Friction Shifters

[Illaveago]

All of my road bikes have friction shifters apart from my two Raleighs which seem to have an indexing system, a bit like a sequential gearbox. Ill have to investigate further.
My Scott Yecora has quick fire bar shifters which got me into a right tangle as left and right changers do different things.

 

[Dale 1956]

I use friction on 8 speed all the time because I can't be bothered to index it - you get a feel for the lever movements after a very short time.

EDIT - I'm not sure the hanger is straight because when I did try to index it, it was never quite right, so I just swapped over to friction as @raleighnut says - it's easy on most SIS Shimano stuff.

Take a look at your rear derailleur I had the same problem until I learn how to setup my bicycle there are a lot of great videos on youtube to get you started on setting up your drive train.Some time it's best to buy special tools to get the job done right.I look at it this way why take it to a bicycle shop I have seen to many bicycle shops do things the wrong way so I order my self a few good books on working on your own bicycle with that said I think books and youtube will let you fix just about any thing that could go wrong be fixed by your self and you get to add another tool to have in your tool box I have so many special tools now days.I hope this might help you out a little.

 

[KneesUp]

Take a look at your rear derailleur I had the same problem until I learn how to setup my bicycle there are a lot of great videos on youtube to get you started on setting up your drive train.Some time it's best to buy special tools to get the job done right.I look at it this way why take it to a bicycle shop I have seen to many bicycle shops do things the wrong way so I order my self a few good books on working on your own bicycle with that said I think books and youtube will let you fix just about any thing that could go wrong be fixed by your self and you get to add another tool to have in your tool box I have so many special tools now days.I hope this might help you out a little.

Thanks, I agree absolutely - but I've been doing my own bike stuff since I was at school (because what 11 year old can afford to get a shop to fix stuff?) It could well be my "oh I can't be bothered" mentality that means the indexing is off, to be fair - I never had a problem indexing my 6 speed stuff, although actually thinking about it, the gears on my aluminium road bike (which has a brand new hanger) are indexed and work well - I just haven't ridden it for so long I'd sort of forgotten! I should get down to the bike kitchen and borrow their alignment tool really.

 

[Dale 1956]

Great bike. I have an earlier version of the Surly DT. I wouldn’t swap the bar end shifters for the world. You can set them to run as friction or indexed. Whatever takes your fancy. The best thing is, they are reparable in the field. I used to have a normal set of drop bars and occasionally I would knock the levers with my knees. I have since fitted a set of Salsa Cowchippers which are flared. The problem no longer exists. I assume your bars are Salsa Woodchippers. View attachment 429671

What rims did you use on your bike/how wide is the rims?

 

[buzz22]

I have Shimano 600 Arabesque friction shifters on an old road bike that work beautifully and a couple of newer bikes with selectable friction/indexing downtube shifters that I mostly use in friction mode. I grew up using friction and quite like the art of smooth shifting.