grouch & retro = retrogrouch

 WARNING: Exceptional bike geekiness AND toxic levels of grouchiness ahead.

Shimano has apparently had enough of being the default standard with compatibility between all its bike components. Once upon a time (in the nine-speed days and earlier), all of the Shimano groups, road and mountain, were intercompatible; Laura OLPH used to say that one of her bikes had "mountain bike gearing", because the rear derailleur and the cassette were from a mountain bike group, but the road shifter would properly control it. That stopped with the advent of ten-speed; mountain- and road-bike groupsets were no longer compatible (this was not just a marketing decision, it also had to do with mountain sets needing more cable pull to overcome dirt that got into the systems; further, with road cassettes having cogs as big as 34 teeth, you probably don't need a mountain bike cassette to get up any hill that's not so steep you'd have to walk it anyway). But it was still the case that all Shimano road sets of a given range we still intercompatible; you could use a 105 derailleur with your Dura Ace shifter, and everything would work.

No more. Shimano is coming out with a CUES line for its lower end bikes; the road- and mountain-bike sets will be compatible with each other, but they will not be so with any other components on the market, Shimano or otherwise. And the most recent Tiagra ten-speed set is not compatible with anything; the cable pull apparently is based on the total cable pull for eleven-speed for this ten-speed group, and any other ten-speed shifter will not pull this derailleur all the way across a ten-speed cassette. (I found this out the hard way, and it's costing me money.)

I bought a Tiagra derailleur to have in the garage in case my 105 died, and when I learned of the parts incompatibility, I resolved to do something about it.

Now, Path Less Pedaled and Somafab have teamed up to bring out the ENE Ciclo Uno bar-end shifter. It's a bar end shifter that will pull enough cable to shift a twelve-speed cassette. It's friction, of course, so that it's compatible with any rear derailleur up to that size, and it's rear-only, so you can get it to run your one-by bike, or use something else to shift your front derailleur (if you're still un-cool enough to have one. I have one.)

I'd bought one because I'm a nutball who thinks that alternative bike products that fill a need, but will have a limited market, should be supported, and I figured I'd use it someday. The day came sooner than I thought.

It's just a shifter, so I'd need brake levers. Albert donated a pair of Shimano brake levers he discovered (many thanks), and I put them on. They're not ideal; the housing doesn't fit right, and I'm not sure I like the feel of 'em (my Gevenalle set are based on Tektro levers, and I think I like those better), but they'll work for now.

Cables for bar-end shifters typically exit the bar wrap at the bottom of the drops and then swoop in towards the down-tube, but I decided to run these all the way to the end of the tape, as if they were brake-shifters. That means there's a LOT of housing in the run. I had to use an extra-long shifter cable (of course I had an extra-long shifter cable). It also means there's a lot of friction in the housing; if the shifting gets unreliable, I may need to change the routing anyway. And it works with the benighted new Tiagra rear derailleur with the funky cable draw requirement.

Y'wanna see?

These two pics are the shifters as installed. The difference between the size of the shifter on the right and the one on the left is visible, but I think it's clearer in the pics below.

The ENE Ciclo shifter on the right. The round part of the lever is huge compared to a regular bar-end shifter...

... like this one on the left, for the front derailleur. (It's an old-style Rivendell Bikes Silver Shifter. They still have Silver Shifters, but the new ones don't look like this.)

Front view, with the brake levers.

By the way, that bar tape sucks; not doin' THAT again.

I've been using friction shifting on my Gevenalle set for years, so that's not new to me. The position of the shifters is new, as is the amount the lever has to move to hit the next gear. I've been rolling around the neighborhood and practicing.

People who know me, know I like working on the bikes. I like knowing how they work, and how the parts are gettin' along with each other. Friction shifting is a skill that takes learning, but it doesn't take much learning, and it gives me a better feel of how the bike is going and whether things are out of alignment. And it helps me to stay mindful on the ride, so I'm more apt to keep my brains on the ride and not on the thousand shocks that flesh is heir to, as my friend Bill S wrote.

I know that people who use electronic shifting like it. But it's expensive (contrary to my belief that bikes should be affordable), and, if anything, it affords an opportunity for me to be less mindful on the ride. Why would I want that? I'm not racing, where instantaneous, thought-free shifting might be a benefit. I love that cable-actuated shifting and brake systems on bicycles (especially where the cables are exposed) show all the workings of the systems; it pleases my wonder at machinery. (Even integrated brake-shifter controls hide too much of that mechanical system for my taste.) In the same way that we think that steam locomotives, with the exposed shafts that drive the wheels, are beautiful, so are cable-actuated systems on bikes beautiful.

The Gevenalle shifters and 105 derailleur are in the parts bin for the day they may be called on to go back to work. But with these shifters, I'll be able to upgrade from this 2x10 gearing to a 3x12, should I ever choose to do so. (But I doubt I will; I swap out two cogsets: one with a 28-tooth easy gear and close gearing on the intermediate gears, and one with an even easier 32-tooth easy gear. 2x10 is probably enough for me.)