I prefer friction, as well. The only real major improvement to a bike's drivetrain, in my opinion, is cassettes over freewheels. Guess what? You can still use friction on cassettes, and upgrade while the rest is pretty much untouched. I've ridden brand-new Ultegra STI, and it's very nice, but I just don't see getting rid of my downtube friction unless I was racing, which I'm not. That's a whole lot of money for not much improvement.