All the bikes I ride, are still using standard components that are easy to fix/tune/replace at home.
But I’m seeing more and more bikes with great tech, don’t get me wrong, but they have a very limited lifespan and almost no longevity in the coming decades.
Meanwhile, my 90’s MTB, which goes anywhere and carries anything, has very inexpensive and easily replaceable parts. The only way I could make it even more future-proof is to run a friction shifter on it.
I used friction shifters back when they were all you could get. Click is much nicer. In theory my 10 speed had 10 different gear ratios, but in practice it had 4 as I could never reliably find the 3 middle gears in the back.
I wonder if friction works better when you have fewer gears. That way, you can feel the steps more easily.
Is that possible? I suspect it is, because on my 11-speed Shimano 105, some steps are so similar, that even with an index shifter, you sometimes don’t notice the jumps!
You cannot feel the gears with friction shifters. Your move the lever until you hear the change and your legs report a difference. There is zero feedback for your fingers as to what gear you are in. With a click shift you move the lever one click and you move one gear making it easy to select any gear you want.
Of course I’m assuming well adjusted click shifters. My old bike (was 15 years old but the frame cracked so I replaced it last week) the something was not adjusted right and so sometimes I couldn’t hit a gear anymore, but it started out very nice for a few years. With my newer bikes the click shifters always put me exactly on the gear I want with no trouble.
Your move the lever until you hear the change and your legs report a difference.
Right, but when you’ve got something like an 11 or 12 speed cassette, your legs can’t really feel much difference between some of the higher gears.
My assumption is that if the difference between the number of teeth is greater (i.e. a wide range cassette with only 6 - 8 cogs), you’ll probably be able to feel the difference more easily.
This is why i want to try one! I’d like to actually know what it feels like, rather than assuming.
I’ve only used them on a 5 gear cassette. based on my more nodern bikes I’d expect there to be a significant difference between gears but I haven’t had those bikes in working order in 20 years. My memory is I could never find any gears except the biggest and smallest.
I do intend to get those bikes in working order but money and time are limited and those are low on my todo list (my todo list will take 3000 years to complete so don’t go expecting me to get them done soon)
This really is a concern.
All the bikes I ride, are still using standard components that are easy to fix/tune/replace at home.
But I’m seeing more and more bikes with great tech, don’t get me wrong, but they have a very limited lifespan and almost no longevity in the coming decades.
Meanwhile, my 90’s MTB, which goes anywhere and carries anything, has very inexpensive and easily replaceable parts. The only way I could make it even more future-proof is to run a friction shifter on it.
Join the friction shifter gang!
There are so many bike things that I want to try, but have no good way to: friction shifting, single-speed, cargo bike, belt drive, etc…
I keep hearing the dude from The Path Less Pedaled constantly bringing up friction shifters, but they remain a dream for now.
I used friction shifters back when they were all you could get. Click is much nicer. In theory my 10 speed had 10 different gear ratios, but in practice it had 4 as I could never reliably find the 3 middle gears in the back.
I wonder if friction works better when you have fewer gears. That way, you can feel the steps more easily.
Is that possible? I suspect it is, because on my 11-speed Shimano 105, some steps are so similar, that even with an index shifter, you sometimes don’t notice the jumps!
You cannot feel the gears with friction shifters. Your move the lever until you hear the change and your legs report a difference. There is zero feedback for your fingers as to what gear you are in. With a click shift you move the lever one click and you move one gear making it easy to select any gear you want.
Of course I’m assuming well adjusted click shifters. My old bike (was 15 years old but the frame cracked so I replaced it last week) the something was not adjusted right and so sometimes I couldn’t hit a gear anymore, but it started out very nice for a few years. With my newer bikes the click shifters always put me exactly on the gear I want with no trouble.
Right, but when you’ve got something like an 11 or 12 speed cassette, your legs can’t really feel much difference between some of the higher gears.
My assumption is that if the difference between the number of teeth is greater (i.e. a wide range cassette with only 6 - 8 cogs), you’ll probably be able to feel the difference more easily.
This is why i want to try one! I’d like to actually know what it feels like, rather than assuming.
I’ve only used them on a 5 gear cassette. based on my more nodern bikes I’d expect there to be a significant difference between gears but I haven’t had those bikes in working order in 20 years. My memory is I could never find any gears except the biggest and smallest.
I do intend to get those bikes in working order but money and time are limited and those are low on my todo list (my todo list will take 3000 years to complete so don’t go expecting me to get them done soon)