Laughing at myself using friction shifting.
 

I took my '81 Miyata 1000 out for it's first real ride. Now my first real bike was a Schwinn Prelude with indexed shifting, so I never really had to learn to use friction shifters. I took the Miyata out for her shakedown ride and to figure out what finishing touches the bike needed. The Miyata has bar-end shifters and here I go trying to find the gears sweet spots on this bike set up with a granny gear and a half-step. I'm tweeking shifters on the left and right not knowing which one was making that awful grinding noise,lol. I started doing better as the miles ticked off, and I'm getting better at how to feather those Suntour shifters. I'm just glad no one from here was with me today, Y'all would have had a good laugh.

Still Learning
Mutt

I hear you. But after riding more, believe it or not, I actually like them now. I like to look at friction shifting as an art ;)

I'd never used friction shifting (or bar end shifters for that matter) until really recently either. After using the setup for a while, I actually kind of prefer it for road riding. I've even gotten to know the setup well enough that I know about how much I have to move the shifter to get the derailleur to kick over to the next gear without having to "tune" it.

Stick with it, you'll probably find yourself feeling the same way soon.

I like them too. It's much more "in tune" with the bike itself.

The last time I used friction shifting was in the eighties on my then new Schwinn World Sport. A really lost art that once you fine tune, it can help a lot (esp. because you can "jump" gears if necessary pretty fast). Pretty similar to driving a manual transmission car.

After a while, you'll know whether to adjust up or down just by the sound...

Very true - I was just thinking the same thing the other day while out riding. The other thing you get used to is the quiet precision of friction shifting after you've mastered it. Once you get back on an index shifting bike the "chlink" sound seems kind of weird.

That being said, it seems like friction shifting is a little pickier when it comes to grime in your drive train. Friction starts getting real old when ghost shifting comes into play.

Oh, yeah...
you gotta be fairly meticulous about cleaning and lubricating your drive train with friction... ghost shifting is one thing, a dropped and stuck chain at 35 mph downhill is another ;)

If it makes you feel any better, back in the 70's what you're describing was what EVERY new cyclist went through upon purchasing his first 10-speed. During the Presque Isle Bicycle Club Sunday rides, a couple of us would mill about up and down the line helping out newbies on the slight adjustments since they usually couldn't tell where the noises were coming from.

You know you're fully acclimated when you've got five different friction shifting bikes, and can hit any shift dead on, on any bike, on any day.

Ghost shifting? Never had the problem. You just get into the habit of slightly overshifting, then immediately backing off on the lever as soon as the shift is complete (if you're using SunTour rachets, one click is enough).

Friction shifting with a hyper glide freewheel is really really nice. Super smooth and really quiet. Friction shifting on an atom freewheel, that is when it becomes a skill!

From a maintenance point of view, friction shifting is great. Easy to adjust and no more worries about your new shifter's indexing matching the derailleur. Plus, it's so easy to trim the front derailleur.

I didn't realize how far behind I was. I've never owned a bike with indexed shifting. I did rent a 5 speed bike last Summer that had a poor quality twist grip indexed shifter.

If you really like friction shifting, find a set of retro-friction shifters or micro-ratcheting shifters.

All I've ever had was down tube friction shifters. As I'm not racing I don't need the shifter/brake lever jeesters. Son has them & I don't need that many moving parts. Mine does everything I need 'em to do at a fraction of the cost and complexity. I'm sure if I was 30 years younger I wouldn't be able to imagine how one could ride a bike with archaic components.

I also carry a 1911 and ride an airhead Beemer.

all my bikes have friction shifting, and i ride with headphones 100% of the time. i don't adjust by sound, only by feel (and sight). i trim the FD on almost every shift.

Which means you're totally conversant with the concept of simple, classic and effective. Give me those two, money for gas, and a couple of waterproof panniers, and I'll see you in San Francisco in four days.

You shouldn't have to do that much trimming, you can set it up to reduce that.

Well if friction shifting is an art I'm still using crayons.

Mutt

Friction is fun when you get used to it. As others have said the new hyperglide pattern freewheels making shifting so easy. The main advantage is having a damn near silent front derailleur. Good luck. It gets to be a very rewarding experience.

+1 on the Friction Shift Love. :love:

Sometimes when riding, I don't bother to trim the derailleur into the sweet spot, especially when I know I'll be shifting again soon. It used to drive me nuts and I was really anal about it, but now I just shift the way I feel like. Sometimes clean, sometimes noisy.

Vee Aye to Cee Aye in 4 days?

Darn...

Even better is to use a 10speed cassette with friction. The spacing is so narrow you never end up between gears. And it is truly dead silent, even more quiet than indexed. No clicking sounds.

Tough ride, that one. From Raleigh to Colorado Springs in 2 days on a 1968 CB450 about killed me.

You can make it from Co to Ca in less than 24 hours. If you drive right. ;)


Also, I don't think anything shifts with a more satisfying "kla-dunk" than the changes between gears on 5 speed schwinn suburban. It's nothing short of amazing watching a Huret Alvit shifting chain between those huge gears, and the sound it makes too.

ok. THAT requires a sound track, so here you go:


but I thought that the OP did that with a non-motorized bike... but the "$ for gas" should have been a dead give away... That's a brutal ride and I am probably going to ride it next summer (PA to San Diego, southern route, sue me, I prefer desert to mountains) and I am budgeting 21 days with a support truck on my heels.

Thinkin' about that brings back some memories of that '76 R90/6, the 6 gallon fuel tank, red, good set of Metzlers on the rims . . . . . . 30 years ago now. Had that one for the long haul, and a brand new '79 T140E Bonneville for local bar hoppin' and raising hell.

Getting back to friction shifters: Now, at the risk of sticking a jarring note into this lovefest, I do have to admit that, after 28 years out of cycling, and a massive re-education in less than a year once I got back; that brifters are about the only bit of modern technology that I actually consider a significant improvement over their 30 year old predecessors. Just about everything else, for a dedicated non-racer like me, is marginal improvement.

Just the same, thinking about what's currently hanging in the garage: 4 bikes with friction, either downtube or bar end; 1 indexed downtube, 3 brifters, 1 handlebar trigger (mtb), 2 indexed handlebar (both mtb), 1 single speed. Yeah, that about says it all . . . . . . . . . and the next 2-3 projects are either friction or downtube indexed. And given their non-repairability, there's no way I'll use brifters on a long-haul bagger.