nomadmax 

Watch Bauer's RIGHT hand carefully. He's the rider in the front. I'm out.

Trakhak

Yes, he does. I saw it at 100% speed and then ran the video again at 0.50% and 0.25% speed. His hand is down and back to the bars in a fraction of a second. Then he throws an elbow check, intentional or not.

Edit: his sprinting style is apparently elbows-out generally, but the elbow check was intentional. He keeps holding the elbow out as his bike rocks to the other side.

Editing again: his hand is on the shifter at almost exactly 2:03. It's most obvious at video speed 25%.

cb400bill

seagrade 

Bauer sits momentarily to shift.

At 2.05 in the Zapruder video he stands again to continue his sprint.

I guess a thread about shifting down tube shifters while standing out of the saddle was always going to descend into farce.

Kontact 

Thank you for the polite correction. What a pleasant discussion.


But my bad eyes do make it appear that he is sitting at the time.

dddd

It does appear that he squats down for the shift, but he perhaps does it so (or too) quick/abrupt that one can't be sure to what if any degree that his veering into Claude were perhaps intentional (like the elbow clearly was).

chain_whipped

These days, the cool old guys with DT shifters, can text at the same time. Put them youngsters to the curb.

canklecat

You're right. Smack dab at 2:04. Even with the fuzzy video quality it's easy to see he's already out of the saddle -- maybe just barely on the nose -- then reach down right at the 2:04 just as he's beginning to sit back down. Off balance and forces a collision.

canklecat

My advice: Don't do it. Of all the things not to do on a bike, do not operate downtube shifters while standing the most. Just think of the expensive dental work, pug nose and concussion -- if you're lucky.

One of my pet peeves is reading younger riders calling downtube shifters "suicide shifters," mistaking shifters mounted on the downtube for the obsolete rod actuated shifters mounted on the downtube (or farther back for some derailleurs) used for awhile decades ago, which did require awkward reaching operate -- although "suicide shifter" is still a bit of hyperbole. But standing while operating downtube shifters? Yup, that might qualify them as suicide shifters.

I grew up with downtube shifters, raced my first crits with 'em in the 1970s, watched a zillion videos of the greats -- I've never seen a pro operate downtube shifters while out of the saddle... until that video nomadmax linked. And that didn't go well.

All of them mashed up climbs while seated, and occasionally got out of the saddle to stomp up climbs or sprint to open gaps... but always shifted while seated. With big sprockets in the 21 or 23 tooth range, nobody was doing the "spin to win" thing, which came much later with the EPO and blood doping era that boosted aerobic capacity and overcame the main limitation to spinning 100+ RPM in big sprockets. Data indicates that without EPO or blood doping, or exceptional natural aerobic capacity, spinning is less efficient. And spinning was mostly developed for the grand tours, since the lungs recovered quicker than the legs over a three week grind of almost daily racing. And if you compare the data on Strava for pros, few of them now are spinning big sprockets at blurring speed like some pros did during the 1990s-early 2000s. Chris Froome was among the last of the dedicated spin to win guys, and he's years past his prime when that method helped him dominate on climbs.

I resumed cycling in 2015 on a comfort hybrid to bet back into shape, and by 2017 was on an old school road bike -- 1989 Centurion Ironman with Suntour GPX group, including downtube shifters... and still ride that bike in that configuration. For a couple of years I rode with a pretty fast club and consistently got gapped and eventually dropped on climbs when I tried to stand to stomp the pedals or lug uphill on 52/42 13-23 gearing.

I could see the other riders smoothly shifting gears with brifters, even while standing to climb or sprint. And it always made the difference in opening a gap on fast rides. Sure, I could catch up again down the road, but I was burning up a lot more energy in the process.

By 2019 I finally joined the 20th century and got a great old 1993 Trek 5900 OCLV, which originally came with downtube shifters (the only model of Trek's elite level road racing bikes in that era that retained downtube shifters in order to save weight). I quickly switched to brifters and didn't get gapped or dropped so easily (although by then I was in my 60s, at least 20 years older than most of the other riders). And it was remarkably easy to shift while standing -- just a slight hitch or pause to allow the chain to move without drama, then go.

bikingshearer 

I have to confess that when I first read the OP, I thought it was a trick question. It would never have dawned on me to take a hand off the bars while standing and pedaling under any circumstances, much less try to reach down to shift while doing so. It still wouldn't. For my money, it is far too dangerous; just sit down, shift, stand up.

As for Steve Bauer, he was a pro. He was paid to take serious risks on a bike. We aren't.

Kontact 

Did the 5900 have Mavic on it?

DiabloScott

The only time I've done this is when I bumped the rear shifter with my right knee. Always requiring that I sit down and shift back down again.

canklecat

Nah, it wasn't original. The previous owner had converted it to a triathlon bike, some brand of aero rims, clip-on aero bars, etc. Another BF member bought it for the wheels, tri-bar and Dura Ace group, and I bought the frame from him, which included some of the original components --Dia Compe brakes, White titanium bottom bracket, Ibis titanium stem, Chris King titanium headset. And he built it up to a good rider with Shimano 600 parts from a Centurion Ironman I have 8 and 10-speed Dura Ace groups ready to put on it when I get a round tuit. That project has been on the back burner for awhile.

The 5900 OCLV is a great frame, traditional geometry, lighter than Diamondback Podium 5 (2012 era, I think). Although the original 5900 fork is much heavier than the Podium's -- nominally carbon fiber but actually CF wrapped around a steel and aluminum core with steel steerer, while the Podium fork is the usual sorta-aero configuration large diameter hollow CF. If I had the budget and inclination I'm pretty sure I could build up that old 5900 into a 17 lb bike overall.