Empowering The Bicycle Traveler

shifters

Top mount thumb shifters

So I had a Bridgestone MB-1 circa 1992, I think....might have been '93. A poor fellow, down on his luck, or perhaps his brain addled from meth or crack cocaine, determined that he was deserving of such a bike. And so he took it. The Bike Hermit is always happy to help those less fortunate Read More

Switching from drop style handlebars to an upright, swept back handlebar can change the functionality and personality of a bicycle. And sometimes a change can be good, maybe turning an unused bike, or one that may duplicate another bike in one's stable of bikes, into the go to, everyday machine. From This: To This: One Read More

“ Hey baby, what kind of gearing you got on that thing?” What kind indeed.  I guess I got gears in the front and gears in the back. But how do I know what my "gearing" is?  One way to measure mechanical advantage on a bicycle is to use a concept called "gear inches". Gear Read More

I've talked about my preference for down tube shifters, now I thought I would give equal time to probably the most popular method of shifting gears on a modern touring bike. That would be bar end shifters. Being inserted into the ends of the handlebars and held secure by means of an expanding wedge these Read More

Downtube shifters are shift levers mounted on the downtube of the bicycle.  Not everybody will feel comfortable taking their hand completely off the handlebar in order to shift but for those of us who don't mind doing so, downtube shifters offer the most minimalistic of gear shifting solutions. These Shimano shifters have an "index" option Read More