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Old 02-17-08, 04:15 PM
  #15  
Camilo
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I think the things that grip shifters and some simple thumb shifters have in common are:

The gear "number" is easy to see. Almost anyone understands that "1" is a lower gear than "6" and can easlily learn, if they don't already know, that lower gears are for going up hills, higher gears for going faster.

The way to make the gears go lower or higher is simple or straight forward. You simply move the shifter (thumb or twist) to the number you want to be at. With rapid fire, brifters and other two lever designs, the novice or occasional user has to relearn to move one lever to shift to a lower gear, the other to shift to the higher gear. And worse: they are opposite for front and rear.

I don't think friction vs. index is nearly as important to a beginner/sporadic user than the above. Also, they don't want to have to understand the difference in gear effect of front wheel size vs the opposite effect in the rear. Dare I say, some not only don't want to, but can't?

As I said before, most of us think this is trivial. I've been using derailleur bikes since the early 70s when they were all downtube friction shifters. I've used friction downtube, index downtube, bar-end, thumb, various flavors of rapid-fire type, and now brifters. I may be a dope but the first time I ride the bike in the spring (whether it's the MTB or road), I have to quickly relearn the shifting pattern.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that simple thumb shifters, and even more so twist shifters with clear numbers are the way to go for anyone who is just starting to ride and/or wants or needs the absolute most straight forward way to operate the gears.

My pie in the sky wish is that somehow drivetrains could be operated with one shifter with the current ranges of gears. Whether the entire range was from one shift point (e.g. a 15 speed rear hub with a range similar to a triple front w/ say, 8 speed rear) or that shifter operated a microchip that shifted front and rear cogs appropriately, I don't care. The shift jumps wouldn't have to be as close as some of us would like, or as versitile, but the range is important.
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