Best 9-speed of all time???
#26
Mother Nature's Son
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Sussex County, Delaware
Posts: 3,202
Bikes: 2014 Orbea Avant MD30, 2004 Airborne Zeppelin TI, 2003 Lemond Poprad, 2001 Lemond Tourmalet, 2014? Soma Smoothie
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Thanks all! I've been reading up on friction shifting, and I'll tell you what....I'm going with friction shifting! Old school, like on my 1981 Kia 3 speed! It actually seems like the best option. Very forgiving, evidently. Not hard to master. And I typically only use 3 rear gears, if that. In fact, it wasn't until I installed the bar end shifter that I noticed for the first time that my derailleur wasn't shifting into the smallest cog. And, am I right that with friction shifting I can just slap an 11 or 12 speed cassette on and continue to use my 9-speed Derailleur? Is that true or some kind of fantasy that I'm reading about?
You may or may not have to do some minor adjustment with the limit screws to get the dr to reach all 12 gears, real easy. As long as I have my Poprad, it is going to be friction shifting, whether a 1X or 2X.
#27
Senior Member
I've set up several odd ball systems using friction shifters.. Hold your derailleur as if it had a chain and if you can adjust it so the cogs line up with your lowest and highest gear it will likely work. The only other factors are the cable pull distance of the shift lever and the chain length. I've never had a downtube friction lever that wouldn't pull enough cable, but I have had to fool with chain length sometimes.
I absolutely love the simplicity of friction shifting. Just line up the derailleur wheel cogs with the cassette high and low cogs by adjusting the high and low limit screws and your shifters are tuned. There is no tweaking barrel screw adjustments and listening for out of sync noise. You likely won't have to adjust shifting now for years.
I absolutely love the simplicity of friction shifting. Just line up the derailleur wheel cogs with the cassette high and low cogs by adjusting the high and low limit screws and your shifters are tuned. There is no tweaking barrel screw adjustments and listening for out of sync noise. You likely won't have to adjust shifting now for years.
#28
WOW! So, I went home last night and watched the Park Tools video on indexing the shifters. Got it all set up where it is operating really smoothly in all cogs, except for the smallest, which makes a bit of noise. No biggy, as I never use it and I think the cassette may be just a tiny narrow at that point. But today I flipped the switch to friction shifting, and MAN! I am now a friction shifting disciple! I can't believe how cleanly it shifts and how much fun it is dialing in the right gear while flying down the road! I find it no more difficult than operating the system in index mode. It's so cool how you can give the lever very slight adjustment to dial everything in. Thank you for everyone's guidance!
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