Re: Most significant advance in bike technology for speed?

On 2/4/2025 1:58 PM, NFN Smith wrote:

cyclintom wrote:

Roger, there wasn't any problem actually shifting but grabbing the
lever in the heat of a bunch sprint was b\oth inconvenient and
dangerous. We're not talking about Frank being able to ride without
hands long nough to take a jacket off. Most riders had good enough
balance to do that.
>
We're talking about half a dozen riders or more trying to cross the
finish line first and trying to cut off others so they are weaving
all over the road.

Not unless they want to be disqualified for not holding the line (aka "irregular sprinting" in UCIese)
Does it happen? sure. Sometimes just a relegation:
https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-down-under-2025/stage-2/results/
"Van Poppel pulled off, first going left to the centre of the road to let Welsford go to his right and then moving right to close the door on Tobias Lund Andresen (Picnic PostNL), who in reaction had to go further left, forcing Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious) to hit the brakes."
"Van Poppel, who originally crossed the line in tenth place, was relegated to 118th, the last position in the group he finished with."
Sometimes nearly deadly:
https://www.eurosport.com/cycling/fabio-jakobsen-i-looked-like-roadkill-after-tour-of-poland-crash_sto8044873/story.shtml
"Brain contusion. Skull fractured. Nose broken. Palate broken and torn. Ten teeth gone. Parts of my upper and lower jaws gone. Cuts in my face. A big cut in my auricle. Broken thumb. Shoulder contusion. Lung contusion. The nerve of my vocal cord took a blow. "
Not for the squeamish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTiVtNgVJnw

 Remember also the variant of bar-end shifters.
 In my mind, the only people who really needed them was the sprinters. I'm not a sprinter, and so I was never interested.

The bar ends gave you a split second advantage over down tubes, but one still had to be seated since controlling the bike with your left hand in the drop and the right hand trying the move the lever on the end of the bar wasn't really possible while applying power. With integration it's possible (though not advisable) to sprint _while_ shifting.

 Smith

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