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any clicking/ratcheting dura ace friction shifters?

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any clicking/ratcheting dura ace friction shifters?

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Old 05-17-22, 03:49 PM
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chune
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any clicking/ratcheting dura ace friction shifters?

I'm cobbling together a 7400 dura ace groupset for my Miata build but I love the clicks of the suntour powershifters too much to swap those to dura ace. Did any dura ace friction shifters ratchet or click like the suntour powershifters? I know they had an indexed mode which I don't care about.
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Old 05-17-22, 03:52 PM
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No. Just index or friction for downtube shifters.
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Old 05-17-22, 08:30 PM
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Originally Posted by chune
I'm cobbling together a 7400 dura ace groupset for my Miata build but I love the clicks of the suntour powershifters too much to swap those to dura ace. Did any dura ace friction shifters ratchet or click like the suntour powershifters? I know they had an indexed mode which I don't care about.
Suntour had the goods for friction. Shimano did not.
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Old 05-18-22, 05:24 AM
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Ummm...

https://velobase.com/ViewComponent.a...=104&AbsPos=64
From the description:

Shimano's non-index, racheting downtube-mount shifting levers. Rachet system operates nearly identical to that of the old Suntour racheting barcons, but with a much finer feel.
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Old 05-18-22, 06:43 AM
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Originally Posted by smontanaro
Ummm...
Of course, I was only addressing Dura Ace shifters--since that's what the OP asked about...
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Old 05-18-22, 06:46 AM
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Originally Posted by bamboobike4
Suntour had the goods for friction. Shimano did not.
Yes, SunTour had a good ratcheting system--ideal if you couldn't get your indexing to work right.
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Old 05-18-22, 06:48 AM
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Originally Posted by smontanaro
thanks for this. Not dura ace but would match better than suntour. Was this the only model? I would need to retrofit this into a clamp-on style mount if so
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Old 05-18-22, 07:00 AM
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Originally Posted by chune
thanks for this. Not dura ace but would match better than suntour. Was this the only model? I would need to retrofit this into a clamp-on style mount if so
Not sure if that was the only one. I recalled seeing mention of a Shimano ratcheting shifter some time ago. Browsing the Shimano shifters on Velobase, that was the first one I came upon. Since I was searching on my phone (painful, especially on a site without a mobile-focused user interface), I stopped with this. Browsing this search result on a laptop or desktop computer:

https://velobase.com/ListComponents....6-c32b5f57987c

it should be easy enough to step through the available shifters and find others (assuming they exist).
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Old 05-18-22, 07:03 AM
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Originally Posted by chune
Did any dura ace friction shifters ratchet or click like the suntour powershifters?
No. But if you like the SunTour "Powershifters," there's no reason why you couldn't use them with Dura-Ace derailleurs.
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Old 05-18-22, 07:36 AM
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Am pretty sure that SL-A400 shifters are index 7 speed rear with a friction option, friction front. Have used these in indexing mode but not friction so can't speak to the ratchety feeling.
SL-R400's are the same but in 8-speed without a friction rear option.
Same design used on late 80's Deore BL-6434 shifters, nice ratcheting action on the front and 6 speed indexed for the rear with a friction option. When set to the friction rear option, these have a slight ratchety feeling.
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Old 05-18-22, 08:34 AM
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They exist! I've never seen them.

Then again, so do two-headed goats and decent Keurig coffee.
There are just not a lot of them around.

Originally Posted by smontanaro
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Old 05-18-22, 10:12 AM
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If you don't mind barend.
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Old 05-18-22, 01:24 PM
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The bar-end shifters above are of the "Unishift" type, seemingly with a "retrofriction" silent one-way clutch, so about as good as it gets!

Shimano offered them as downtube levers as well. with short rubber tip covers., possibly offered in one variant with the "Dura-Ace" name on the clamp (also supplied in large numbers to Schwinn, which got attached to a headset-mounted "stem shift" bracket featuring a pivot axis that passed in front of the steerer/quill axis for better positioning).

The first M700 shifters, part of the "stag"s head" gruppo, also employed the UniShift mechanism, and were artistically crafted using a good number of well-polished castings/forgings.

From left: Shimano stem levers with bi-directional clicks; UniShift downtube levers; Unishift levers on a Schwinn headset bracket.



On a barely-related note (in order to help fight the mighty return spring in Campagnolo's Gran Turismo rear mech), I once fitted long, ratcheting stem levers onto a suitable downtube clamp:

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Old 11-12-22, 10:06 AM
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Update: picked up a set of NOS SL-7700 dura ace shifters. The front is friction only but the rear toggles between “light action” and 9 speed indexed. The light action has very fine clicks, not quite as pronounced as suntour but I really like them. Index clicks are very crisp too
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Old 11-12-22, 10:13 AM
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Originally Posted by chune
Update: picked up a set of NOS SL-7700 dura ace shifters. The front is friction only but the rear toggles between “light action” and 9 speed indexed. The light action has very fine clicks, not quite as pronounced as suntour but I really like them. Index clicks are very crisp too
Huh. I never put my 7700 shifters on “light action,” so this is news to me. Thanks!
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Old 11-12-22, 10:33 AM
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chune
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Originally Posted by smd4
Huh. I never put my 7700 shifters on “light action,” so this is news to me. Thanks!
I think the 7400/7700 series is the sweet spot for eroica. You can get a hub that supports both uniglide cassettes as well as modern hyperglide cassettes so you don’t feel bad building a new wheel around them. Then you can use the the 7700 shifters to easily toggle between friction and index. You can ride 9-speed indexed year round on a modern, smooth shifting HG cassette then swap to friction mode and throw on a UG cassette for eroica!
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Old 11-12-22, 11:21 AM
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Originally Posted by bamboobike4
They exist! I've never seen them.

Then again, so do two-headed goats and decent Keurig coffee.
There are just not a lot of them around.
I bought a pair from Nashbar on clearance several years ago. I'm still searching for the right frame to put them on.
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