My son uses the numbers on his mountain bike. He has friction shifters on his old 10-speed road bike. It was a big adjustment for him. He usually just gets in the big ring and mashes anyway, and if he needs easier pedaling, either stands or shifts the front!

The downtube shifters made me fall over with my trailer going uphill. I couldn't really take my eyes off the road, so I reached too far back, and that made the handlebars squirrely. Me, bike and trailer all landed on the right side. I came unclipped from the Frogs, thank goodness, and scraped my knee a little, but was otherwise unhurt. Landed in the ditch. That bike is getting an upgrade to shifters closer to my hands!

Karen