It is almost Thanksgiving, and I am busy this afternoon trying to wrap up a few projects at work so I can spend the rest of the week with my family. I don’t really feel like doing a design related post today, so bear with me while I “think out loud” a bit and ask you all for a bit of feedback.
Thanksgiving this week means that it is also the middle of cyclocross season, and you can see from the attached photos that my cross bike is not exactly running smoothly after a mechanical mishap in a race a couple of weeks ago. I have another derailleur in place at the moment, and the bike is temporarily rideable again, but the shifting is far from ideal. The old 9-speed Ultegra that has been on that bike for a while has served me well, but the levers are now missing shifts occasionally and it is time for a drivetrain upgrade. I have been considering a few options, so allow me to outline them for you.
Option 1- Buy another 9 speed Ultegra rear derailleur on eBay. That is an easy and cheap option and would work fine until the Ultegra brifters finally stop working altogether. I’d rather try something new though, and this option doesn’t provide that.
Option 2- Use the old 9 speed Dura-Ace 7700 group that I already have on a different bike. I was planning to sell an old Cannondale frame that I have with those components, but it would be easy to just switch them over to the cross bike. This was my first thought, but I am not really sure that I want to go that route. It might be better just to sell that bike as planned and try something different on the cross bike.
Option 3- Replace the components on my road bike with SRAM Force or Red and pass down the Ultegra 10 drivetrain to the cross bike. I could also build up the cross bike with new SRAM parts (option 4), but either way I would face the same dilemma…mixing STI and Double Tap on the various bikes that I ride.
Currently, my wife has a SRAM equipped road bike and for quite some time I have been thinking about trying a SRAM grouppo on one of my bikes. I haven’t done it yet though, mainly because I currently have three bikes set up with Dura-Ace and Ultegra components. I don’t want to “make the leap” with my road bike, commuter bike, and cross bike all at once, so I guess that brings me to my question. How many of you have multiple bikes with different shifting systems? The few times that I have ridden bikes with SRAM double tap levers, it has taken a little while to train my brain not to instinctively shift with the brake lever. I wonder if I would ever get used to having a road bike with SRAM shifters and two other bikes with STI. Would I start missing shifts on the cyclocross bike as I try to double tap a Shimano lever? I don’t know, but I would love to hear from any of you are currently riding both. If you switch back and forth on a regular basis, let me know how it works for you.
…and in case I don’t get a chance to post again this week, I want to wish all of my US readers a happy Thanksgiving. Make sure that you get out and ride after the big meal on Thursday.
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