Awhile again I lamented the demise of mechanical Shimano Ultegra, and now the opinions are in for the newest electronic-only model of the World’s Most Boring Bicycle Transmission:

Unsurprisingly, it seems like it really works nice–it’s Ultegra in any case, and a part of what makes it so mind-numbingly boring is how effectively it’s at all times labored. (If you’d like thrilling you go for Compagnolo, as a result of clunky, hard-to-push buttons imply “Italian ardour!”) Additionally, I had an earlier model of digital Ultegra, I by no means had a single drawback with it, and as somebody who sat up and drifted off the again of the pack years in the past my ideas on how Shimano goes about designing the newest model of its racing merchandise are fully irrelevant anyway.

I imply certain, the thought of getting to make use of an app to regulate a derailleur as an alternative of turning a screw barely fills me with terror:

My preliminary notes on the app had been that it was buggy and complicated. Again and again the app crashed earlier than totally connecting. At one level I attempted an older pill to see if an older model of Android can be extra steady. It was not and I apprehensive I’d find yourself with a “bricked” system like many reviewers on the Play Retailer. Finally, I managed to attach and replace the firmware on all of the items of the system. From there the entire expertise modified. I haven’t skilled a single crash since then. 

As soon as issues had been working easily, I used to be capable of get to the explanation I opened the app within the first place. I used to be experiencing a tiny little bit of chain rub on the entrance derailleur within the 21 tooth cog of the cassette. I wanted to micro-adjust the place of the derailleur. 

Then once more, at this level in my life modifications of any sort fill me with terror. Additionally, I can definitely bear in mind attempting to tweak a derailleur drivetrain as a younger bike owner and failing miserably, so that is complete factor might be far more user-friendly, objectively talking. If something, my contempt for a drivetrain you may alter by way of a telephone app might be simply rooted in spite: “If I had to determine which option to flip these silly screws, then they need to should do it too!”

Then there’s the “multishift”–or what within the analog days was referred to as “friction mode:”

There are additionally choices for organising multishift and synchronisation. Multishift is the flexibility to carry down the buttons for steady motion throughout the cassette and synchro shifting will be both full synchro or partial. Within the multishift setting, you may set what number of gears it should transfer by once you maintain the buttons in addition to how briskly it should transfer. Relating to synchro shifting, full synchro implies that you solely have to fret about shifting up and down the rear cassette, and the system takes care of deciding when meaning shifting the entrance derailleur. Semi synchro means once you change the entrance derailleur, the rear will transfer a few sprockets in the other way to take care of the same cadence.   

That’s all tremendous, however I admit to be deeply suspicious of the automated entrance shifting characteristic, as a result of when you’ve surrendered management of your entrance chainring, your private property and particular person liberties will quickly comply with, till ultimately you’re simply Zwifting away for all eternity in a goo-filled pod:

Computerized entrance shifting, single-ring street drivetrains…oh, certain, they’ll say it’s about efficiency and reliability, but it surely’s actually about management:

Certainly, the one factor that makes me extra suspicious than the plot towards entrance shifting is the marketing campaign of worry round manufacturing unit chain lubricant:

These of us within the enterprise of constructing totally optimized race chains do a break-in run with manufacturing unit grease as a part of full race optimization prep – however that may be a very completely different course of to going and driving your bike with manufacturing unit grease on the chain. It’s a managed run (energy and time) in an especially clear setting, for a selected function as a part of the prep.

Exterior of that very particular course of: DO NOT — I repeat DO NOT — go away on manufacturing unit grease except your particular intention is on your chain to have a dramatically shorter lifespan vs in the event you had cleaned it off to run a confirmed prime lubricant selection.

When you see anybody, anyplace selling leaving on manufacturing unit grease as the very best factor, or that eradicating manufacturing unit grease is a mistake – please assist me kill this zombie that simply gained’t die, and diplomatically refer them to this column.

Jeez, get a grip!

Yo don’t want to offer it the “Silkwood” remedy, simply put it on and experience. It’s a bicycle chain, for chrissakes, not a spent gasoline rod!

Lastly, it appears as if Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who has referred to as for “breaking the automotive tradition,” appears to bending it repeatedly however to no avail:

Brooklyn’s staunchly anti-car Borough President Antonio Reynoso copped to driving with an expired registration and parking with an expired city-issued parking allow — after Twitter sleuth @placardabuse posted images of his darkish gray Nissan Rogue parked in entrance of a sidewalk ramp exterior Borough Corridor.

“Hello @BKBPReynoso. Is that this your automotive, with the expired @nysdmv registration, utilizing an expired @NYCCouncil placard?” @placardabuse posted on Twitter Friday night time, together with images of the parked automobile and its Metropolis Council-issued placard and plates.

“Sure, that’s my unhealthy, genuinely,” Reynoso tweeted in response the following morning.

As he additional defined:

It’s definitely simplistic to counsel that as a result of Reynoso has a automotive and makes errors with it this by some means invalidates the nice factors he makes about driving within the metropolis, so it can save you your “Get Out Of Hypocrisy Jail Free” card as a result of that’s not what I’m saying:

Nonetheless, his response raises extra questions than it solutions. Why maintain the automotive if it’s not solely “seldom used,” however the “bane of [his] existence”? As an elected official within the public eye, wouldn’t divesting himself of it not solely simplify his life however bolster his trigger and enhance his political forex? Advocates definitely referred to as de Blasio to account for his SUV use regularly:

“I do keep in contact with what individuals are going by,” the mayor insisted at present, “and I knew it for years and years as a result of for years and years I by no means even had any automotive.”

But oddly that very same outlet selected to not cowl this story, citing his bewildering tweet:

Although it’s value nothing the one that wrote the Streetblog article about de Blasio additionally co-wrote the Publish article about Reynoso.

Anyway, there’s definitely no sense or the Aristocracy in shaming folks only for the sake of it, and there’s nothing flawed with Reynoso proudly owning a automotive if that’s what he’s into. Nonetheless, it does appear each truthful and productive for an outlet like Streetsblog to ask why he sticks with this automotive that he hates, particularly given his emotions about automobiles and town, and why it’s so laborious to maintain the registration present and to park it legally. In line with “How’s My Driving?,” he has extra tickets prior to now 5 years on the automotive he not often makes use of than I’ve had proudly owning and street-parking a automotive in New York Metropolis for just about my complete grownup life–and that’s with a city-issued parking placard. A frank dialog about how that even occurs looks like it would yield some perception into find out how to really tackle town’s automotive issues, as an alternative of giving people who find themselves already skeptical of all this automotive tradition criticism but one more reason to dismiss all of it as BS.

In any other case, if even the one who cleared Borough Corridor of automobiles (and whose repute is on the road as a public official) provides little extra perception than “that’s my unhealthy,” why would we count on higher habits from anybody else?