I have a 70s Raleigh Grand Prix 10 speed that I am replacing the rear derailleur on. It has a set of old Shimano 600 downtube shifters. Will these work with the SRAM Rival rear derailleur?

I have read that it won't work with indexed shifting, but I only use friction. From my understanding the only problem will be that the shifter won't be able to cycle through all the gears (5 on the rear). With my current derailleur I only move the shifter about a third of the distance it can travel to go through all 5 gears, so I have plenty of room to spare.

Thanks for any help.

Pretty much any derailleur should work with friction shifters, provided that the derailleur has sufficient tooth capacity.

It should work. I wouldn't recommend trying to friction shift more than 8 speeds. If you do it with a ten speed you have to get the shift pretty closely because of the 3mm gaps.

That's what I was thinking. Thanks for the response, most of what I've read are debates about friction vs. indexing. I appreciate the real answer.

when you say more than 8 speeds, do you mean just on the cassette? I have 2 speeds in front and 5 in the back

Yeah I meant in the back. I know someone who put a 8 speed cassette on his old Schwinn and runs friction shifters (they were indexed for 7 speeds).

Also I know someone else who runs a 9 speed mountain bike cassette with Dura Ace bar end shifters. He uses friction shifting on his Surly Cross Check.

Cool, so I shouldn't have any problems with my setup. I just have to get a new hanger with threads.....