Originally Posted by
Strawbunyan
how much of a part do the shifters play in this situation? I know my RD is SIS but the shifts dont feel indexed. Should i be attempting to index the RD to the freewheel?
For modern indexed shifting, the indexing steps were all in the shifter, the derailleur was basically the same as friction. (Very early indexing tried steps at the derailleur, it must not have worked well, because that disappeared.) My 1989 SIS downtube shifters had a small flip-out wire handle that would allow switching between index and friction. If your derailleur and shifter are in adjustment, indexing should work well. But (with downtube shifters) friction is always there as a backup if the cable stretchs on a trip, for example. My current grip and trigger shifters do not have a friction mode, but, they have barrel adjusters right up there on the shifter, to adjust on the fly.