I didn't say it was difficult, I said it was not as easy. I have been riding doubles and triples with friction shifting for more than 30 years, and feel quite comfortable with both, but the chances of a missed shift with a double are much less than with a triple. My CD, a 4/30 gives me a low gear of 30, which does fine for almost all unloaded riding for me. I have two bikes with triples and use them as needed. They provide low gears of 26, or 24 if I want. On the double I can jam the front shifter around on Vt's rolling hills and never overshift. With a triple more finesse and attention is needed. My wife rides a triple all the time and needs it to get up the hill which we live at the bottom of - 1+ mile of 6-8% grade, and our tandem sports a 55/42/26 with a 32 cog in the back. But that bike takes skill, coordination, and practice to consistently shift smoothly. Anyone can learn to live with and shift a triple, but it will always require more attention than a double. If you can do it with 100% accuracy, congratulations, you have mastered something that takes more skill than consistently shifting a double. Whether the system is 7, 8, 9, or 10 speed is irrelevant to FD shifting. I like the closely spaced gearing of the 9 and it works as well for me as a 7. I commuted for a whole year, 3000+ miles, with a 3x7 set up. It worked fine. I like 2x9 better.
Michael On Wednesday, April 18, 2012 4:03:19 PM UTC-4, Steve Palincsar wrote: > > On Wed, 2012-04-18 at 11:43 -0700, Michael Hechmer wrote: > > Right on happycamper! I couldn't agree more. I run both a double and > > triples in 9 speed mode and am happy with both, but anyone who says a > > triple is just as easy to use as a double is probably in denial. > > I'll say it, and I'm definitely not "in denial." How is a triple > "difficult"? Ignore the granny and it's a double. But unlike a double, > if you /need/ the lowesst range, it's there. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/1emOZfVpkdoJ. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
