Hi,

slide wrote:
I will surely check things out before replacing anything. Right now I'm
just accepting the lousy shifting figuring it can be fixed even if I'm
unsure just how. I did put the bike on a stand (fixed a flat) and
checked the shifting w/o load. It seemed well adjusted. The problem is
when I'm in the 3-4-5 range the bike will shift itself but not regularly
nor with any fixed input I can determine. Frex, in the past, I've had
bikes maladjusted which will shift when put under load. This auto
shifting doesn't seem tied to any situation I can determine.

Just from a look at the photo, this seems to be cable routing along the
down tube, under the bottom bracket? Just try something: exchange the
cable including the housing of the cable. Route the cable in a
continuous housing from shifter to rear mechanics. You might get rid of
the "ghost shifting" that way, at the cost of more friction in the cable
meaning you'll eat up the extra spring strength quickly - the shifting
will feel really mushy... Don't know exactly what to do... The routing
just seems suspect to feeling mushy due to the extra-long cable...

Also keep in mind that this isn't a recumbent but a CF conventional.
Think of an Electra Townie. I'm supposing that the longer throw to the
rear dérailleur is part of the problem. Also coming off of a Record 10,
I'm probably a bit spoiled in my expectations.

Well, the rear mech works fine by itself, the shifter also, I do suspect
the very long cable run. Ask the tandem users what they do - their
problem is similar...

Have fun!