Originally Posted by
jamesdak
I've got to be honest, When I was running the 10 speed cassette with the Simplex DT shifters I thought it was my best shifting friction setup. Very precise and I never seemed to have an issue just shifting one gear when I wanted to. Until I got the Orbea this was on I didn't think it could get better than the Superbe Pro setup on my Opus III. I think modern cables and modern cassettes really do help.
I just got done sorting out a Colnago Super which I got with 6 speed friction shifting. Bike rode great but the shifting totally sucked. Balky, stiff, and you had to overshift and then adjust back with each gear change and I just couldn't find a "feel" for the shifting. Pulled everything off, serviced it all, put new cable housing on the RD, new pulleys with no play, new cables, rebuilt the shifters and then added in a newer wheel with a modern SRAM 8 speed cassette and chain. It now works like a dream, light precise and I can feel what's going on with my fingertips. Love it.
Take you time and optimize everything you can and I bet you'll love the setup.
My setup did not have that problem either. But I started using DT friction around 1967 (on the days I did not have to snowshoe barefoot 5 miles to go to high school). My fingers are very well trained. The reason I see a risk is that I've noticed some people only set up their bikes with very high DT lever friction so it doesn't make small adjustments easily, and that on mine the lever throw one gear to another is pretty small. What saves my good shifting is my lever friction is just right for me, but its a very personal adjustment.
I think all this stuff is covered under your "take your time and optimize everything you can."