Lance Armstrong's brake levers

[bag_head]

Whilst reading/looking through recent editions of the australian 'RIDE' magazine that Lance Armstrong sometimes rides with two different brake levers.

The right lever seems to be Shimano but I'm not sure about the left hand one.

The pictures in question seem to be from the 2000 & 2002 TDF and he always seems to be climbing (maybe a mountain stage)

Anybody got any ideas??

 

[jstraw]

Originally posted by bag_head
Whilst reading/looking through recent editions of the australian 'RIDE' magazine that Lance Armstrong sometimes rides with two different brake levers.

The right lever seems to be Shimano but I'm not sure about the left hand one.

The pictures in question seem to be from the 2000 & 2002 TDF and he always seems to be climbing (maybe a mountain stage)

Anybody got any ideas??

The left is a Shimano too. It's just not a Flight Deck lever with a front deraileur shifter. If you look at that bike closely you'll see that it has a downtube shifter for the front derailiur.

Weight savings for his climbing bike...I think.

 

[Mampara]

Jstraw, you are correct. That is exactly what it's for and why he uses it.

 

[FRED#1]

Originally posted by Mampara
Jstraw, you are correct. That is exactly what it's for and why he uses it.

ALOT MORE AJUSTMENT WITH THE DOWNTUBE SHIFTER RATHER THAN FLIGHT DECK. WHICH IN TURNS ELIMNATES DERAILIER/ CHAIN RUBBING ON THE REAR COGS.

 

[tafi]

You will find that Ullrich often uses a down tube front shifter on his bikes for the same reason.

 

[king_matt87]

the main reason he use and shimano brake lever and down tube shiffter is that shimaNO offers no fine tuning in the front shifting like Campagnolo and as u can c teh levers r very much a different shape some others ridders running Campagnolo use down tube shifters too but at least teh levers are same size and style all u can c is the is no inside lever but yer lance's levers look poo it's no way helping shimano he only uses 1 lever then again it might b because he can't aford the STI lever on average Campagnolo Ergo($600 levers r $200 AUSD cheaper than shimaNO($800 sti RRP

 

[jstraw]

Originally posted by king_matt87
the main reason he use and shimano brake lever and down tube shiffter is that shimaNO offers no fine tuning in the front shifting like Campagnolo and as u can c teh levers r very much a different shape some others ridders running Campagnolo use down tube shifters too but at least teh levers are same size and style all u can c is the is no inside lever but yer lance's levers look poo it's no way helping shimano he only uses 1 lever then again it might b because he can't aford the STI lever on average Campagnolo Ergo($600 levers r $200 AUSD cheaper than shimaNO($800 sti RRP

What a load of ****. You're right about the differences between the Campy and Shimano front shifter but as for that being the *reason* for Armstrong's setup... bah.

 

[davidbod]

Originally posted by king_matt87
the main reason he use and shimano brake lever and down tube shiffter is that shimaNO offers no fine tuning in the front shifting like Campagnolo and as u can c teh levers r very much a different shape some others ridders running Campagnolo use down tube shifters too but at least teh levers are same size and style all u can c is the is no inside lever but yer lance's levers look poo it's no way helping shimano he only uses 1 lever then again it might b because he can't aford the STI lever on average Campagnolo Ergo($600 levers r $200 AUSD cheaper than shimaNO($800 sti RRP

Nice try, but its for weight savings. In a mountain stage when they go up the mountain they put it in the small chainring and leave it there for the whole climb. Then on the decent they put it in the big chain ring and leave it there for the whole decent. They don't need the fast shifting ability of an STI lever so they bag it for standard brake lever and downtube front shifter purely for weight savings on mountain stages.

 

[mjolnir2k]

Originally posted by king_matt87
the main reason he use and shimano brake lever and down tube shiffter is that shimaNO offers no fine tuning in the front shifting like Campagnolo and as u can c teh levers r very much a different shape some others ridders running Campagnolo use down tube shifters too but at least teh levers are same size and style all u can c is the is no inside lever but yer lance's levers look poo it's no way helping shimano he only uses 1 lever then again it might b because he can't aford the STI lever on average Campagnolo Ergo($600 levers r $200 AUSD cheaper than shimaNO($800 sti RRP

1. Learn to use REAL words...TEH is NOT a word (even on the internet)
2. Ever hear of a little thing called Grammer?
3. You have NO idea about racing, bike set up nor about sponsorship. Lance earned well over $10 million last year. I would imagine if he wanted to run GOLD AND PLATINUM STI levers, he could more than afford to do so.

Think before you post...

 

[zman92atl]

Originally posted by mjolnir2k
1. Learn to use REAL words...TEH is NOT a word (even on the internet)
2. Ever hear of a little thing called Grammer?
3. You have NO idea about racing, bike set up nor about sponsorship. Lance earned well over $10 million last year. I would imagine if he wanted to run GOLD AND PLATINUM STI levers, he could more than afford to do so.

Think before you post...

i are 2 a grajuete!!

 

[king_matt87]

i know what i said before was a bit off the real story but yer a down tube lever is lighter than a STI i'm sure teh cost is no issue, and Campagnolo riders use down tube too as i said but teh livers look teh same so it's hard to tell, but yer i recken shimaNO should make a lever the same shape as there STI 4 lances's comfort

 

[jstraw]

So your saying that it somehow *matters* that the left brake lever *looks* different than an STI lever?

Put down the crack pipe brother.

 

[mjolnir2k]

Originally posted by king_matt87
i know what i said before was a bit off the real story but yer a down tube lever is lighter than a STI i'm sure teh cost is no issue, and Campagnolo riders use down tube too as i said but teh livers look teh same so it's hard to tell, but yer i recken shimaNO should make a lever the same shape as there STI 4 lances's comfort

YOU are TEH biggest moron!

 

[Julian Radowsky]

Originally posted by mjolnir2k
YOU are TEH biggest moron!

Give it up, king_matt87 is a Campagnolo zealot (for the wrong reasons), and his grammar is always atrocious. I get headaches trying to decipher some of his ramblings.

 

[Marky Moon]

Pantani used a FD downtube shifter on his 1998 Campag-equipped bike.

 

[HobieDude16]

i agree with the statement about king matt , not even worth trying to read, its too hard to read, and all his points are so biased towards campy its pointless to read, you wont get any good information from him...

 

[pbook]

Nearly ****** myself reading this thread.

 

[stone61cm]

Reading that, I think a little blood came out of my nose

 

[trekryder]

I threw up just a little...

 

[izzodesh]

Nearly ****** myself reading this thread.

ditto ditto