quick throws on a 10-speed cassette:
At first I puzzled if that is likely to be an issue, and if I’d discover myself continually overshooting the supposed gear, however the factor about friction shifting is your wrist calibrates itself fairly shortly, and after a number of shifts you get a superb feeling for the way far the lever wants to maneuver to alter gears. After awhile I made a decision I preferred the quick throws, and I appreciated that I not needed to deliver the lever fairly up to now again when going into my lowest gear on climbs. General, shifting was clean and exact, and if the shortage of a B screw or a slant parallelogram took something away I certain as hell couldn’t really feel it:
If something, my total impression was that the Altus LT felt higher than the 5700. In fact, there’s all kinds of doable causes for this:
- It’s my creativeness
- It’s in actual fact barely completely different in a method that doesn’t matter, however with bike stuff we regularly interpret “barely completely different” as higher, no less than till we get used to it, at which level we return to the outdated factor and resolve that’s higher
- Regardless of being over 40 years outdated, this derailleur might properly be in significantly better form than the 5700, which I’ve abused for years, and will simply be bent, and for all I do know I didn’t even put the pulleys in the correct place once I changed them
- Possibly the shorter throws make it really feel extra correct
- Or possibly it’s objectively higher and it’s due to that “Centeron” function I discussed in Monday’s submit
With regard to that final one, you may see the “Centeron” arm right here–it’s that factor that claims “Pat. Pending” on it:
The concept with the Centeron is it’s alleged to be “self-centering,” although in concept it ought to be paired with the matching shifters. To check it, I deliberately tried to maneuver the derailleur in a chattery place, and it was very tough to do. Then once more, it’s fairly exhausting to make any fashionable HyperGlide (or equal) drivetrain chatter, and I’ve by no means intentionally tried to make the 5700 chatter, so who is aware of if any of that is as a result of Centeron? However I’ll say that with the Altus LT the bike appeared to run extra quietly when within the small ring and transferring previous the center portion of the cassette in the direction of the smaller cogs:
That’s to not say it was very noisy earlier than, and by the point you begin doing that it’s time to shift to the large ring anyway, however in any occasion the slight enchancment was one thing I observed.
In fact I must be notably cautious about attributing something to the Centeron function, since each retrogrouch fantasizes about discovering some long-abandoned know-how that, when paired with fashionable elements, makes all of it work higher. Simply as Grant Petersen has discovered that RapidRise derailleurs work superbly with friction drivetrains, thereby remodeling them right into a cult merchandise, I dream of singlehandedly making outdated Centeron derailleurs cool, and it’s important that I don’t fall sufferer to my very own delusions when trying to find out whether or not it really does something or not. Finally, what I can say for certain after one journey with this relic is the next:
- It could or might not be higher than the 5700
- It’s undoubtedly not worse
- If I had no extra derailleurs to check I wouldn’t trouble placing the 5700 again on there and would hold utilizing this one indefinitely
Actually, about the one dangerous factor you may say in regards to the Altus LT is that it’s “heavy” at 260 grams. However as I discussed, that’s solely 28 grams heavier than the 5700, and a mere 15 grams heavier than a Campanolee Crotchy Doan:
What’s extra, if you need a Campanolee Crotchy Doan, you’ll should spend like $250 on eBay and sift via annoying advertisements like this:
In the meantime, an Altus LT will price you simply a fraction of that, even at eBay costs:
The truth is you may get the entire set for not way more:
Simply consider the bragging rights! Roll as much as the gravel race on a Crust with Centeron shifting, clarify that it’s the brand new RapidRise, and also you’ll be the toast of the thigh-tattoos-and-handlebar-bags set.
By the way, the advert mentions the Schwin Voyageur, so I checked out the 1980 catalogue:
The Voyageur 11.8 was in actual fact geared up with the Altus LT:
The bike bought for $349.95, or $399.95 in chrome. In accordance with a web based inflation calculator, that’s like $1,300 at the moment, or like $1,500 for the chrome.
As I’ve talked about, I had no thought what was occurring with geared bicycles in 1980. Nevertheless, going again to the 1979 catalog, I did discover my very own Schwinn:
It was the “SX 100” full with Skyway magazine wheels:
This was the bike–all 32 kilos of it!–that carried me via childhood and kindled my lifelong love of biking. I’m certain hundreds of thousands of Individuals can say the identical due to Schwinn, though the actual key is a good father; I doubt I had any thought what a BMX even was till mine gave this one to me, however by the point I’d outgrown it I used to be obsessed.
One other bike model you noticed a variety of in these days was Ross. My very own first bike was a Ross, and I’m fairly certain this is the bike my brother had again once I was driving that Schwinn:
I solely not too long ago discovered that till 1973 the Ross manufacturing facility was on Seashore 79th Avenue in Rockaway, not too removed from the place we lived on the time. I’m guessing my brother’s bike was made after their transfer to Allentown, however my very own was sufficiently old that it might very properly have been made simply down the road. And they had been even doing “micromobility” earlier than it was cool:
So yeah, the derailleur works fairly good is what I’m saying.
