Suntour power ratchet stem shifters shifting like crud.
I decided to replace the downtube shifters on a late-70s Dawes Galaxy with a Suntour VGT-Luxe RD and a 14-32 rear cluster with some stem shifters to make it more of a city bike. I found a used set of stem-mounted Power Ratchet shifters, and picked them up because I really like the power ratchet function on my old barcon bar-end shifters.
The problem is that since switching to these shifters, I skip gears a lot more and when I do find the right gear it sometimes "jumps" on the sprocket like it's trying to downshift but doesn't quite make it. I've got all new cables and housing, and I cut them nice and clean with no sharp bends, so I don't think that's the problem.
Do the stem shifters just not work as nice as the bar ends or downtube shifters? Could something else be the problem? Even with the down-tube shifters the bike only shifted into the 4th cog with very careful finagling, but now it's worse.