BikeEveryday

Are Friction Shifters Compatible With All Speeds?

Bianchigirll 

Yes. However the size of the barrel of the shifter, the part the cable spools around, may limit you.

Chombi1 

The very popular Simplex Retrofrictions can accommodate up to seven speeds with most rear derailleurs......
But lever swing will be close to max in some instances.....
Forget trying to do eight speeds and higher with them.

thinktubes 

I'm able to do 8 speeds with Shimano 6-speed shifters set to index.

John E

There are other options which can handle 8 speeds just fine. For example, I currently run a 7-speed indexed thumb shifter in friction mode on my mountain bike, which now has an 8-speed cassette. SunTour downtube levers, with their fairly large barrels, pull enough cable to swing most derailleurs across 8 or 9 cogs.

T-Mar

Friction levers will work with any cog spacing. However, depending on the friction lever, derailleur and cogset combination you may not have the necessary travel to shift across all the cogs. It all depends on the diameter of the shift lever barrel (which determines the maximum cable pull), the cable pull to travel ratio of the rear derailleur and the total travel across the cogset.

bikemig 

dia compe ene shifters are 8, 9, 10 compatible

https://www.diacompe.com.tw/product/downtube/

Salamandrine 

^^^ There's also a new version with a larger barrel for 11 speeds.

jamesdak 

The Simplex shifters on my mid 80s Orbea Cabestany are currently working really well at shifting an Ultegra 9 speed RD over a Campagnolo 10 speed cassette. It seems to honestly be my best friction shifting setup.

squirtdad

I have cheapy sunrace thumb shifters working fine with 8 speed on a 1x8 setup..been a while since i set the bike up, took a little work as I recall, but not too bad.

once you get up to 10/11 speed opinion varies (based on posts, I have no personal experience) as to whether friction becomes less practical due to decreasing space between cogs

fietsbob

Yes, But.. because the spacing has tightened up, to pack in more speeds in a limited space,
as those numbers increased your hand skill had to be more precise

Front shifting is pretty fool resistsant.. so the Bar End Shifters from many companies only index the rear.




10 years with several tours over that time 6 by 3 drivetrain friction bar end shifters always worked.







....

IVARR

those aren't ugly ...

jamesdak 

You know to be totally honest I haven't found this to be the case with the Orbea I posted about above. It is certainly my most precise shifting setup. Maybe because of a number of factors but it is so much easier to run those 10 gears than my other 6 speed friction setups. Maybe because of the short throw??

My other friction shifters are Dura Ace 7400 setups, a beautiful Superbe Pro setup and then one lower end Suntour setup.

fietsbob

Sun tour power ratchet bar ends have worked fine for over 35 years..

T-Mar

Or maybe because you're using an SIS derailleur with a floating Centeron pulley that compensates for slight misalignments.

canklecat

The SunRace SLM10 thumbie has enough throw for my Univega's triple -- used it to replace a balky Shimano shifter. Haven't used the right side SunRace thumbie for the rear derailer since the Shimano indexed shifter works fine.

Iride01 

I had a similar question too a while back. I went out and marked the cables of both my 11 speed with Shimano 5800 STI levers and the friction levers on the down tube of my seven speed with Campy. The campy levers at full travel would not pull anywhere near the cable of my other bike. So unfortunately I couldn't hook them up to an 11 speed Shimano DR to see the strange looks people would give.

Of course different friction levers might pull different amounts. It's easy enough to measure if you have some to play with. You might have to loosen the cable from the derailleur to get full travel from your shift levers on the down tube.

artclone

FWIW, I have a Campy Synchro II lever that shifts a Superbe Pro RD over a pretty wide-range Campy Record 10-speed cassette just fine in friction mode.

Barrettscv 

I have a Suntour Barcon shifters combined with a Campagnolo 9-speed cassette and 7-speed Shimano Deore derailleurs. I'm very satisfied with the overall performance.

machinist42

No!

They tend to wreck havoc on single speed systems.

(Someone had to say it.)

BikeEveryday

Lmao

CliffordK

I run friction shifters on 9s. I think they shift easier than with the vintage 5x2 freewheels with less chattering.

Currently running 1st generation Campy levers + Ultegra (6500?) rear derailleur. Adjustment gives me pretty much tube to tube range of motion.

10s should have about the same cable pull as 9s.

I haven't tried 11s, but may have to try a different rear derailleur. I think the Campy derailleurs pull less cable, and thus should have better range of motion.

AZORCH

I run 10 speed down tube friction shifters on my recently built up L'Avecaise. Absolutely no problems whatsoever with my set up.

jamesdak 

Well maybe, but I was thinking it was just because I was THE MAN with friction shifters!

I'm actually sure your are right but I'll also say that there's a smooth, lightness to these shifters that give me a wonderful feel as I use them. Then again, it's also running new cables and housings which probably effect that also.

79pmooney

My best bike has Campy 9-speed with a Mirage derailleur that requires a lot of cable pull. Using the SunTour top-mounted DT friction shifters (the race version with longish levers and no auto-trim) I have to haul the lever almost all the way back to get low gear. But the shifting is superb. We would have died for it 40 years ago. (SunTour Cyclones required a lot less lever travel with the 9-speed. Further back than on the old days, but nothing unusual.) I haven't tried it, but I am sure a SunTour Power shifter (the ratchet shifter) would do just fine with both of these derailleurs and 9-speed.

Ben