...but nothing is as easy to dial in than the old friction down-tube shifters. :p

I recently picked- up an 80's Univega that I plan on pimping out as a commuter bike and I lovedthe simplicity of the friction shifters on it. No annoying chain rub or accidental upshifting exists because of the simplicity of the action and you can trim the front and rear derailleurs down to the mm. :)

Modern brifters are great for power-shifting in a race but as for touring or casual riding, those old down-tubers are heaven!

Anybody else agree with me on this?
http://i2.ebayimg.com/01/i/06/3b/63/b6_1_sbl.JPG

Hey,

Aren't you that "Steel is Real, and Carbon/Ti/Aluminum sucks guy?"

;)

Cool indeed...but what about friction bar-ends too? Now that's cool for a 'muter bike. I want to get some badly for my work bike.

I just got a bike (2 bikes actually) in the last 6 months that are my first experience with brifters. I really do like them - but I totally agree about the chainrub thing (I can only acess 1/2 my rear cassette from each ring before I start to get rubbing (I need to tweak something I guess). I did ride a campy brifter bike recently and really appriciated the ability to tweak the FD from the brifter - as opposed to my ultegra brifters.

I like all the modern designs with the brifters and such, but for some reason I agree. My dad's old bike (not that old, a late 80's Miyata) has some sort of indexed downtube shifting, but the action is great. It is just so clean and crisp and you can get some trim going, which is great. I really like the system for its simplicity, but as far as shifting while sprinting or climbing, it is nice to have the brifters (and probably safer in every case, too)

:roflmao:


I love downtube shifters for they are so "Golden age" of cycling for me.

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3...00082lq.th.jpg
80's Dura Ace Baby!


That said I do love the new styles for their convenience.

Same. I really like the index shifting but my commuter has downtube friction shifters and I just love how smooth they are.

I just rode my 83 Nashbar touring bike into work with Sun Tour XC DT shifters. Everything is original and I never had a problem with them. They work great and probably will long after I am gone. But like you said the STI can't be beat for the racing sceen.

I prefer the new stuff.

As someone that bought the second pair of STI shifters in northern California I've had just about everything.

I took out my C40 last Sunday and it was very nice having a nice Ergo lever under my hand. It made me feel so 2000-ish.

I never liked friction shifting because I can't hear the chain rub and someone has to come up beside me and tell me to trim it out. So indexed shifting is my preference.

I put my first cyclocross bike together about 5 years ago or more. I put on barend shifters on it and it was a nice shifting bike. Since then I built a lot more off road bikes (as opposed to mountain bikes mind you) and been liking barends a more every time I use them.

I've built 4 bikes up in the last 5 months (not counting another three or four for my brother and his wife) and put bar ends on all of them.

Barends definitely are not as convenient as Ergo. They don't give you that feeling that says "Cadillac" either.

But they are relatively cheap, reliable as heck and "good enough".

I wanted to have a Thoroughtly Modern bicycle and ended up with perhaps two of them that qualify as the sine qua non of bicycle - the Colnago C40 and the Eddy Merckx Ex Pro titanium bike.

I love these bikes and will never sell them. I may even be buried with them.... well, maybe that's unfair and I'll will them to some tall person.

But bicycling is about you and the bike and even a Motiv is a bike. I find that I prefer bikes as simple as I'm willing to put up with and cheap means simple. I don't like the idea of owning a bike with 47 parts in the brake/shift levers. And now that I've used the best I can truely say that good enough is plenty good enough.

Gimme barends from now on.

And as for MTB's - I've used all of that as well and I STILL prefer the old Suntour indexed thumbshifters.

+1

Just because something is new doesn't mean better. I've used just about every type of shifter in the last 30 years and they all have their place. Friction is the easiest to use and lowest maintainence shifter ever made. The Suntour micro friction model is a superb unit. Good luck

Tim

Aw man....those things were awesome....I really need to dig out my older Trek 930 and see if I can't get it running again...

bar ends....here

I moved my STI shifters to my training bike...

Dang, just when I thought I'd never agree with anything that Sin said... he has to go and say this. :mad:

;)

Started off with DT friction here...
http://thecuda.com/md_P8161061.JPG

Which got moved here...
http://thecuda.com/hd_PB241259.JPG

And even this one is in friction mode...
http://thecuda.com/hd_P1191356.JPG


I'll probably buy brifters for the Gazelle rebuild in a year and a half. But even then the 'Cuda will always be friction downtubes. And I have a pair of barcons that will find their way to a bike too... someday.

I love friction shifting as well. Friction shifters coupled with Campy 9 on my commuter/rain bike.

I'm still getting used to the friction DTs on my latest (and oldest) bike. My MTB came with indexed triggers which were the most intuitive and the brifters on the modern road bike only took 10 minutes to get used to. I do like being able to adjust the trim, but for immediate switches on varied terrain, I think I'll keep my indexed.

There are arguments to be made for downtube friction shifting, but ease of use isn't one of them. Does anyone actually think that it's more diffficult to flick your wrist, and hit the gear perfectly, than it is to take your hand off the handlebar, bend down, and move the lever the precise amount so that the ger doesn't grind?

You can argue friction shifters are lighter, less mechanically complex, arguably more durable, but it's a loosing proposition to say they're easier to use.

Well, for those who are physically and mentally challenged :D maybe it's the truth. LOL For us enlightened cyclists it's second nature to hit the correct gear every time.

Tim

I have a pair of Suntour friction bar ends and love them.

Friction bar ends are easier to use unless you keep your hands planted on the brake hoods all the time. Which is where most riders seem to keep them now days.

The shimano thumbies were not bad either. I fondly remember having Shimano thumby shifters on my old Trek 1400 road bike(Trek and Cannondale used thumbies on some of their road bikes for a short period around 1990).

Nothing wrong with good quality DT friction or indexed shifters -- love that sound of mechanical "white noise" when they are trimmed. Have 'em on both my roadies, but you can't trash bar ends or brifters either. Now maybe stem shifters...
To each his own!

I think that downtube shifters has made me a stronger cyclist. If I'm going up a hill, I can't always reach down and screw with the shifter, I have to just push harder.

yeah, chicks love downtube shifters.

The loss of downtube shifter also meant the loss of some interesting cycling skills.

Double shifting with one hand. Slamming the shifter all the way forward on a big sprint. The need to be able to set the front derailleur trim the first time.

Lot of cool one hand gymnastics have gone by the wayside.

I raced friction up til about 1994, before I went to STI. Not a huge disadvantage. But the STI is just so much easier. I won't be going back.

-Z

I never said that the downtubes were easier, but they are sweeter shifting. Actually mind click in (kinda indexed) but you can trim them in between. The are 184 Shimano 105s.

Interesting point made abouit how downtubers make you a stronger rider in that you are not always bailing out by shifting... I agree. The shifting mechanism isn't available at your fingertips so you have to power over stuff, especially if you are in a hairy traffic/rough pavement situation where ya gotta grab the bike by the drops and get through the crises.