From Class 2 to Class 1. How "hard" is it to switch?

[PCeBiker]

So either my shift interrupter isn't working or it's too slow

I think the whole idea of a shift sensor is wrong.
It's like having a shift sensor on the stick shift on my car to back off the throttle when I grab the shifter.
That would work on an automatic transmission but not on my 5-speed manual transmission.

The engine needs a bit of time to rev down before shifting or I'd grind the outta my gears.

I used to power-shift (no clutch) my motorcycle all the time but I wouldn't want a robot to back off the throttle for me.

I smoked the sychromesh gears for third gear on one of my cars and could only get into third gear by power shifting it.

It would take a few tries to get it into third gear, grinding the Living Snot out of it with every try, so I only used third gear to accelerate onto the highway.

 

[speedub.nate]

I can see the value in it.

As a long time Rohloff Speedhub rider (non-electric), a common complaint by newbies is that they can't shift under load. There's a technique I call "burping the pedals" and some riders just aren't down with it.

I built a pit bike using a SRAM Spectro 7 (also analog) and the shifter would shift with no resistance, but the hub wouldn't drop into gear until the pedaling effort was relaxed just a tiny bit. A little frustrating because, unlike the Speedhub where the shifter would resist twisting, the Spectro shifter felt like everything was hunky-dory and there was no indication that anything was hung up... except the gear didn't change.

And with this latest beast my wife rides with a Shimano Inter-5 and a Bosch motor, if she downshifts under load the clunk sounds like somebody dropped a washing machine. That generation of motor could have shift assistance if it had pushbutton shifting, but with a cable operated shifter it has no way of knowing.

AND THEN you've got the bikes with "auto shift" which on paper sounds like a gift for novice riders, but present the problem that they'll have no idea when the bike is going to change gears and don't have any hope of letting up on the pedal stroke if they're grinding up a steep hill.

So if I was in the business of selling bikes or motors or gear hubs I could totally see the value in making something with a transparent and undramatic shifting experience. And that's not too different from why Shimano introduced SIS and Hyperglide and ramped cassette sides to facilitate shifting under load, because they saw there was rider interest in not having to think about backing off of the pedaling to downshift in the heat of a climb -- it just took a long time to perfect it.

 

[PCeBiker]

I can see the value in it.

,.. I could totally see the value in making something with a transparent and undramatic shifting experience.

Unweighting my pedals to shift has always been second nature for me, starting with my 3-speed cruiser when I was 12 years old where I had to pedal backwards while shifting.
(Same as this,.. mine was a beige/gold color.)

I also had a 2-speed bike where you pedaled backwards to shift between gears.

I learned how to wreck chains and derailleurs when I got my first ten-speed in 1976 and tried to shift under load.
(Same as this bike,..)

All my cars and motorcycles had a standard transmission, and I Always had to "unweight" my engine when I shifted gears.

Even when I would "power shift" my car, I still had to "burp the throttle" before I Slammed it into 3rd gear.
My motorcycles needed a quick throttle burp too.


I think it's a lot more effective and a lot easier to train a human to burp properly than to train a robotic bicycle how to belch like a properly trained human.
Once you learn how to shift properly, you never forget.

It's just like riding a bicycle.




PS,.. I learned how to swallow air to make Huge Beltches in grade 5 after seeing a guy on the Gong Show on TV Belch the entire alphabet.

He was Gonged off stage, but I was Thoroughly Impressed, and Had to learn how to do it for myself !!

I remember mom Yelling at me,.
"If You Want To Do That, Then GO TO YOUR ROOM!!!"

I was normally sent to my room as punishment, but I spent the next hour belching up a Storm in my room.
I learned to belch Really Loud so I could annoy the whole Fam Damnly while I was being punished.

 

[PCeBiker]

So if I was in the business of selling bikes or motors or gear hubs I could totally see the value in making something with a transparent and undramatic shifting experience.

What about going back to double or triple chainrings?

Then you'd be stepping down to a smaller ring when you're downshifting instead of climbing onto a bigger cog at the wheel?
Chainrings are generally larger than cassettes/freewheels/cogs/clusters/sprockets/etc,.. and handle more force/torque/power.

Why force the chain to "climb" to a larger sprocket right when the rider needs their maximum "force" to climb a steep hill?

 

[speedub.nate]

It's just like riding a bicycle.

That's awesome! Chef's kiss...

Have you ever noticed that your stuff tends to last a long time while other people you know break their things? Usually because it seems like they've done something ham fisted or clumsy? Or they just proclaim, "'cause it's junk!"

But instead, have you ever considered that you might have an intuitive mechanical sense that some other people don't possess, that you can kind of "feel" how something can work and "know" when it's at its limit?

I think a great many of us who tinker and build and probably disproportionately end up on forums like these fall into that latter description, and we maybe don't appreciate how a good majority of our peers don't interact with the objects around them that same way.

It's for those people!

I remember this scene in Days of Thunder, where the mechanic is asking Tom Cruise "Is it driving loose? We can take some camber out, tighten it up..." and Tom answers "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, I just drive cars" or something to that effect. It's two kinds of people who interact with mechanical objects in two very different ways, and we just gotta accept that some will find a way to make peace with the worst piece of junk, while others will break it, complain about it, or both.

 

[Gionnirocket]

That's awesome! Chef's kiss...

Have you ever noticed that your stuff tends to last a long time while other people you know break their things? Usually because it seems like they've done something ham fisted or clumsy? Or they just proclaim, "'cause it's junk!"

But instead, have you ever considered that you might have an intuitive mechanical sense that some other people don't possess, that you can kind of "feel" how something can work and "know" when it's at its limit?

I think a great many of us who tinker and build and probably disproportionately end up on forums like these fall into that latter description, and we maybe don't appreciate how a good majority of our peers don't interact with the objects around them that same way.

It's for those people!

I remember this scene in Days of Thunder, where the mechanic is asking Tom Cruise "Is it driving loose? We can take some camber out, tighten it up..." and Tom answers "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, I just drive cars" or something to that effect. It's two kinds of people who interact with mechanical objects in two very different ways, and we just gotta accept that some will find a way to make peace with the worst piece of junk, while others will break it, complain about it, or both.

Tru_dat!. . .

We are are rare and disappearing breed.

 

[PCeBiker]

That's awesome! Chef's kiss...

I had to Google that,..

I found a meme that explains it better,..

,.. we maybe don't appreciate how a good majority of our peers don't interact with the objects around them that same way.

It's for those people!

Beaker was my favorite Muppet.

Here he is learning about fire and electricity the same way that I learn about stuff,..

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, I just drive cars" or something to that effect.