Here's an interesting tidbit from a fellow racer regarding friction shifting. Thought it would be interesting to contrast with the recent discussion regarding Rivendell's advocacy of friction shifting:

"In the old days of friction shifting, a scary scenario was sprinting in
a gear where the derailleur wasn't quite centered over the cog...it
could slip, placing the chain in between the cogs (oh yes, 5, 6, 7 cogs
on the freewheel actually weren't all that closely spaced!). I had this
happen climbing out of the saddle a few times...really shoving/pulling
the pedals, when: Surprise! no resistance: in "neutral" with a lot of
momentum wondering where to go. What followed wasn't pretty (unless you
had practiced doing wheelies on the front wheel). Index shifting was
SUCH an improvement!"

I'd be curious to other's experiences with this as my first experiences with shifting came about in '86 with an indexed rear derailleur but friction front. I admit that I really did like the ability to trim front derailleur "by feel"....but my Chorus sure seems faster.

I've never had this happen to me or heard of this happening to anyone else...

Me neither .... raced for 12 years on friction ......

I have an older raleigh I am riding now with down tube mounted friction shifting and I very much dislike it. Can't wait to get my new caad9 built up. I have had it a few times were I have come out of the saddle pushing when I found that I wasn't centered and crash.. ! !!! @@$$$ . ate the road. Not a good picture.

I had a 3 successive bikes with friction gears in the 80's. Although the scenario of finding yourself in 'neutral' was possible you always worked around it - if the chain wasn't correctly centred it would make a noise much like nowadays.
When sprinting you'd just shove the shift lever as far as it would go and let your correctly adjusted derailleur travel limiting screw look after you.

OP - after years on friction-shifters, my experience was that I developed a pretty clear 'feel' for the positions I needed to hit w/the lever. It wasn't as fast or automatic as current indexed shifting, but it was just as functional.

The guys at Rivendell occasionally make some good points -- after all, not everyone needs to dude up in spandex and ride with their nose grinding on their front wheel. Advocating friction shifting for everyone, however, is not among them. (Nor does Rivendell target racers or wanna-be racers with their spiel.)

I have had a bunch of chain drops with my steel downtube friction-shifting bike, and some of that was due to not moving the front shifter all the way. I could definitely see how if you are in a race, you might accidentally fail to shift all the way and drop your chain.

Then again, I've also seen bikes with recent Ultegra, Campy etc drop their chains at the slightest provocation. Go figure.

I think al lot of it is anti-Shimano sentiment. In the early 90s There was a pretty wide gap between the first 8 speed STI offerings from Shimano, and Campi's woefully inadequate offerings. In the old days I saw a guy "jump on a gear that wasn't there" (his words, not mine) and fall on his head. If you want to get all misty-eyed about the old equipment, that's fine, but in no way is it anywhere near as functional as today's drivetrains. I think Rivendell is way over priced on their frames, too.

You move the lever the same amount for every shift, over 30 degrees of arc. To get halfway between gears you would have to move it only 15 degrees. If you've been shifting friction for more than a month, you pretty much have the correct amount of pull figured out without having to think about it. It happens to me about once every five or ten years when I'm really not paying attention and get distracted while shifting.

I wouldn't want it if I were racing.

But on my commuter/touring bike the friction bar end shifters are mighty fine.

I have a friction bar end for the FD on my race bike, unlimited trim is good.

Friction shifting is the fast cheap and easy way to incorporate a versitile drivetrain. It is not perfect but works well. Sometimes slipping can occur but not likely with proper derailleur adjustment. I would much rather have a reliable shifting system than a plastic Shimano device that can be damaged with ease. I know some people have tons of miles on the shifters, some don't. The bottom line is friction is still here in the time of modern drivetrains because people with common sense know it works well.

The lack of control on the handlebars is also a great training method. Downtube shifters discourage frequent shifting. I like downtube shifting because it works so well. I'd like to have a modern day shifting setup but I'm not going to waste money on something that isn't really needed. I would rather have friction shifting if it meant saving enough money for upgraded wheels or frame.

More shifting is actually better because it is easier to be in the proper gear instead of mashing out of laziness.

I must be getting old.

Friction shifting, particularly downtube, was the only way to go not that long ago. It was perfectly natural, worked fine, and was part of cycling. I rode friction shifters up until 2005 when I bought my Chorus equipped bike and never gave it a second thought and never slipped a gear like that. Yes, you'd have noise, and yes, you'd have to reach down. I even put new wheels on my friction shifting bikes, Shimano 9sp with old Campy NR and SR and it worked fine, in fact better than ever. You needed less throw with the narrower spacing, and had more gears too.

STI is a very nice innovation and will give you faster shifting response when racing, where fractions of a second can be important. Just don't confuse this small racing advantage with greater functionality. If anything, the friction shifters are more functional. They never need to be tuned or adjusted (aside from setting the limit screws on your derailleurs). They are bomb-proof and fool-proof. And they are compatible with everything. How could anything be more functional than that? For non-racers they are the ultimate in practicality and they cost pennies-to-the-dollar compared to STI setups.

So yeah, STI for racing. Friction for pure functionality, practicality, reliability, and zero-maintenance riding (commuting, group rides, fitness riding, touring).