bykemike 

I have a set of Shimano 105 bar end shifters on my touring bike.

I noticed the front shifter was loose so I removed the lever and tightened the shifter wedge and when I reassembled the unit it sounds like it is indexed now, it wasn't when I took it apart.

I may have just tightened the swivel bolt but there seems to be an overly complicated washer/spacer in there..can it be repostioned to go either index or friction?

Mike

fuzz2050

As far as I know, the front shifter is always friction; then again, I don't know what might happen to a bar end shifter that might make it feel indexed though.

bradtx

bykemike, My 8S bar ends came out the same way, but it suits me fine. As I understand it, I caused the 'problem' by not installing the washer properly and could get rid of the detent by rotating it 90 degrees.

Brad

bykemike 

I'm going to rotate the washer tomorrow, I just noticed on an eBay ad for the shifters.."friction or indexed"

Thx

Mike

Jeff Wills

On the left-side (front derailleur) shifter? There's usually a detent at the center of its travel, but it's not "indexed" per se. It's really friction shifting all of the time.

If you want to check, that "washer" (what Shimano calls a "lever boss cover") should be positioned with the fat tab pointing down, at right angles to the lever body. Take a look at this PDF for a hint:
https://techdocs.shimano.com/media/te...9830628723.pdf

bradtx

Mike, I left mine with the detent because I discovered that shifting from the 44T to the 32T only required hitting the detent, so almost like indexed, but not quite. Going from the 22T to the 32T I shift to just beyond the detent. Something you may like if it works out for you.

Brad