On my smooth hound I have indexed bar end shifters, and when it first went a bit out of whack, I set it to be friction-shifting only* as I figured I'd adjust it when the weekend came. I know I can make it index properly again, but I honestly don't miss it on that bike. The friction shifting on that works absolutely great.

Now, since I got my Bullitt with Alfine 11s, I don't use the smooth hound much, and on the Bullitt, I use the normal index shifting which I rather like too.

Even if I like the friction shifting on the smooth hound, I very much doubt I would like friction shifters on the down tube or anything like that, and if I were to choose between the two bikes, the IGH and indexed shifter will win the game.




*It's just a miniature bail handle one has to twist to select between friction/index shifting