Re: Goodbye carbon stays and integrated headsets...

Tim McNamara wrote:
>
> I've been riding bikes for, what, 40 years now and have been a bike
> nut for most of that time. I've never seen a broken friction shifter,
> but I've seen a dozen broken STI shifters and two broken Ergo
> shifters.


FWIW, since the early '80s, I've broken two friction shifters:
a Simplex downtube shifter, and a Deore thumbshifter, both for
the rear changer. These are both retrofriction shifters, and
on both the return spring fatigued and broke. Unfortunately,
friction alone wasn't enough to hold the derailleurs in low
gear.

So now, even if you've yet to see a broken friction shifter, at
least you've heard of them :-)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Goodbye carbon stays and integrated headsets...
    ... >> I've been riding bikes for, what, 40 years now and have been a bike ... >> nut for most of that time. ... I've never seen a broken friction shifter, ... > So now, even if you've yet to see a broken friction shifter, at ...
    (rec.bicycles.tech)
  • Re: First Time Buyer Recommendation
    ... >> So to save 150 bucks you skipped having indexed shifters? ... >Not all downtube shifters are friction. ... it's a friction shifter, monkey around with the position, listening to the ... Indexed shifters are, imo, superior to downtube shifters for that reason ...
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