How many of you still use friction shifters?

I'm not a rich man, so I ride old used bikes, and I never have had an issue with these simple machines. I appreciate them for their simplicity and seldom do they need service or adjustment. Friction shifters get called outdated or bad or whatever all the time, if you feel that way, why?

I don't feel that there's anything wrong with them, but if I could choose between a well indexed modern system or friction, I'll still choose indexed. I think they work well on simpler gearings like an old 7-speed cassette, on bikes that aren't too aggressive or race-ist, I don't think they would be much fun to use on a 11, 12, 13, or the new 14 speed cassettes

I don't see the use case
Indexing is pretty easy to dial in

>>2040219
Ahh no but you see even tho freds ride thousands of trouble free miles on modern bikes I need my own special retard mode equipment to differentiate myself from those dumb sheeple

>>2040219
they're plug and play and cost like 10 bucks, I don't think they are better but I haven't had half the problems you hear about with the newer ones but idk.
>>2040221
Someone got a stick up their ass, why the hate? I haven't seen too many people praise them so I am assuming those dudes are dicks about it. Sorry to hear it if that's the case.

In the past when I was really into old bikes I rode countless hours on bikes with downtube or bar end friction shifters. These days my fleet is almost all modern, but I do still have one classic steel bike with a friction downtube shifter for the front mech.

Friction shifting performance (speed, smoothness) can be 10/10 perfect with good shifters, a modern chain, and a modern cassette with close ratios. But friction shifting always requires more rider input and forethought than indexing, usually requires taking a hand away from where it would otherwise be resting on the handlebar, and doesn't work as smoothly when jumps between gear ratios are larger.

So I have nothing against friction shifting, but at the same time, unless I'm deliberately building or restoring a classic bike there's no way I'm choosing friction shifters. I might make an exception for some Growtac Equal shifters if they were available to me, but I'd have to find the right project for them...

>>2040216 (OP)
the whole time I was a messenger my bike had downtube friction shifting. you get used to it fast and it's fine, but that bike died and the bikes I have now index. one has DTs and can convert to friction in an emergency which is cool to have but I've never had to use it.
I like having brifters on my fast bike so obviously they only come indexed but for utility bikes I don't think it matters. but most used bikes have indexing at this point so it's w/e, might as well have it.

My first real bike as a kid was a used drop bar steel bike with down tube friction shifting.
It didn't bother me because it was all rural/suburban streets with basically no traffic and I never had to downshift involuntary.
But today for my daily urban commute I wouldn't want to endure that. Riding in urban traffic with lots of intersections and traffic would be unbearable for me today without modern integrated shifters.

>>2040219
The use case is they cost nothing, and allow you to jury rig any cassette/chainring with and derailleur you have. It's perfect for a beater as it means maintenance becomes exponentially cheaper/free. Also good for touring as you can use whatever you have available

>>2040216 (OP)
I have two bikes with friction shifters, one with barcons the other with thumbies.

Both can switch between indexed and friction, but I always stay on friction mode, so much more reliable and the ratchetting is kino af

I decided to go with downtube friction shifters on my neo retro road bike since it had a mix of campy and shimano parts.

Fucking cable pull ratio compatibility is such bullshit. Fuck trying to trim the front derailleur.

>>2040346
I want to say based but you didn't clarify, indexed or non-indexed friction shifters?

>>2040360
Pretty much every indexed shifter has a friction mode

>>2040360
pure friction. I'm still trying to get the hang of 10 speed shifting (from 8 speed). I'm glad I could just mix and match any RD/FD/Cassette without thinking of compatibility issues.

Might switch to bar end shifters for a more convenient way of friction shifting. Or shifters with ratcheting mechanism (both ways).

>>2040216 (OP)
same here op, I ride old bikes and barcons and thumbies just work great for me. I can make shifts about as quickly as on indexing, I think the difference is really overblown. I can see why people want it, I'm not gonna flame, but for me it's frustrating more than anything dealing with double shifts, trimming (front and back,) etc and even though it's true that maintanence is minor I still prefer... not doing any lol. But yeah it's common to hear people talking about it like it's the equivalent of a stick vs. auto transmission is ridiculous.

I'm friction curious. will dia compe or rivendell silver barcons work with 10s grx RD?

>>2040413
I bet they will since they're newer, but if you're really worried you can find crib sheets of cable pulls for different groups and compare that one with one that is known to work. If you're curious though just go to a bike coop and drop a couple dollars in a cheapie, even ebay if you can't do that will be a lot cheaper. I was able to get 10s shimano out of a suntour thumbie by unscrewing the stack and flipping the stop plate around. Old barcons aren't that simple but you can still get more travel by filing the main boss and not hurt anything.

>>2040413
you probably have to buy an 11 speed shifter to have enough cable

>>2040419
Also a deore or cues 10s would be way cheaper than grx and give you more range

>>2040413
ok my options are:
>microshift bar ends
>sunrace/diacompe/rivendell bar ends
Microshifts should work with new cable pull. No ratchet in friction mode
Old timers have a 'micro ratchet'. they need an older derailleur, but those are cheap.

Which one? They're all about the same price.