Re: Extensive article on Rivendell and Grant Petersen

On 9/25/2024 3:26 PM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:

 You're still riding that bicycle built in the mid-1980s? ;-)

Yes, and I love it!

I'd really like to know what chainrings and cassettes you've got, for
tha. 

Oh, it's ancient technology! I'm using "half step plus granny" cranks, 48-44-24 (Sugino) and SunTour freewheels. The Cannondale's rear hub is a sealed bearing unit, and apparently due to a lack of stress riser threads, it's never broken an axle (unlike other bikes I've had). Years ago when a local bike shop closed, I inherited a huge collection of SunTour cogs, and I'm still using those. My touring bike has five cogs, 13 - 34. (On my wife's identical bike, I put six cogs.) I'm apparently more tolerant of cadence changes than some cyclists. The biggest difficulty I have is having to notice whether I'm in the 48 or the 44 when I feel the need for a half-step change.
I've ridden that setup with only minor changes since 1986. It just keeps working for me.

[FK:] I dislike black boxes with hidden functions. And I tend
to disbelieve the sales pitch "But nothing will ever go wrong with this
system!"

 Sure. So do I.  But I'm quite sure that a simple switch using  a low
power radio signal to communicate with a derallieur that is essentially
reduced to a sealed microcontroller operating a single actuator has a
lot less failure points than a mechanical Rube Goldberg device that has
to fit into a brake lever and has to communicate by a degrading wire
rope running over several corners, merging both control and power into
that single, unreliable channel.

Nope, I would not like that. And BTW, my shifting apparatus doesn't have to fit into a brake lever. I'm running friction bar ends on that bike.
--
- Frank Krygowski