travbikeman

Yep:

Grey.

I have indicators but I usually don't need them. When i'm riding I can tell where i'm at from how the bike feels, most people should be pretty familiar with their bike after a few weeks of riding.

Bike Life

I ride 27 speed and after 25 years of riding pretty much know when to upshift or downshift. The shifters I have had the last 2 years are my first ones with indicators and I pay very little attention to them. After reading a few of these other posts I might try removing them to free up some handlebar space.

DBrown9383

Bells should be removed too, they aren't cool.

avidone1

I like em.
On the slx shifter they are small and don't have any numbers but i play around with them.
I'll go into the large chainring and see how it feels with the cassette in one sprocket or another,
then switch chainrings and see how this or that sprocket feels.
I can see how after a while they won't serve any purpose, but having only had the bike a couple of weeks,
we're still getting to know each other.

practical

I pay attention to which gear I'm in and rely on indicators. I have a a system and "feeling" my way isn't good enough. I have Altus shifters on my 9-speed. It originally comes with a "9" and a "1" with a lot of space in between. I made marks for "3", "5" and "7". Like it much better. A vote for shifters with gear indicators.

manc

A handlebar without gear indicators looks a lot neater.
Always think a bike looks like it means business without them.

DBrown9383

Appearance is oh so important!

Grey.

I don't stay in shape for nothing.

AlmostTrick

Not as neat or businesslike as a bike with only one shifter... or better still, none.

2702

I currently have a 32mm gatorskin on the rear and 28mm Turbo pro in the front.
The coda elite can probably fit up to 38mm, 35mm for sure.

Eprobungs

I don't understand why on Earth would anyone need a gear indicator for the front.
There are ONLY 3 gears at most. How hard is that to keep track of?
You can easily judge by your pace and effort to figure out which one you're using.

But, for the rear, I can understand someone having a need for it as there are so many gears nowadays.
Personally I have absolutely no need for an indicator. Never had and never will.
I don't keep track of which exact gear I'm currently in.
Instead I keep track of how many lower gears are left. It's easier that way for me.
BTW, I've never needed a bookmark to keep track of how far I've read any book. So, maybe it's the way I'm wired.

I can never use my past rides as a reference. Past reference is useless to me as
where I ride is quite windy, mostly head wind arrrrgh, and the conditions for each ride is never the same.
My legs would tell me which gear I should be in. It is the one that I can spin without effort(mashing)
and don't spin out. And that gear varies with how fresh my legs are at the particular moment.

I don't mind if shifters come with indicators as long as they can be removed.
As it's the most failure prone part of the shifter. Naturally I remove them if I can.

For each thier own I guess.
If you need it, you need it. If you don't, you don't. Either way is cool with me.

hermanchauw

So that i can return the gear to the starting gear every time.

Wanderer

I don't care what others think - anything that gives me more information, and makes it easier for me, gets my vote.

I like 'em!

ColonelSanders

Thanks.

fietsbob

IGH_ they all fall in a linear sequence , so you just pick the gear-ratio that feels right.

K.I.S,S. ie, keep it simple, stupid..

AlmostTrick

Riding without indicators is too hardcore for me.

My latest, favorite hybrid.

slowpacer

The indicators were sticking out when I installed a Metropolis bar so I took them off.

CliffordK

I have downtube shifters on my old bike... I know I have 6:00, 12:00.... and somewhere in between. I can glance at, or even feel the shifters to determine my approximate gear.

So much for a few decades of progress

One of my bikes has Sora or Claris brifters with a sweeping indicator. Not specific numbers, but the indicator sweeps across the lever. I haven't gotten used to it yet, but it seems nice, and certainly isn't intrusive.

I've been riding with kids some, and they always ask me for NUMBERS of what gear they should be in

Sometimes it is hard to give them a precise number as I always think of terms of max, min, or a little higher, or a little lower, or perhaps somewhere in the middle.

Eprobungs

I see what you did there.

AlmostTrick

Well, the near bravado posted by some for not needing, even NEVER needing anything as silly as gear indicators, while needing stacks of gears front and rear was getting kinda silly. But hey, it's BF and it's all cool. Pedal On!

badger1

Let's keep it going: a third page on gear indicators? Anyone?

Grey.

To my sheer and utter amazement, this topic might make it to the third page, and this is something that I am struggling mightily with to understand.

travbikeman

So does my posting make it to page 3?





Nope.....not going to post another useless post to make it to the next page either!

JonathanGennick 

Are we there yet?