Additional to Friday’s submit, I’ve now bought my trendy slotted cleat scenario collectively:
The important thing (along with a pair of footwear with laces) is this cleat from Yellow Jersey:
Additionally, a reader informs me you could additionally get slotted cleats with float:
It’s a intelligent concept, 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 somewhat getting used to, and naturally you’ve bought 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 mounted the strap.
Anyway, I’ll repeat as soon as once more that I’m not in any method 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 experience the bike with “correct” footwear than it’s with sneakers and even classic bowling footwear, simply so long as you keep 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 bought not just one however two pairs of footwear 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 flawed one the opposite day:
It’s nearly like they’re flipping me off:
Talking of shifting specifically and obsolescence usually, I’m now deep into the Traditional Cycle twenty first Century Friction Shifter Shootout…which ought to extra correctly be known 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 stunned with the efficiency of the Altus LT, the oldest derailleur of the bunch, I moved onto the following derailleur within the check:
The Shimano 600 is in fact the predecessor to Ultegra, and it’s impressively glossy and chic, particularly compared to the very mechanical-looking Altus LT. Notice the cable anchor bolt:
The pinnacle of which is hidden within the parallelogram:
I imagine Shimano launched this derailleur in 1982, and it wasn’t even their top-of-the-line mannequin. (That distinction in fact went to Dura Ace.) In the meantime, right here’s what Campagnolo was doing in ’82:
You’ll be able to 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 rigidity 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 flawed, I dunno. Regardless of the purpose, the upshot is that I couldn’t set up it correctly, and so I used to be compelled to sideline it till I determine it out. So for those who’ve bought any perception be at liberty 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 will not be vital:
Even with the longer cage, the barrel adjuster, and the Centeron thingy, it’s nonetheless lighter than you’d suppose.
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 massive chainring:
The match was good, the cable pull was good, and it had retro-cred virtually dripping from its antlers. Sadly, as I shifted via 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 particular 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.) Nevertheless, I can’t take care of unusable gears. It’s dangerous sufficient I’ve to experience round with out and finish cap on the derailleur cable whereas I’m doing this check–one thing else that drives me loopy, though it’s meaningless. But when I’m using a motorcycle it had higher have the opportunity shift into all of the gears, even when I don’t really use all of them. I wouldn’t even have the ability to experience a motorcycle with 10-speed shifters shifting solely 8 cogs, as a result of though it’s a wonderfully affordable factor to do if that’s what you’ve bought, the information of these unused clicks would prey upon my tiny mind. So clearly in observe not having the ability to use your highest gear on a 10-speed drivetrain is nearly a non-issue, however nonetheless, I don’t prefer it, and positively if a derailleur goes to win a Friction Shifter Shootout it had higher show 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 attempt it on one other bike within the not-too-distant future.
I did discover it stunning 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 bought it:
By this level nonetheless I used to be desirous to experience the bike and I couldn’t take care of the danger of 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. Particularly, it’s the closest match to the 10-speed Campagnolo cassette on the test-cycle, and I questioned 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 velocity” on it:
[Thanks, eBay.]
Apart from that I feel 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 thus far, which clearly means nothing, however remains 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 large ring:
Then I went for a experience:
My first impression of the Altus LT was that it shifted at the least 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 the perfect 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 pink bicycle. Regardless of the case, it felt excellent and I barely missed a shift:
Looks as if issues can solely go downhill from right here.