I have Retroshifts, with the Retroshift (rebranded-microshift) 9sp shifters. I love the fact that front shifting is friction. (on my previous bike, with a tiagra triple, I could never get the indexing just right). The 9sp rear is indexed only, and I wish I had paid a little bit more for dura-ace shifters, so I could play around with swapping between friction and index. Some day I'll upgrade -- or maybe 'downgrade' to something like SunTour power or retrofriction if I find a cheap pair on eBay that will fit on standard bosses.

Because the lever detents are on the opposite end of the cable , from the devise they operate,
lots of problems arise putting action and reaction , out of synch, and need adjustment .
usually off the bike ..

30+ years of using <C> friction and Suntour-ratchet/friction levers and the shifting issues are few ,
and the small adjustment is with the lever in your hand, made every time you shift ..

Kept it simple, LBS sells and repairs the latest gismo 9/10/ speed stuff, I work (part time) there,
I just don't use it, personally.. [exception S-A 3 speed, has clicks in the bar lever ]

Well on the cold mornings lately I've noticed my 105 9spd brifters are getting a little sluggish, probably need
a good cleaning and lube, but with probably 15,000 miles I'm thinking indexed bar ends which I've had on
other bikes. With the option of switching to friction you have the best of.both worlds.

I have two primary bikes for commuting. The winter bike has bar end friction shifters. It typically takes two rides before I remember I'm not using brifters. I don't find either system superior or inferior, just different. I will say that with lobster gloves on, I've found the bar end setup a bit easier to use.

Grip Shifter never need WD-40. The mechanism is simple and doesn't usually jam like an STI can.

Index shifters (road and mountain) in my experience don't "crap out" after 5 or 6 seasons. I've been using index shifting since the early 90s and I've only had one shifter fail to the point where I couldn't get it to work. Even at the coop I work at, the failure rate of index shifters is very low. We see almost everything from the newest shifters...haven't seen any electronic ones...to the first generation Shimano and seldom do we see a shifter that has worn out.

Are you saying I should forego the WD-40 and just pray harder?

In the late 70's-early 80's, I had a Ross Professional Gran Tour II, with stem mounted Shimano Fingertip friction shifters, I loved the way they worked.
Fast forward to 2008. Hadn't rode since '85 or '86. Decided to start again. Bought a brand new Kona Fire Mountain, it had indexed Rapid Fire shifters. They were nice. One morning I noticed moisture in the indicator window, I decided that wouldn't be a good thing in the winter, so I decided to go with friction shifters. Had some Suntour bar mounted ones. I didn't like them as much as I had liked the Fingertip shifters. I decided to get a set of the Shimano Fingertip shifters. I had to modify them so that I could mount them on a headset spacer. I am loving them again.

LOL, so you saw some moisture in the "window", and decided to go for something else entirely? It's not like that part of the shifter is supposed to be evacuated or in a vacuum. It's just a plastic cover to allow you to see which gear it is in.

I figured that if there was moisture in there, then there was a possibility for the mechanism to freeze.

depends on what type of shifter you are looking for (7/8 are pretty inexpensive on amazon) and of course the bar end shifters (I agree with a previous poster about stem shifters... I like them and they should bring them out for 8 speed [maybe 9/10?]...)

Come on, who wouldn't think their capacity to reason trumps nearly 30 years of actual index shifting use over billions of miles by millions of people in every corner of the globe? ROFLMAO is right.

I never went to Index on my commuter... I have Index on other bikes, but not the commuter... and I am quite fine with it.

Pondering swapping the rear to STI, the front will definitely stay friction that works great. Weather's been warmer but still icey and I took the commuter out for training. For beating around the city being out of an ideal cadence for an extra 3 seconds every now and then doesn't matter at all and the simplicity is worth the tradeoff - but for a good hard ride I miss being able to shift while standing and when pushing past 25mph I definitely would like to keep 2 hands on the bars.

Course, with that said the STI shifters are already mounted so swapping back and forth as needed will be a piece of cake so long as the cable doesn't get frayed.

Yes, you should forego the WD-40 on Grip Shifters. There's nothing inside a Grip Shifter that can benefit from it. If anything, it would be detrimental to the shifter. There is a gob of grease inside the shifter to lubricate what needs lubrication and the solvent would was it out. The solvent might even have a detrimental effect on the plastic of the shifter.

As for the prayer, you can do that as much as you please. Personally, I'd pray that a replacement shifter falls out of the sky to replace the Grip Shift.

Happen to have friction Retroshifts on my commuter bike, but it wouldn't make any difference to me if it were index. The shifting demands of riding around town are just not demanding enough for the type of shifting to matter (to me).

I guess you are not a fan of the Grip Shift?

I didn't think anybody was, until I saw that the top-end SRAM X11 (1x11) mtn group offers a grip-shifting option (or trigger). I was told there are some who swear by grips; me? They lost me the first time a bump from my hand caused an unintended shift.

Also, they are extremely common on kids' bikes, but my smallest doesn't have enough grip strength to downshift when he needs it. I replaced his grips with a pair of these (left/front is friction)

I used to absolutely detest grip-shifters when I was riding a lot of single-track and like RubeRad would have unintended shifts, sometimes dangerously so.

I started tolerating grip-shifters in the wintertime because they're easy to use with big gloves/mittens and IME they tend to be reliable mechanically.

while Im not exactly a fan, I don't have a problem with them... I also did see the higher end grip shifters because of this thread, which I thought were interesting.

I prefer friction and have D/A bar-cons on my Fantom CX. But I ride singlespeed most of the time anyway and as such do not shift at all. :)

I'm on my third bike with Grip Shift twist shifters, and like 'em just fine.

I also use thumb shifters, indexed down tube shifters, STI, Ergopower, and friction stem mount stem shifters in the fleet without difficulty, so I'm quite adaptable.

I look for old steel on Craigslist for all my commuter gear. Friction is one huge reason why.
I look at index as the single worst 'improvement' to bikes in my lifetime :)

There is definitely a skill to be mastered in friction shifting...

...which apparently some can savor for a lifetime! :p

But then, I'm also a Unix guy... I enjoy a challenge once in a while?

Never met a mechanic who was;)

It's not the mechanism...it's simple enough...it the cable routing that is usually the problem. Trying to get the shifter back together after you've replaced the cable can be difficult, especially with the versions that loop the cable around the shifter before exiting to the derailer.