friction shifters

supersonic

Shimano tried to convince us that rapid rise and DCL shifters were the way forward lol. Then 'reinvented' normally sprung mechs and RF shifters ;-). You can still pick up right hand friction shifters in some places.

Indexed shifters do need setting up precisely, but once done they generally offer trouble free shifting for a long time. As for chains I use the cheapest 9 speed I can find as I do not believe the expensive ones are an improvement.

fnegroni

WGWarburton wrote:

What are you training for out of interest?

Last year it was a non-competitive London-to-Paris. This year just general fitness, in preparation for a competitive London-to-Paris next year.

OK, I do most of my riding on a fixie at the moment, anyway, so precise shifts under load arn't much of a priority :-)

Incidentally, I am playing with the idea of converting the folding bike back to a single speed , to remove the useless derailer...

That's a dubious argument, I feel: A twist with a screwdriver (or often the built-in knob) would fix that. Indexed shifters are far more sensitive to setup in my, admittedly limited, experience.

I think I agree that indexed shifting *can* and *will* be a problem if not adjusted correctly.
But I found that, over the years, the component quality has vastly improved and nowadays my rear derailer needs at most a half turn adjustment of the barrel every 1,000 miles, and just about as many shifts... (and, I must add, that's because I am picky and don't like the chain rubbing at all. On the commuter, I adjust the derailer once every 2000 miles)

I was not convinced too initially.

But I am now making the most of this: I shift maybe more than other riders (at least the ones that I know), I have somehow learned to keep as constant a cadence as possible... I am even tempted to fit a triple at the front just to ensure my cadence can be kept up, but so far I haven't had the need to.

Of course we can all disagree and still be amicable! ;-)

Bugly

Biggest single improvement on bike handling, safety and ergonomics was placing the shifters on the brake levers - nothing and nobody will convince me otherwise.

realALBERTAN

but Di2 self adjusts in the front...