sced

I often enjoy riding out of the saddle when hill climbing but have to sit down to shift my old (Campagnolo) downtube friction shifters. I understand barcons might be the way to go but wonder if yalls know any tricks to keep me standing with downtubes?

(Sorry - missed the t in the title)

sced

I have bikes with brifters, but love riding my classics just as much.

WaveyGravey

My 1986 Klein Quantum has downtube shifters. Luckily my rides don't require much shifting as there are not many hills.

bikemig 

You have to think ahead with downtube shifters and sometimes you will be out of gear. That's part of the charm of downtube shifters if you like them (and I do like them).

79pmooney

Shift ahead of time in back. Then all you have to do is hit the left shifter with your knee. Or, like I did when I broke my seatpost - coast and lean the bike against your thigh, reach down and shift, return to the bars and peddle. Steep enough hill, not happening! (I muscled a hill on the 42-14.)

DT shifters - plan ahead. A quick sit and shift while you still have speed. No? Pay the price. This was set in stone a million years ago. (Not really. Back then it was stop and flip the wheel or just pay the price.)

iab

Sit down. Then shift.

Kontact 

I half sit - put the upper part of one thigh in contact with the saddle nose.

zandoval 

As I remember shifting out of the seat was more stable with some contact on the seat. Do note Sifting Up or Down with power on the pedals has been often tedious at low RPM...

79pmooney

I did my broken seatpost shifts with the saddle pressed against the small of my back. But I still couldn't manage to stabilize the bike while I pedaled. (Small of my back - it was in my jersey pocket. )

calamarichris

Once I rode my coach's bike (80s aluminum Vitus with Modolo plastic downtube shifters) and that bike had a neat auto-shift feature. When you stood and pedaled hard enough with poor pedaling form (which I had in spades as a teenager), the small-diameter aluminum tubes (which were glued to the lugs) would flex so much, it would pull on the shift cable, which would cause an upshift, and even shift the lever for you. That bike was light as a fart, but flexy as all get-out.
My coach was a pretty smart guy (with impeccable pedaling form) so in criteriums, he would simply stomp on the pedals briefly while accelerating and the bike would automatically upshift. Gave him a leg-iup while everyone else is seated and reaching for their downtubes.
He'd simply snug down the tension on the shift lever if it was a hilly race, and of course engage his flawless pedaling form.

He is Mark Fletcher of Esprit Velo Club. A remarkable guy.

MattoftheRocks

Practice riding one handed out of the saddle. It’s easier to do while climbing than on flats.

Shifting becomes just a thing to occupy your free hand while either flowing one handed or stomping one handed. Same with signalling traffic or removing/replacing your water bottle.

seagrade 

Video footage evidence please…! I’m not saying it’s not possible, but I suspect it’d be entertaining to watch…

Should be easy to hold the camera/cellphone with the free hand…

John E

Even on my mountain bike (thumb shifters) an Peugeot (barcons), I always anticipate fatigue on a climb and downshift before I need to. I am old school enough to avoid trying to shift a chain under tension (and I have never broken a chain or a gear tooth).

dddd

I never thought of this idea, and as such I can't remember ever trying to pull it off for whatever circumstance that presented itself.

What I learned to was to shift in sync with my dropping briefly to the saddle, clearly not quite enough for the OP though.

A couple of bike setup tips come to mind, since I do spirited riding in the foothills almost every day:

First is to get the shifting performance mechanically up to high standards, by having as near-frictionless cabling and lever pivot as possible, by reducing the chain gap (creating adjustments if none exist), by having responsive chain and cog profiles, and by selecting or modifying the rear derailer's actuation ratio to suit the particular shift lever and cog spacing. This benefits shifting whether or not one is wanting to shift from a standing position, all good in other words, not compromising anything.
I personally favor a "faster" actuation that requires less lever movement, which lessens the angular range that the lever moves through (making for a more consistent technique across the range).

