Friction Shifters

[Smokin Joe]

You're meant to sit on the saddle, not the stem.

Hit a large enough pothole and the choice of where you sit is taken out of your hands.

 

[mjr]

Hit a large enough pothole and the choice of where you sit is taken out of your hands.

Well if you won't look where you're going...

 

[fossyant]

SIS downtube levers on two of my bikes, I moved with the modern world....30 years ago !

 

[raleighnut]

SIS downtube levers on two of my bikes, I moved with the modern world....30 years ago !

Ah but are you allowed to ride em again yet?

 

[fossyant]

Ah but are you allowed to ride em again yet?

No.

And I am not either (my decision).

I ride the Ribble on the Turbo, but the posh bike hasn't moved in 4 years... shame.

 

[raleighnut]

No.

And I am not either (my decision).

I ride the Ribble on the Turbo, but the posh bike hasn't moved in 4 years... shame.

TBH there are 2 of mine I daren't ride these days too.

 

[fossyant]

TBH there are 2 of mine I daren't ride these days too.

PS All three road bikes are fully ready, but I isn't. (gathering dust, fully serviced as usual) I'll take the mahosive 650b just down the road and get on farm tracks. My days with traffic are gone. The Boardman FS Pro is a big beastie. ! But minimal traffic - can't do it again.

 

[raleighnut]

PS All three road bikes are fully ready, but I isn't. (gathering dust, fully serviced as usual) I'll take the mahosive 650b just down the road and get on farm tracks. My days with traffic are gone. The Boardman FS Pro is a big beastie. ! But minimal traffic - can't do it again.

Yep my 2 fast bikes are just too twitchy, falling off would be a world of pain.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Yep far superior to dual control shifters.

 

[fossyant]

Yep my 2 fast bikes are just too twitchy, falling off would be a world of pain.

Mine is the fact of my broken back. 3 road bikes that haven't got out of the garage since. My wife would kill me first, but my love of the road has gone - never riding with the idiot drivers again. Sorry, but the injury I had, never again - I'll get broken by a rock instead, not a driver.

 

[raleighnut]

Mine is the fact of my broken back. 3 road bikes that haven't got out of the garage since. My wife would kill me first, but my love of the road has gone - never riding with the idiot drivers again. Sorry, but the injury I had, never again - I'll get broken by a rock instead, not a driver.

With me it's the femur that was snapped into 3 bits, I'd not want to whack that one.

 

[fossyant]

With me it's the femur that was snapped into 3 bits, I'd not want to whack that one.

Quite !

 

[guitarpete247]

My old tourer has Suntour Vx rear and Arx front with stem mounted Suntour friction shifters.

The idea of them being nutcrackers, I mean. If you stop that sharply the stem will (or quill in my case) will have the desired effect of stopping any chance of being a father.

It has panniers so I must get out to shops sometime soon

 

[Illaveago]

Here's a video of a woman in a chunky pullover riding a bike with down tube friction shifters. There are several shots of her changing gear.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHUes0dGjUI

It's filmed on the North Downs. Beddlestead Lane & around.

Was there a Don Quixote bit in that clip where a group of cyclists discovered a convenient post to lock their bikes to during a snowstorm and discovered that by the morning the snow had gone?

 

[iandg]

I'm using bar end shifters on 3 bikes but in index mode. My MTB has the Deore thumb shift. When I put gears on my old Raleigh (currently fixed with Henry Burton decals) I use down tube friction.

As mentioned up-post, you soon get used to them and shifting smoothly from one sprocket to another soon becomes instinctive and the choice to switch from index to friction is a useful option when things go wrong.