Originally Posted by
old and new
Ratcheting/ indexed shifers work as described above. Stem shifters work fine, the subject arrises daily here so you may want to search the threads.
However, I've never seen ratcheting stem shifters, only down tube ones. If they exist I suppose that they're good. I find friction, both down tube and stem, better than OK myself.
Got a pair of NOS ratcheting stem shifters off e-bay by mistake (thought from the photo they were band-on downtube ones). They were marketed by Emmelle (Moore-Large Limited) in the UK. I put them on a ladie's MTB I flipped out to a work colleague and she thinks they are brilliant, much easier for her to work than thumbshifters or twist grips.