Secondly, I consider a more-forward saddle position that might even be better for all-around riding (not just shifting while dropping to the saddle).
The forward position makes for a gentler, smoother, easier drop and rise to/from the saddle, so is less disturbing to the necessarily brief and precise shift process. I find that I am thus able to "get back on the gas" faster with less downtime to my power delivery. This applies both to shifting itself and to the occasional lift-off that one might use to conquer a steep rise when not shifting (as when lowest gear has already been selected.
Sliding the saddle forward is particularly good when dealing with steeper rolling terrain using a vintage racing bike's limited gearing, where jumps out of the saddle might be needed for every rise and/or switchback.
A proper fore/aft position being of course relative to the seatpost/saddle's range of adjustment as well as the bike's seat tube angle (with each degree effecting perhaps a centimeter of saddle position).
Note that moving the saddle forward typically requires raising the post a bit, unless the saddle rails are actually (they usually are not) perpendicular to a line that passes through the bb axis. Neglecting to raise the saddle after sliding it forward may result in the rider pushing past the rear edge of the saddle (like what would eventually happen if your seatpost were to slip down slowly over time).

As far as knee-shifting, I've only found that technique to be a net positive when deliberately shifting a bike having Schwinn's Twin-Stik levers, and only in the forward direction. I've actually pulled this off to good affect some hundreds of times, managing a single shift at the rear and occasionally a bigger drop in front (the bigger front shift usually allows a drop to the saddle for some time before the pedaling load again requires standing.

What bikemig and 79pmoony said about shifting in advance (and having a practiced, efficient mental process surrounding each shift) is to me what downtube shifting is all about.
It keeps the shifting process interesting, entertaining even, adding a mental/physical dimension to the art of keeping up.with (or ahead of) the leaders.

steelbikeguy

I'm in agreement with the general response of "you can't shift out of the saddle with DT shifters".

I'm also here to comment that with the freewheels and chains of the 70's, you'd have a hard time shifting under load, regardless of whether you were standing or sitting. It wasn't until Hyperglide sprockets came along that you had much chance of forcing a shift under load, and that was mostly a result of the mountain bike portion of the business (as best as I can recall, of course).
Perhaps it is possible to be pedaling while standing and still take pressure off of the pedals to shift?? I certainly haven't tried.

Planning ahead is certainly the best strategy for hill climbing. I can recall times on the local 14% grades where I was pedaling slowly and trying to get onto a smaller chainring (without shaped teeth or ramps or pins, etc). It became clear that the front derailleur spring had no chance of moving the chain off of the current ring with a lot of tension on the chain. Modern rings and tooth profiles might have a chance??

Steve in Peoria (we don't have steep hills... we have steep river valleys)

Insidious C. 

Back in the day climbing while seated was the norm and most cyclists whould come out of the saddle only for brief intervals. I still ride this way today so for me DT shifter is no issue. Now if you were racing (and who races a vintage bike?) brifters offer a big advantage setting up for sprint, when you may aleady out ot the saddle.

Kontact 

Apparently I was riding my bike wrong in the '80s.

seagrade 

And here was I thinking that back in the 1980s when gears were seldom lower than 41/42x24/25, for racing least, the reverse was true…

Piff 

Lots of the old 'sit and grind' style of climbing in this documentary from the 70s. Great one, I'm sure most here have seen it.

nlerner

I ask the next rider over to shift for me.

sced

I'd like to know details about how you ride one-handed please... I tried it a bit yesterday afternoon on a small upgrade and it didn't go well...Thanks!

nomadmax 

If you could ask Claude how the whole standing while shifting using DT shifters, he wouldn't be a fan. Steve Bauer flat wrecked him at the Worlds trying to do just that at 2:04 in this video. Steve couldn't manage it, so I wouldn't think a recreational cyclist could either.

Kontact 

What do you mean? No one in this video takes their hands off the bars at 2:04.

nomadmax 

Split those internet hairs all you want, or go to the eye doctor. Bauer took his right hand off the bars to shift down and veered right into Claude causing him to crash. Or, look it up.

repechage

I did not see Bauer take is hands off the bars but did knock into the Belgian. It took a while but he was disqualified. Unsportsmanlike conduct.