I think you get used to what you use. I use silvers on a couple bikes...bikes I ride all the time...8 and 9 speed, and I can move the levers into a specific gear without a thought. No fussing, no figiting. I honestly can't imagine index being any more precise or quicker...could be though. I also have bikes with Campy and Simplex downtube shifters. I'm ok on those bikes but I still experience occasional grinding. I don't ride these bikes too often. I'm guessing if I rode them more often the grinding would go away.
My biggest beef with index is the inability to trim (on some brands?). On STP this summer I couldn't believe the number bikes I passed/was passed by that were rubbing chain. Even slightly would be enough to drive me insane but there were literally hundreds that wouldn't/couldn't trim the deraillers to avoid the noise. Meanwhile, on my 40 year old Paramount, with the help of my Suntour barends, my knees probably made more noise than my chain. Rob On Sep 13, 7:16 pm, dougP <[email protected]> wrote: > Thomas: > > One of my touring buds (with decades of experience) has 9 speed STI on > both his go-fast (a 20 year old, lugged steel custom Lighthouse) and > his REI Randonnee touring bike, both with triples. Both function > perfectly. He recently fitted the Lighthouse with a wide(r) range > cassette to get a 32 low. Amazingly, the Ultegra RD handles it > fine. > > Personally, I'm a bar end guy that's always on the trailing edge of > any technology. The only downside I can see to STI (except the cost) > is damaging one on tour outside of North America or Europe. I rode a > rental bike for a week with 10 speed STI and a road triple. The > system worked perfectly. I did get a bit tired of shifting multiple > times to get by all the 1 tooth jumps in back, but that's due to the > mfgs choice of cogs, not the shifters. > > dougP > > On Sep 13, 3:16 pm, Thomas Lynn Skean <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > > Hi, all. > > > My general experience is that indexing works very, very well. But my > > experience has been almost entirely with SL-BS64 (Ultegra) 8-speed shifters > > (the "bar-con", sometimes bar-end but sometimes on thumbies) with a 7-speed > > IRD freewheel. I've also used SL-BS64 shifters with Shimano-patible 8-speed > > cassettes. And I've used such cassettes with Alivio and Altus brifters. > > Shifting performance is uniformly excellent. Not racy fast. But very stable > > and very effective (i.e. stays in alignment, hits the gear virtually every > > time, lands in very good alignment (no chattering in back)). > > > Does anybody here use other modern index "arrangements", like STI or higher > > numbers of cogs or other brifters? If so, are those systems more "finicky"? > > Like, do they require regular re-alignment? miss gears? seem hard to > > control? shift slowly? > > > I see the quiet/smooth/engaging/moral appeal of Silver (and presumably some > > other) friction shifters. > > > So far, though, I don't see a significant "practical" or "functional" reason > > to pursue friction shifting other than addressing/anticipating compatibility > > or rare mechanical issues. Anybody have one? > > > Yours, > > Thomas Lynn Skean > > who will maintain at least one friction cockpit, for True Joy and > > compatibility/mechanical issues- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
