I think this has already been said---I haven't read so, but it must have been and I hope it has: If the lever stays in position, the gear will, too (because the derailer can't move if the lever doesn't). The lever is mechanically helped to stay put because of the ratchet inside---and this is, I'd say, a huge improvement over the levers that 99 percent of all pro racers and rich amateurs used before indexing. Campy friction shifters slipped to often and required such frequent wingbolt tightenings that you'd do it habitually, like --- some kind of habit. SunTour Superbe shifters from 1984-5 were so bad you'd have to snug 'em three times as often as the Campys.
Simplex retrofrictions solved the problem so declaratively that Simplex didn't even put wingbolts on them (no backup system). I don't want to derail this topic into a pining for Simplex or a Grant vs Jan on Simplex vs Silver---but I do want to say that SunTour's super duper power ratchet ALSO prevents 98 percent of the slips of the pure friction shifters, and (like the Simplexes) reduces the ----- oh, how do I put this the best way?---well, it "fights" the derailer springs so you don't have to (that is not the best way, but for what it is, is true). But in the 29 years since Indexing, bike riders have lost the habit of snugging the shifter---they've been reared without friction. We've heard stories of bike mechanics who didn't even know to do this. All this is understandable, and it may come down to the question of the bike rider's role in the mechanix of the bike. At some level and when I'm at MY most curmudgeonly, I'd say part of riding a bike is knowing how to fiddle with it on the go. But that's not inherent in any rider---it has to be learned. And here, the internet with its inifinite and instance answers and immediate source of sympathetic friends can either hurt or hinder the process. To my way of thinking (which is only that), having to snug the Silver shifter a rare now and then---I do mine less than once a month, which is less than three times on a long a day with old Campy or every seventh shift with SunTour Superbes---is a small price to pay for the deliriously smooth feel of them. In retrospeculation I bet they came about as SunTour's own response to the Superbes---they said, in perfect secret Japanese--"We gotta make up for this. What's the best way?" and then developed the Power Ratchet, based on it's 1973-ish power ratchet thumb shifter. The Silver shifter is one of many good options, and there should be no pride or shame in going to it or any other shifter--it's more a matter of trade-offs, or at least perceived trade-offs. I'd say (but this is only me, and my humility is sincere) that if you're willing to "learn" the Silver trick of snugging the lever every now and then--FAR from "constant maintenance"--then you will, for that price, get a degree of engagement with your bike and a shifting feel beyond that--that neither indexing nor Shimano's bar-end shifter friction mode can equal. This is super subjective, of course. And if you just want to shift and never attend to the shifter, get the Shimano shifter or some other, and maybe be happy with the rougher friction mode they offer (without the Power Ratchet). One last thing: Within the last month or so we had a big guy on a 71 Homer complaining of slippling silvers, for whatever reason, but he also said he tried the snugging to no avail. We sent him Shimanos and problem solved. The "roughish" friction mode in Shimanos may provide enough resistance to better the Silvers if you're riding a really tall bike and are proportionately heavy yourself. But the benefits don't spill down to 65cm and smaller frame and riders 220lb or less. Certainly if you're 5-11 and 195, the shifter world is your oyster, or something. On Saturday, August 16, 2014 7:14:08 AM UTC+2, grrlyrida wrote: > > My silver shifter becomes loose then I can't keep my front derailleur in > high gear. Today I had to hold my left bar end shifter up while riding from > Santa Monica to Silverlake. It was annoying and tiring. I've taken it in > several times and the mechanic tightens it then it will last like that for > 2 months and become loose again. Is there something wrong with this > shifter? I don't have this problem with the right one. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
