Classic & Vintage - Should i go with indexed or friction shifters?

Well, there is more to it than just that.

I am fixing up i early/mid 80's cambio rino bike that came with Shimano Exage SIS shifters. They are these ugly chunky grey plastic things, although I can really appreciate the ease of indexed without having to fiddle with the shifters while riding.

The other option is my dad is allowing me to cannabilize some parts off his old dawes galaxy from the mid 70's. This bike has Shimano crane (which i understand to be pre-dura ace?) shifters that are quite sleek looking.

Now, Im not totally bike savvy, and have never had to work on indexed systems before, and are worried they will give me trouble.

advice?

You can find some early SIS downtube shifters, that aren't nasty.

Indexed is not any harder to work on than friction shifters. I would keep it indexed if it is already set up for it, might as well enjoy the modern convenience and see if you like it.

Were you planing on changing derailleurs also?

I would not cannabalize the Dawes, especially if it is your size. that being said I agree with the other post, just find some nicer index levers. you can always just use them in friction mode.

Many down tube indexed shifters can, with the flip of a switch, be changed to friction shifters. What is important is that you match your shifters to your derailleur and freewheel.

As mentioned, the indexed system is more user friendly, however; I do not find them as easy to adjust as friction ones. Not that they are impossible to set-up, they just require a bit more precision when tuning.

Hope that is a help.

Those exage shifters are better than any DT indexing lever Campy ever made. Although they have no coolness factor they work well and cna be converted to friction with the simple twist of a D-ring.

what he said.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

One thing i did not mention though, the derailleur, freewheel and shifters are not matching. Although they all did seem to work well enough together before I disassembled the bike

The derailleur is an old dura-ace derailleur, looks to be from the early 80's (although that is just a guess).

Also the dawes galaxy is already missing a few pieces and isn't set up to ride, and unfortunately also is not in my size.

I would take shimano indexed over friction any day. Once you get it adjusted it just works so amazingly well and reliably.

I would love the option to go indexed or friction but since i absolutely hate the feel of shimano bar cons i'm going friction only.

Similar to the OP, I'm in the same situation. I have a set of the Shimano 600 SIS derailleur, shifters, and freewheel. First set they made, early to mid 1980s. How noisy is indexed shifting supposed to be? I spent the better part of an hour adjusting it, and it's still not that smooth. Even on friction, there is still a mild amount of grinding.

Before you ask, I've got the right chain width (7.4mm), chain length (used the Park formula as well as just measuring the old chain), new cable, and the housing is SIS.

Oh, and to the OP: if you can get indexed to work smoothly, go for it. no matter how good you are at trimming, it's always better to just flip a switch. Working on indexed is not that hard, especially when there's only one adjuster barrel.

Similar to the OP, I'm in the same situation. I have a set of the Shimano 600 SIS derailleur, shifters, and freewheel. First set they made, early to mid 1980s. How noisy is indexed shifting supposed to be? I spent the better part of an hour adjusting it, and it's still not that smooth. Even on friction, there is still a mild amount of grinding.

Before you ask, I've got the right chain width (7.4mm), chain length (used the Park formula as well as just measuring the old chain), new cable, and the housing is SIS.

Oh, and to the OP: if you can get indexed to work smoothly, go for it. no matter how good you are at trimming, it's always better to just flip a switch. Working on indexed is not that hard, especially when there's only one adjuster barrel.

In my experience that generation of 600 has OK index shifting but it's not great. I ran mine in friction. The 7 speed 600 is a huge step up. Shimano's indexing just got better with time, by the 90's when exage was out pretty much everything worked perfectly.