You know, the other day I said Campagnolo Super Record shifty parts were the most lavish gift I’ve ever received from a reader:
And while that’s probably still true I totally forgot about the time someone sent me a whole entire Marinoni. Granted, it was in pretty rough shape:
And I had to push myself to the very limit of my meager mechanical skills to rehabilitate it:
But still, at the very least it’s a close second, and hopefully its new owner is still enjoying it.
Speaking of shifty parts, what is it about them we find so compelling?
[Like a couple of freshly-caught fish.]
From the blockheadedly simple pushy-pully sticks of yesteryear…
To the clockwork complexity of the integrated hand-controllers of…also yesteryear, but not as long ago…
What cyclist does not revel in the sound of their operation, and the feeling of them in the hand, or other prehensile body parts? They also give a bike its personality, for if the eyes are the window to the soul, then shifters are the googly eyes on the cartoon character that is your bike:
Or, the antennae, as the case may be:
But what of today’s battery-powered, push-button electrical gear changers? Do they engender the same fascination? Or are they just another appliance, about as exciting as a blood pressure monitor or a Roku Streaming Stick? To me it’s decidedly the latter, though I fully recognize this is the Prejudice of the Retrogrouch, and no doubt digital devotees find their e-shifters just as captivating. All of this is to say that shifty parts are constantly evolving, and we may be on the cusp of an era in which they become…<dripping blood font>Chinese</dripping blood font>:
Goodbye Campagnolo, hello L-Twoo:
Wheeltop, L-Twoo, TRP and the partnerships between Rotor and Wheeltop, and TRP and Classified have all arrived on the scene in recent years. All have come on in leaps and bounds since we started to see Chinese groupsets emerge.
The next step for wider acceptance and adpotion of these brands will be representation in pro racing. The inevitable goal will be taking a stage win in a major tour or top-level race.
But this is surprising why, exactly? Really, the only thing remarkable about any of this is that it hasn’t happened already. People who romanticize the sport of cycling think that God has to anoint a drivetrain manufacturer, and that He spake unto Tullio when He gave unto him the Quick Release on Mount Sinai, when in fact all a company really has to do is make something that works okay at moving a chain and then give a pro cycling team lots of parts and money:
“Good enough to win the Tour de France” isn’t that high a bar, really. Have you seen Tadej Pogačar? He could win the Tour on this:
That would be one way to un-boring the sport in the Pogačar era.
By the way, I checked out the Wheeltop website, and their rim brake electronic shifty parts work with anything from 3-14 speeds:
All that for only $599…plus 599 points, though they don’t say whether or not you can convert those to your frequent flyer program of choice:
I mean the video on the site looks like it could possibly be AI, and I don’t want this or any other type of electrical shifting gewgaw on by bike, but even so I’d certainly be lying if I said this didn’t pose quite an ethical dilemma for me:
Really, all I’d need would be that Wheeltop group, a 5-speed freewheel, and the Roaduno:
But whatever you think of electronic shifting, it’s clear that older bikes are better than newer bikes in almost every way. For example, you could easily take your 40-year old road bike and slap a Wheeltop group on it, but it would be nearly impossible to take any of your old parts and and put them on an Elves Falath:
[Elves Falath sounds like something you’d order from Doordash.]
Sorry, make that an Elves Falath Evo.
Rivendell really needs to start making “Evo” versions of all its bikes…like a sub-35lb Platypus, or a Roaduno with a Wheeltop group on it.
But yes, since I’ve now answered the “modern vs. retro” question once and for all, could someone please tell GCN they can stop making videos about it already?
If you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all:
[Crotchal POV camera shot, Englishman screaming into wind] “The gears are so high! The bars are so wide! The tires are so skinny!”
Etc.