Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net>
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: Helping a tourist with STI problems
Date: Thu, 22 May 2025 16:44:04 -0400
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 80
Message-ID: <100o2am$3lar3$1@dont-email.me>
References: <100lplo$3390m$1@dont-email.me>
 <hjcu2kdddgse6q238e99sspbvgul14pgl7@4ax.com> <100nt7v$3kb94$1@dont-email.me>
 <100nvfc$3kmu5$1@dont-email.me>
Reply-To: frkrygow@gmail.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Thu, 22 May 2025 22:44:09 +0200 (CEST)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="8f6df7e95472495efebc8094b6e3a19c";
	logging-data="3844963"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18l3BfENEDsXGe2bZwNWdiYEByqTf0xrDo="
User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird
Cancel-Lock: sha1:0o8b+S9mY30imsqZQoumM+AMLNA=
Content-Language: en-US
In-Reply-To: <100nvfc$3kmu5$1@dont-email.me>

On 5/22/2025 3:55 PM, AMuzi wrote:
> On 5/22/2025 2:17 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
>> On 5/22/2025 11:29 AM, Wolfgang Strobl wrote:
>>> Am Wed, 21 May 2025 20:04:08 -0400 schrieb Frank Krygowski
>>> <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net>:
>>>
>>>> ... Spraying the guts thoroughly with lubricant has been the only 
>>>> thing I've
>>>> ever done to fix STI. Eventually, doing that enabled him to get the
>>>> levers working again and allowed the repair to complete. As a result of
>>>> all this, the young guy is going to do an extra overnight here.
>>>>
>>>> To me, it's justification for my preference for bar end shifters for
>>>> touring. I prefer simple devices with only visible problems.
>>>
>>> Then you should not use modern cars or cell phones.
>>
>> :-)  I'm very aware that my choice of an electric car was, for me, 
>> very unusual. It was based on environmental guilt, due to the large 
>> amount of driving I now have to do.
>>
>> If there were a simple alternative to a cell phone, I'd certainly 
>> consider it - but for many electronic devices, there is no simple 
>> alternative that's anywhere near as useful. Smart phones, radios, 
>> televisions (although I watch very, very little) etc. can't be 
>> replaced by simple mechanical devices.
>>
>> Luckily, STI can be replaced by bar end or other simple shifters. I 
>> prefer the ruggedness, adaptability and repairability to the slightly 
>> greater convenience of STI.
>>
>>> I too liked the bar end shifter on the touring bike I got in nineties of
>>> the last century, even after getting a nasty stich from a broken wire
>>> from the inner cable, while shifting.  Does that count as a visible
>>> problem? :-O
>>
>> :-) That's a feature, not a bug! When that first strand of wire breaks 
>> and sticks out, it's how the system tells you that its time to replace 
>> your shift cable.
>>
>>>  From a consumers point of view, there isn't much difference between a
>>> Tiagra STI lever and a SRAM eTap AXS Shift/Brake Lever, he or she can't
>>> repair either one. Nor can I.  But the former component is a lot more
>>> complicated than the latter.  A STI lever, whether Tiagra, 105 or
>>> Ultegra contains a complicated ratchet mechanism inside, comparable to a
>>> mechanical clock, while the latter one is a simple switch combined with
>>> some electronics. Robust near distance communication by wire or over the
>>> air is essentially a solved problem.
>>
>> I don't have any experience nor any data on the reliability of e- 
>> shifting or wireless shifting. I have had problems with the wireless 
>> cyclometer on my Bike Friday - signal failure in temperatures below 
>> 40F = 5 C), technical details on request - but to me, inability to 
>> shift gears is much more of a problem than inability to see my speed.
>>
>>> Of course we can design and build bicycles that a village blacksmith can
>>> repair. Some people do. Who needs more than two gears? You don't need a
>>> shifting device for only two gears. And so on.
>>
>> Depending on one's objective. This guy had set his derailleur so his 
>> chain was on a middle cog. Shifting in front would have given him two 
>> speeds. I agree with him that would not be the way to ride to Los 
>> Angeles.
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> "based on environmental guilt..."
> 
> Before purchasing a battery powered car, you felt remiss in not 
> sufficiently promoting chinese hegemony in impoverished African 
> countries, increasing child slave labor or expanding wanton 
> environmental degradation from chinese rare earth refineries?  Just 
> wondering.

I left those issues up to you, Andrew. We make our choices, don't we?


-- 
- Frank Krygowski