Originally Posted by
dddd
Friction shifters, even where only a "shorty", 90-degree piece of housing is needed, will still actually benefit noticeably in terms of the shifter's ease of use by using compressionless housing, so any shifting setup will also benefit, especially as the housing ages and accumulates dirt particles along the cable's path.
This doesn't mean you have to use compressionless housing, I'm only saying that it works noticeably better than lined-but-spiral-wound housing.
The good news here, for vintage-riding enthusiats, is that some of the shifting performance that is lost to older, non-slant-parallelogram derailers can be re-gained by using modern housing.
And, in most older Simplex and Shimano derailers, a bit more performance can be found by messing around with the cage pivot spring's tension so as to adjust the derailer's angle (to match the freewheel's size).
........this ^^^. Given the modest price, I cannot imagine why anyone would not treat
themselves to something similar to Jagwire new plastic lined housings and smooth stainless cables.
The performance advantages are easily noticeable. If I'm gonna spend the time and money
and energy overhauling a bike for my own use (which is all I ever do these days), then
the cables and housings all get replaced as part of the package.