masi61

Had my 1980's steed out the other day. What a relief to not worry about my high tech Dura Ace 9 speed triple STI's (I did miss the Flightdeck however).

Really fun drivetrain with Ultegra 6503 triple up front and Deore LX mid-cage rear, with tight 13-23 old uniglide 7 speed cluster. Mavic index downtube levers are nice and chunky and index just fine with Shimano, they even have built in "trim" for the REAR.

This drivetrain is so intuitive, I experience mucho pleasure and my mind is at rest and I enjoy the ride instead of pondering "when's the best time to shift?".

But I'm writing this because it dawned on me: I shift front and rear derailleurs with only my right hand. Using my left hand to shift the front derailleur is rarely necessary. I had the idea of posting this observation here since others might share their personal preferences to be either ambidextrous in their down tube shifting patterns.

I'm left handed by the way. Its just that after all these years my brain became hard wired to do all my shifting with my right hand.

My old habits are SO hardwired, that even with my sexy STI equipped bike, the first thing I do when I crest a hill and the terrain starts levelling out, it to feel around the downtube for a lever (that's not there of course) .

ollo_ollo

I'm also patterned to using my right hand on DT shifters, probably because front brake lever is on the left (edit, I remember doing ambidextrous shifting back in the day, not sure when the change took place)

jsharr

I guess I am bi. Shift right with right, left with left, AFAIK, but will check next time I ride.

cyqlist

Always with right hand only.

cooker

I generally just use my right hand.

Sammyboy

Hmmm. I don't know. I'll watch myself, next time out.

McDave

I am ambidextrous, that's why my two favorite bikes have bar end shifters. But on the bikes that have downtube and stem shifters I generally use my right hand. And I write with my left hand. Yeah I know, I'm weird.

John E

I generally shift each lever with the respective hand. However, my half-step and 1.5-step gearing patterns sometimes make it expedient to dump the chain from large to small chainring whilst upshifting by one or two rear cogs, and this is nicely done with a single motion of one hand moving both levers forward simultaneously.

divineAndbright

Right hand on the right, left on left!
I rarely use my FD actually, usually only on those 4hour plus rides when the hills start getting to ya, other wise the chain pretty much stays on the big ring all the time (unless I've got an unusually big hill to climb of course).


cyqlist: whats going on with that set-up.. never saw such a thing? Whats that part in the middle behind the shifters?

Wil Davis

One of the advantages of down-tube shifters is that either can be operated with either hand.

- Wil

cyqlist

Sturmey Archer shifter. More pictures of that setup are in this other thread.

When using that arrangement I would normally shift two or three of the shifters at once, always with the right hand only.

But nowadays I am off derailleurs completely and only shift hub gears, one shifter to a bike (but still only with the right hand).

USAZorro

I can go either way.

sekaijin

Right on right, left on left. It never occurred to me to do it any other way - maybe it should have!

I'm left-handed, but most of my shifting is RD shifting with the right hand.

Not only that, but my right hand is used to shifting "smart" since RD friction shifting seems to need subtle adjustments and trims. Left-hand FD shifting with my double setup is just a "dumb" lever-up, lever-down move.

Being left-handed, I'm accustomed to training my hands to use things the right-handed way.

cuda2k

Shift both with right hand. Mainly because I'm left handed and much more confortable riding one-handed with the left hand on the bar. I typically even signal turns with my right hand only. Last time I was out for a ride with the club one rider thought I was English because of it.

cyclotoine

i shift both with my right, on my commute I got so used to it.. or sometime I would shift up a cog in the front and back at the same time and I could use one hand to simultaneously twist the levers, or say I was hitting a grade and I want to drop to the small ring cause I am maxed out in the back but I don't want to spin out I can shift to a smaller cog in the back and smaller in the front by usuing one hand to twist the levers in opposite directions (that was my touring bike) which now has barcons and every once in a while I still reach for the downtube.

vpiuva

If I just need to shift the FD, I usually but not always use the left hand, but if I'm shifting both, I'll do both with the right hand.

jmccain

That's how I shift on my older road bike. As I shift the rear dérailleur, I use my right thumb to adjust the front dérailleur.

Bob Ross

Wow, it never even occurred to me to use my right hand to shift the FD! I'm gonna have to try that.

(Obviously I use my right hand for RD & left hand for FD...but since I've only been using downtube shifters for a couple of weeks, I don't think I have to worry about "breaking habits".)

m3smth

wow, I'm the only one who uses only their left hand. I feel so out of place.

clayface

All possible combinations. Each hand with the corresponding side DT shifter, or right or left for both (rear is indexed).

DonKristoph

More or less depends on my speed. If I'm clipping at anything faster than 15 mph, or if I'm on the bike path with a bunch of walkers, I'll only use my right, otherwise, I use both my left and right.

CV-6 

To my mind you should shift with your left only. Just as you should grab your water bottle with your left. Something happens while doing either and you need to brake...your hand is on/near the rear brake lever. Yes I know the front brake is more effective, but I don't like doing headers. Been there, done that, had the scars to prove it. Only took 20 years for them to go away.

amnomad

I do FD with left, RD with right too. It really never occured to me to use my right on the FD. I'd like to switch all of my bikes to bar ends anyway, anybody have 30 extra pairs of barcons?

old and new

ambitextrous,I use my left hand on the left mostly,though I'm right handed. At times I'll cross-over a hand approaching a turn using whichever hand is better suited to holding the bar at the time. First time I've thought of it in awhile.

Kommisar89

I shift with my right hand, fingers for the rear, thumb for the front.