I LOVE Friction!

[Velocivixen]

Shifting, that is! I bought a Surly Cross Check and got it home late Saturday evening and just basically rode it up and down the street (at the bike shop in Portland I rode around the block and shifted the gears). I didn't ride on Sunday due to rain, although took it back to get the rear wheel trued and traded in my saddle towards a Brooks B17. So today I took it for a ride down the street the the chain fell off the big ring in the front 4 times! Called bike shop and they explained how to adjust the limit screw in the front. Problem fixed.

I then rode about 10 miles and things didn't shift great in the back, so I put it on the stand and methodically shifted in the rear and basically my indexed shifting requires adjustment. This is beyond my scope and the bike is 48 hours old, so it's not my issue. The bike shop can do it when I get my shiny new silver stem on Weds. or Thurs. So I was bummed out because I don't want to ride when the gears aren't perfect - then it hit me! The Cross Check allows for friction shifting with the turn of a lever (the front chainrings are solely friction)! So I've been riding all over the place with my silent, stealthy, perfect friction shifting and I LOVE it! My 1975 Schwinn Le Tour road bike had friction shifting with the shifters on the down tube. Maybe I'm recalling my youth....I don't know. Once the bike shop adjusts the indexed shifting I think I'll just keep it on friction and call it good.

Anyone else into "friction"? lol

[Seajay]

Friction, B-17, steel frame.
Posting from a Commodore 64 too?

[Velocivixen]

lol. Yeah, really. No...a 6 month old 27" iMac!

[luv2climb]

That's a nice feature to have. The last bike I had that allowed you to switch to friction shifting may have been my '89 HardRock.

I don't always like indexed front shifting, especially if there's no trim adjustment.

[OakLeaf]

Friction, B-17, steel frame.
Posting from a Commodore 64 too?

Pickin' on a fretless bass, babe....

[KnottedYet]

I keep my shifters on friction, too.

I love the silent, instant shifting; the ability to perfectly trim the shift... ahhhh.

(My 1986 bike has downtube friction shifters, which also make me happy. Barcons I like a lot a lot a lot! Future bikes will have friction barcons like my Surly.)

[jobob]

When I got my Lynskey a couple of years ago, one of the reasons why I initially put bar-end shifters on it was because I really liked the convenience of changing from index to friction shifting by just rotating the D-ring on the bar-end mechanism.

Trouble is, the 10-speed bar end shifters don't have that capability (or at least they didn't when I bought them), so that pretty much defeated the purpose for me. The Lynskey has brifters now.