I would like to live in your area so you cold compare your STI or Ergo indexed shifters with my downtube friction shifters. They are so smooth, that I replaced my modern mountain bicycle the indexed SRAM shifter by some friction shifters that I found on a 15 year old children's bicycle.

But please fellows, do not think that I do not like modern bike technology, I love it. I also use modern technology on my bicycles and thanks to modern technology I can now afford a small collection of classic lugged racing bicycles like Bertin, Colnago, Nishiki, Bottecchia and this is just the beginning!