".... Hyperglide, on the other hand, gives little if any feedback when you aren't centered, and ghost shifts are common, especially after you downshift for a stop and then load the drivetrain when you start up again ...."
Yes, this happens to me all the time and it makes me nuts. Having carefully adjusted the derailler for proper alignment, lubricated the cable guides under the BB shell to excess, it still happens and I blame it, for the most part, on frame flex (this is a Rambouillet). I suspect, but don't know for a fact, that it occurs less on very stiff racing frames with shorter stays. Nevertheless, there's no going back now since, as you say, nine-speed cassettes are very tricky to friction shift. Besides, I like some of the inherent advantages of indexed shifting that you point out. But I still grind molars every time that big grinding "clunk" happens whenever I load it up. On Dec 1, 12:53 pm, Steve Palincsar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Mon, 2008-12-01 at 08:59 -0800, Ray Shine wrote: > > All of your various responses have been quite informative. Thank you > > all. But all of this discussion begs the question; what is the > > advantage of indexed shifters over friction? In my mind, there is > > none, and I now give the edge to friction. Tell me why I'm wrong. :) > > I use both, and have a very long history with friction. Friction > shifting today's hyperglide cassettes is very different from the five > and six speed freewheels of old. Those left little doubt whether you > were correctly centered, and unless the cable tension slipped, once you > made a clean shift they never ghost-shifted. > > Hyperglide, on the other hand, gives little if any feedback when you > aren't centered, and ghost shifts are common, especially after you > downshift for a stop and then load the drivetrain when you start up > again. > > Also, 5-7 speed clusters have what feels to me like a lot of distance > between the sprockets, so it's easy to shift cleanly. I've tried > friction shifting an 8spd hyperglide cassette (using the same Silver > shifters I'm currently quite happy with on my 7spd Kogswell) and found > it exasperatingly difficult, in part because the sprockets felt too > close together, making it hard to center without an inadvertent shift. > (YMMV, as some on the iBOB list have no trouble with even 9 and 10 spd > cassettes - but for me, 7 seems to be the limit.) > > I won't argue that more sprockets are always better; in fact going from > 7 to 8 can result in the net loss of 2 sprockets. But sometimes > more /is/ more, and if you want the closer spacing you can achieve with > a 9spd compared to a 7 (while retaining the same range), you may not > find it achievable with friction shifting. It wasn't for me. > > Another factor is that friction shifts are slower. You actually have to > pay attention and center the chain, whereas an indexed shift requires no > care at all - hit the lever and you're done. You can even pre-shift: > move the lever while coasting, and the shift happens as soon as you > start pedalling. I find this extremely useful especially on dirt road > rides, where the topography changes very suddenly and you really need > that shift NOW, not a second from now and where you're busy enough that > fiddling around fine-tuning a shift lever doesn't seem to be even a > little bit fun. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
