Tandem Tom

I have one on our tandem which is fading out.
Is this a "white elephant"???

joeruge

Hi,

I have one on my tandem as well - hard to know sometimes what's going on way back there. Wanted another one for a second tandem and found it on Amazon for something like $10. Checked recently and they are "currently un-available." I have only seen these for 9 speed, which works for my tandems. Let us know what you find out.

Joe R.

Andrew R Stewart 

Pretty much yes. There were 9 and 10 speed versions IIRC. But as shift cables went under bar wrap these aids went by the way side. Andy

rccardr 

I have several of those, think they are 9 speed, shoot me a PMif you want one...or two.

HillRider

The other, also now obsolete, gear indicators were the Shimano "Flight Deck" cyclometers that displayed which chainring and cog the bike was in. They had to be wired to both brifters which had to be compatible. Apparently these weren't a big success as they were dropped by Shimano after a few years.

Andrew R Stewart 

We still see Flight Decks every so often. Most owners are in love with their orphans. More common are the STI shift pods with Flight Deck wiring that need solvent flushing and lubing. We tell our customers that their FD wiring will need to be cut out (having pulled and reinstalled some before we won't offer that any longer) and most of these riders never even knew of their lever's feature.

My gear indicators are my heart, my lungs and that ages old glance down between my legs. Andy

70sSanO

I have found gear indicators are nice at the extremes, especially on varying terrain. My flat bar bikes are 2x with a Suntour thumb shifter for the chainrings (too many barre chords over the years). My road bike is a triple and has downtube shifters, which are indicators.

I will say knowing where I am on a mountain bike helps settings things up and for those “please, just one more gear,” and “oh....” times.

I’m pretty much oblivious when riding on flats or rollers, and just go along at whatever pace I want.

John

HillRider

That is another advantage of the Gevenalle shifters. They are bar end or downtube levers mounted directly on the brake levers. Since they don't "return to center" like brifters the lever position tells you which cog or chainring you are end just by feel.

bldegle2

"My gear indicators are my heart, my lungs and that ages old glance down between my legs. Andy"

Yup, that pretty much covers it.

Tandem Tom

But on a tandem it is nice to have an idea where your at on the cassette. I am continuing to ask my wife.

Russ Roth

hated how easily the cable popped out on those, have to pop open the back, take out the cable and put the little ball back in the plastic piece and close it back up. Every single tune up practically.

I do really like the inline indicators, been considering upgrading to 10 speed on mine and if I do will go with 4600 series Tiagra which has an indicator built into the shifter.

Andrew R Stewart 

The other way to figure out which cog you're in is to remember where you were before. Yes I know this means one needs to pay attention to what they do for longer then most attention spans can handle. (Sorry but I couldn't help but take that shot)

While I don't ride our tandem anywhere near as much as in the past I do remember finding ourselves in a different gear then what I thought. The solution was to shift, double if needed, to get to what we wanted. Didn't happen too often though as my first reply usually made it pretty obvious, the more you ride as a team then more you learn the effort/pace/cadence and the resulting gear you're in. Andy