a really good interface

[thomasl...@comcast.net]

Hi, all.

Took a tiny ride on my Hillborne this morning and believe I am moving towards the shiny side. Right now, I still definitely lean "indexed" but am warming up to friction (which was never my foe, just not my preference). The Silver2 shifters are definitely part of that warming. They work good.

I'm trying not to be too swayed by the sweetness of their look as well. On a long ride I do see my bar arrangement a lot. I submit this photo of my bar setup as my idea of a pleasant part of a view while riding.

Yours,

Thomas Lynn Skean

who hopes the photo shows up

[River Bailey]

That is a very pleasant view indeed. Bosco Bullmoose...nice!

[Steve]

Thomas, be very careful - once you go friction indexed shifting starts to feel like overkill; you may never go back ;-)

--- Over the last couple of years I've gone friction on my entire "fleet" of bikes. Three to be precise; a 3x7. a 3x9 and a 1x11. Once I got into the groove I saw no need to go back. For the sake of full disclosure - I did start my riding career before the advent of indexed shifting, so I was weaned on friction at a tender age.

Steve in AVL

[R. Alexis]

I second Steve's thoughts. Friction is nice. When I rode the Clem Smith Jr. the bike shifted fine. The shifters were in a good place. 

I have a couple bikes that are friction in my stable at the moment. My Schwinn Voyageur with SunTour Sprint(?) downtube shifters. The ones that Rivendell had forever and that the Silver 1 shifters emulate. Got these along with some other SunTour stuff when on of the distributors, I think J&B was blowing that stuff out. Sat on the shifters forever. Decided to use them when I rebuilt the Schwinn after getting it back. Other bike is the 1994 Bridgestone MB-1 retro ride. It is using the Suntour XC friction thumbies that came on my 1986 Mongoose ATB. The Mongoose got a lot of riding on it. Switched to index when I slowly upgraded parts on the warranty replacement Mongoose IBOC Sport. Again, those shifters sat until I dedided to build up the Bridgestone.

I have a set of Silver 2 shifters and flat bar mounts for down the road. 

Thanks,

Reginald Alexis

[ascpgh]

Friction shifting removes barriers to feeling a higher level of precision in shifting gears, if you have any interest in that. 

 I have a custom 650B I built with an indexed 9-speed drivetrain. I have been riding in that mode since new, and it still functions very well. It is mindless and works with a snap-click, which goes along with the definite click, click, click of the Silver rear cassette hub's ratchet.

My orangesicle Rambouillet and its mosaic drivetrain has Suntour Accushift bar end shifters directing a Mavic 841/5 RD on a Shimano 8-speed XT  freehub with a 13-30 cassette and Mavic 860 FD between 46/34 rings on the TA Zephyr cranks. 

The concoction of that drivetrain is an environment where friction permits me to appreciate the value of these many iconic parts' operation. Under way, I hit shifts with quiet accuracy by feel and lever position. Between the very quiet shifts and the free hub's very muffled ratcheting, it is a bike that highlights any extraneous sounds and makes me aware of how audible any proximate modern bikes' drivetrains are as they operate.

Andy Cheatham

Pittsbugh

[Patrick Moore]

I am over and over again struck by how well modern many-cog and ramped cassettes shift under friction and how little trimming is required (even in front, once you get the FD cage properly centered.

But! I use customized cassettes and have 2 wheelsets, one with 48 mm slicks and a 13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-22-25 and one with 54 mm light knobbies and a 14-15-16-17-18-19-20-22-25-28. The individual cogs are either 10 or 11 speed singles from Miche or Ali Express, and I’ve noticed that shift points between individual cogs can vary between cassettes; the “middle of cruising range” 18-19 shift on the knobbies requires considerably more cable pull when shifting the cruising equivalent 17-18 on the slicks (I ride more or less 1 cog smaller with the slicks). It’s not a real-world problem and after a couple of fudged shifts I auto-correct.