When you buy a new set of Shimano STIs, the shifters and cable come with an indicator that you can install to show you which gear you’re in. Does anyone out there use this indicator?
I had a the flight deck computer that works with the STI shifters on my road bike. It worked great and seeing the gear in use on the computer was nice. The integrated controls on the hoods was also slick.
After going to the Garmin Edge for GPS, cadence & heart rate I took the flight deck computer off & just used the Garmin between the road and tri bike.
Travis
www.dumbfocus.com
I’m just talking about the barrel indicator that you slide onto the cable as it exits the shifter.
I’ve used it, but I got so much flack from my teammates that I took it off.
Somedays I miss it…
I’ve been riding some on a tandem with a blind athlete getting ready for IMCdA. The bike has a flight deck w/ the STI shifters. The gears are WAY behind you so you can’t look down and see what gear your in. That’s one place it’s pretty useful to have the display.
you bet.
it saves a lot of time of looking back to see what gear i’m in.
it took me a while to get used to the thing, as it looked like something only a clueless rider would need. but technology moves forward. and the thing helps if every watt counts.
I used it when I had DA (Chorus now). Over about 8 years I would say about 10 people gave me some sort of grief about it. Since I could drop about 9 of those 10 it wasn’t an issue they brought up more than once! (Also, I like to have stuff on my bike that noone else has.) So yeah, run that thing and be proud!
When I had Dura Ace on my road bike I did use that thing and liked it. Now have campy and don’t.
I loved that thing. Dont have it now on my campy, but when I was using DA it was great.
Grew up riding with the best in Boulder and a lot of the riders around there had it. Never once did I hear someone bash it… never crossed my mind until I read this thread.
One of the ways we used it in training was to monitor our gears durring efforts up the canyons or TT’s on the flats. Could log notes about sections of the Boulder Peak course and proper gearing for the tough climbs and such. It’s a great tool if you’re creative. Note what gears you were missing in the 8 and 9 speed days. what cogs were needed for climbs and what not… helped pic cassette choices…
I’m not worried about anyone bashing me for using it, just wondering how much use anyone got out if it.
Sorry, I guess after reading echappe’s post that’s just where my mind went. I thought it was useful when I had it. It makes it easier to recognize those situations that you’re about to change gears but you’re already in the big ring and on the second to biggest sproket. Or the reverse may be more common, you’re going to go to a harder gear but you’re still in the little ring and you’re already in the smallest, or second smallet sprocket. Towards the end mine actually got a little worn out and wouldn’t always be perfectly lined up with the little white. Before that, I could check that I was in the “right” gear for this or that climb. So, yeah, I got plenty of good info from it.
My mind wondered to this while typing this post for some reason; I wonder if one day you’ll be able to program an RPM range into the new electronic groups and then it will do all the shifting for you. That could be a real improvement, as it is now, I don’t see the electronic groups as a real improvement.
On mountain bikes, those things are a life saver, and everyone uses them. I have campy on my road bike, but I wish I had a gear indicator. I look at my bar end levers on the tri bike as my gear indicator… so much easier than taking a peak to see what’s going on back there.
They are a life saver on mtb because you don’t need to look down? Do you need to look down on mtb?
Guess I’m so use to having the indicator already (I look at where the bar end shifters are positioned) that I don’t think about the other shifting systems.
on a MTB b/c of the triple and the quickly varying terrain, it can be difficult to look at your gears while navigating to prepare the proper gear for what’s coming up. Gear indicators help a ton.
Still have the 9 speed one on my D/A 10 spped bike. Works well enough for me to tell. Don’t use it too much anymore, but like it. Miss it when on the tandem and my bike with SRAM.
Yet on the sram X9 and X0 shifters there is no indicator. I have been racing for 2 years on my x-9s, and I cant think of a time when I have been caught in the wrong gear becasue I didnt know what gear I was in to start with(I have been caught in the wrong gear cus I didnt shift intime alot though)… Other then that I run campy on my road bike, so no there, and DA on my P3, so I just use the shifters as the indicators.