Originally Posted by
Camilo
I don't know about 11 speed friction from any personal experience But I did try friction DT shifting with a 9 speed cassette a few years ago. I "grew up" and rode through the 70s, 80s and part of the 90s with 5-7 speed (rear) friction shifting. I feel I know how to shift friction shifters.
I could shift the 9 speed OK but it was a bit fussy to trim. The spaces between the sprockets is so small that it's much more difficult to get the shift just right and I had a few occasions where it would ghost shift without me hearing any sound that sounded like it needed trimming. So I just was too distracted getting the 9 speed right on. I got some 9 speed DA indexed DT shifters and they worked much better. My guess is that 11 speed friction might be way too fussy to get right.
This was exactly like my experience with 10 speed friction. Did not enjoy it at all since to me friction shifting is all about the lever position. It is easy to get the lever to the same position every time with 5 speeds - I can find the same middle cog each time I shift the lever to the middle position. Paradoxically it's really accurate because of all the tolerance in the system. With more than 7 speeds, let alone 10-11, there are just too many positions and with modern cassettes and chains the shift happens always very suddenly with sometimes no warning. This is where index shifting is really nice to have.