I finally took my '82 Trek 614 out on its maiden voyage today. This was my first time ever using downtube shifters and the first time I'd used rear friction shifting since about 1986. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty. (Well, the bike was pretty...me riding it was not.) After a few miles riding it like it was a singlespeed I gave in and tried to shift. Just reaching for the shifter I wobbled all over the road. I moved it into approximately the gear I wanted and was greeted with chain racket, which it took me another 15 minutes to figure out was because I had the front derailleur in a bad position. By the end of the ride I felt like I was starting to get the hang of it, but this is clearly going to take some practice.

So now a question: I assume that most people shift less with a setup like this (2x6 + friction) and just the wider gaps of the rear cogs would mean less shifting, but just how much less often do you (yes, you) shift with this kind of a setup as opposed to an indexed 2x11 kind of bike?

vvv Gratuitous picture to make the thread worthwhile