mpetry912 

steelbikeguy Steve, it is a retrofriction shifter, I believe it has a roller cam instead of a ratchet.

they are super duper smooth, utterly sexy to operate. The later C-Record model can be had for (somewhat) reasonable prices.

if you buy a used set, MAKE SURE TO GET ALL THE LITTLE PARTS because they won't work without them.

they are cool.

/markp

ehcoplex 

Wow, I've never seen the delrin version!
And shouldn't the other ones more correctly be called coke-perforated-septum shifters.....?

ehcoplex 

non-fixie 

These days mrs non-fixie is the real DT shifter fan in our home.

The shifters that got her away from Shimano's EZ-Fire, no less, were these Huret shifters:



I have them on my Mann-Libertas, and I will admit that I like them as well.

chain_whipped

Modolo with Campagnolo

steelbikeguy

That does sound nice, and one would think they would have been more common and popular back in the day (although I wasn't paying that much attention to Campy then).
To be faiir, even the Simplex retro-friction levers were fairly niche items then too.

I recall SunTour's retro-friction/ratcheting levers, aka Power ratchet, were relatively well known and not uncommon, and later generations of SunTour ratchet levers were more refined and svelte. Probably hard for Campy to get the attention of folks like me who were already running SunTour ratchet shifters.
So many neat old parts out there, and so few bikes to put them on and try out (plus, I'm just too lazy to keep swapping parts around).

Steve in Peoria

JohnDThompson 

I have Simplex retrofriction lever on several bikes, and prefer them over simple friction levers of any kind. SunTour ratcheting "Power Shifters" are close. Zeus "Cosmos" retrofriction levers are as nice as Simplex, but rarely seen.


Simplex held the patent on retrofriction, and though it expired in the mid-80s and other manufacturers like Campagnolo and Zeus had products ready to exploit this, that also happened to coincide with Shimano's release of its SIS indexed shifting and the associated marketing blitz that killed the market for anything that wasn't indexed.

Roger M

retrofriction coke spoons? A new favorite, approved by Tony Montana. Very nice!

Chombi1 

There's no need for a D ring bolt on the Simplex retrofriction shifters. It gets all its cable pull resistance just from the internal clutch spring, and not the mounting screws seen on conventional friction shifters. A better mod is to replace the slotted mounting screws with stainless steel, allen socket type, button headed bolts. It will look cleaner and it won't rust like the chromed screws, plus you are less likely to strip them.
You can usually get the right sized ones from your local ACE hardware store.

Chombi1 

I had an NOS set of those Delrin Simplex Retrofrictions. Unfortunately, I gave it to a coworker who was into touring on his C&V bikes, for him to discover the joys of Retrofriction shifting. Found out later he did not even bother to try them out. And most likely it just ended up in his component stash.

ehcoplex 

For the braze-on version, yes- but I seem to recall I tried to do that with the clamp-on version and found they use an odd French threading/pitch that isn't so easy to find.....

rccardr 

Haven't seen these Shimano 600 6207's posted yet. My personal faves, use them happily on a number of bikes:

El Chaba

Sachs New Success which can either be used with 8 speed indexing or retro friction….a useful feature if you took an emplacement wheel in a race that was not compatible….

Choke 

I'm firmly in the retrofriction camp. The Simplex models work great and I could be perfectly happy with them. But.....I think the Campy Doppler is just a hair smoother and those are my favorites, especially the "big barrel" version.

An old pic of my Doppler stash. I have since added more, including two sets of big barrels.


On the bike...

esasjl

The clamp can be re-tapped if you are careful. The shifter does not need much bolt tension (just sufficient to hold against the RD spring).

esasjl

The Delrin shifters have a larger cable pull (than the alumin(i)um ones) and will shift 9/10/11 speed cassettes.

Roger M

Any version of the 7400 shifters. Here they are in friction mode on a seven speed freewheel with a gen one Cyclone rd.

My only minor gripe is that they wont index properly with any derailleur other than a Dura Ace 740X. But I'm not complaining.

Kabuki12

ejw

On my 65 Fiorelli…

Kabuki12

^^^ Earliest known wireless shifters! nice looking bike, what I can see of it. 👍

zukahn1 

I also like the long old school Hurret's Hurret or Schwinn branded DT or stem they have a lot of pull length and are easy on smaller hands and the long levers allow for easier manual indexing likely why your wife likes them. A lot of the even nicer DT stuff is ape shift grind it tell you find it a lot of us old school guys that grew up on crappy shifting stuff bikes and cars are fine with it on vintage bike or car but it's a no go for most women which proves there smarter than most men.

zukahn1 

I just like nice spoon levers who cares if they look a bit dorky to some they give a bit more leverage each way and allow for a bit bigger max shift range with most gear set ups.

hujev

I came across this & haven't posted in ages so:

1. I like the look of these weird old Suntour LD-2300 synchro-shifters (and their band clamp), and had been looking for a use for them for 15 years or so, so put them on this (see link for the other disparate but oddly fitting drivetrain parts incl. long cage Campagnolo SR rear mech)


on 1985 Woodrup Giro Touring

My favo(u)rite though are these big old Suntour ratchets - the 'oldest' bike part (that I bought new) in use on my bikes - I originally bought these in 1983 for my 'first good bike' (made on an old 531 sg ca. 1970 Dawes frame). That bike was wrecked in a car crash, and these sat unused until I swapped them (for the originals) onto my 1983 Univega Gran Turismo a couple years ago.

I don't seem to have a better picture than this at the ready:


but of course their charms can be examined in great detail elsewhere.

(note CTC transfers on both bikes)

Kabuki12

I
No better than my others , just personalized!

seagrade 

Can’t have too much Simplex Retrofriction. Goes with anything.