Originally Posted by
5matt
Thanks guys, I wondered about the size of the chainring teeth but didn't think about spacing or finickiness. I didn't want to waste a shimano chain pin if there was no way it would work, but I may give it a try. My skills with friction are rusty, last used in '99, and then only five speed! The front wheel is not overly heavy and the bike itself is reasonably light, the freewheel is a boat anchor though. ....
Last year I built up an old steel frame with a modern 8/9/10 speed hubbed wheel. I bought a set of the Gran Compe ENE shifters (equivalent versions available from Velo Orange, Ben's Cycle, and other places) which are pretty well regarded retro-friction ratchet type shifters. I think they're based on the Suntour shifters everyone likes and function the same as the Dia compe version which look a little different.
I used the bike with three different wheels I had on hand or borrowed - one each with 8, 9 and 10 speed cassettes for grins.
The friction shifting was OK with the 8 speed - it worked well, it didn't take long for me to "remember" friction shifting and the shifts stayed in place.
The 9 speed seemed OK at first - I was able to hit the shifts pretty well, but there was a tendency for inaccuracy because of the fine spacing needed. Most of the time it worked fine, but a lot of times it required some trimming/fiddling to get it, and sometimes the gear would ghost shift soon after I thought I had the shift made. This isn't a huge deal when riding alone, but if riding with others, it might be a serious problem. 10 speed- yea, you can shift it, but it's tough to get smooth and quick and accurate.
If this bike were an "island", I might have set it up with 8 speed wheel and friction shifters . But I didn't own any 8 speed cassettes and have several 9 speed, and two other 9 speed bikes, so compatability won out.
I got a set of 9 speed indexed Shimano downtube shifters from ebay and they really work well with the 9 speed Sram and Shimano cassettes and it's fun to ride a downtube shifting bike with indexed shifters. I "grew up" with friction shifting and used it from the early 70s until the mid 90s. I get the retro-grouch thing, but indexed shifting is just so much more fun and easy (for me).
The indexed shifters weren't cheap, but worth it for this particular bike expecially considering I already had cassettes and didn't have to buy a new 8 speed one. You might find 9 speed indexed Shimano bar-end shifters for quite a bit less. on ebay.
I believe you can also find pretty cheaper 8 speed indexed downtube shifters. If you don't mind buying and setting up an 8 speed cassette wheel, the spacing's the same for the rear triangle. But if all you want to do is switch in an existing 9 speed wheel, I'd look into finding some indexed DT or BE shifters, I think you'll be frustrated with friction shifting that many sprockets.
Good luck!