Pre-indexing (friction) thumb shifters.

Along with the advent of the "mountain bike" came indexing (SIS, et.
al.) shifters. There was a brief time period in the mid-'80s where
this type of bicycle used plain friction-controlled shift levers.
Suntour made some called "Accushift" and Huret had a few. Much of the
field was cheap junk.

In your opinion, which shifter of that genre (handlebar-mounted,
friction-controlled) represented the best quality product?

Jones

!Jones wrote:
Along with the advent of the "mountain bike" came indexing (SIS, et.
al.) shifters. There was a brief time period in the mid-'80s where
this type of bicycle used plain friction-controlled shift levers.
Suntour made some called "Accushift" and Huret had a few. Much of the
field was cheap junk.

In your opinion, which shifter of that genre (handlebar-mounted,
friction-controlled) represented the best quality product?

No complaints with any SunTour or Shimano top shifter.
Current 2009 model friction top shifters work exactly the
same and are dirt cheap.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Nov 1, 12:53*pm, !Jones wrote:
Along with the advent of the "mountain bike" came indexing (SIS, et.
al.) shifters. *There was a brief time period in the mid-'80s where
this type of bicycle used plain friction-controlled shift levers.
Suntour made some called "Accushift" and Huret had a few. *Much of the
field was cheap junk.

In your opinion, which shifter of that genre (handlebar-mounted,
friction-controlled) represented the best quality product?

Jones

I recall the shimano typhoon(?) shifters as being the burliest, much
sought after by the bike messengers of the time. This was back when
only a very small, highly intoxicated minority was into working on
fixies and the styling courier ride was a mountain bike with slicks.



-Rando

On Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:53:15 -0600
!Jones wrote:

Along with the advent of the "mountain bike" came indexing (SIS, et.
al.) shifters.

Or around 1900, with the development of the Sturmey-Archer hub gear.
All hub gears are indexed. It just took the chain distorters a while
to catch up.


In your opinion, which shifter of that genre (handlebar-mounted,
friction-controlled) represented the best quality product?

Ultegra bar ends are the nicest I've got. For a frame mount the 1983
Suntour Superbe still works just fine. My older bikes are either
single-speed or hub geared.


Mike
--
Mike Causer

pdxrandonneur wrote:
On Nov 1, 12:53 pm, !Jones wrote:
Along with the advent of the "mountain bike" came indexing (SIS, et.
al.) shifters. There was a brief time period in the mid-'80s where
this type of bicycle used plain friction-controlled shift levers.
Suntour made some called "Accushift" and Huret had a few. Much of the
field was cheap junk.

In your opinion, which shifter of that genre (handlebar-mounted,
friction-controlled) represented the best quality product?

Jones

I recall the shimano typhoon(?) shifters as being the burliest, much
sought after by the bike messengers of the time. This was back when
only a very small, highly intoxicated minority was into working on
fixies and the styling courier ride was a mountain bike with slicks.


"Deore" not typhoon

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Nov 1, 1:53*pm, !Jones wrote:
Along with the advent of the "mountain bike" came indexing (SIS, et.
al.) shifters. *There was a brief time period in the mid-'80s where
this type of bicycle used plain friction-controlled shift levers.
Suntour made some called "Accushift" and Huret had a few. *Much of the
field was cheap junk.

In your opinion, which shifter of that genre (handlebar-mounted,
friction-controlled) represented the best quality product?


Also most Shimano SIS thumb shifters could be switched to
friction and operate very well in that mode. What is "best"?
Most artistic, most practical, coolest ratchety noise,
strongest spring?

I like these:

http://www.trek4fun.com/mountain_bik...00_levers..htm

Ben

On 2009-11-01, !Jones wrote:

Along with the advent of the "mountain bike" came indexing (SIS, et.
al.) shifters. There was a brief time period in the mid-'80s where
this type of bicycle used plain friction-controlled shift levers.
Suntour made some called "Accushift" and Huret had a few. Much of the
field was cheap junk.

In your opinion, which shifter of that genre (handlebar-mounted,
friction-controlled) represented the best quality product?

SunTour's thumb shifters used their famous ratchet mechanism to reduce
effort in downshifting, and Shimano's used a spring-loaded clutch (like
Simplex "retrofriction" levers) for a similar effect. Both are
excellent.

--

-John )

On Nov 1, 12:53*pm, !Jones wrote:
Along with the advent of the "mountain bike" came indexing (SIS, et.
al.) shifters. *There was a brief time period in the mid-'80s where
this type of bicycle used plain friction-controlled shift levers.
Suntour made some called "Accushift" and Huret had a few. *Much of the
field was cheap junk.

In your opinion, which shifter of that genre (handlebar-mounted,
friction-controlled) represented the best quality product?

Jones

Suntout Accushift levers were indexed. The Suntour Power Ratchet ones
were the good friction ones.

My favorite friction thumbshifters are the Suntour XC, which had the
same ratchet mechanism as Superbe Pro, shielded with a sleek aluminum
cowling.

!Jones wrote:
Along with the advent of the "mountain bike" came indexing (SIS, et.
al.) shifters. *There was a brief time period in the mid-'80s where
this type of bicycle used plain friction-controlled shift levers.
Suntour made some called "Accushift" and Huret had a few. *Much of the
field was cheap junk.

In your opinion, which shifter of that genre (handlebar-mounted,
friction-controlled) represented the best quality product?

Shimano Deore XT "deer head" shifters were more robust and more nicely
made than just about any other shifters before or since:

http://www.oldmountainbikes.com/bike...7/PIC00005.JPG

Suntour retrofriction thumbshifters were, like all ratcheting Suntour
shifters, a joy to use. They don't seem quite as monumental as the
deer head XTs, though.

http://store.bicycleczar.com/v/vspfi...01090170-2.jpg

Chalo

On Nov 1, 6:21*pm, John Thompson wrote:
On 2009-11-01, !Jones wrote:

Along with the advent of the "mountain bike" came indexing (SIS, et.
al.) shifters. *There was a brief time period in the mid-'80s where
this type of bicycle used plain friction-controlled shift levers.
Suntour made some called "Accushift" and Huret had a few. *Much of the
field was cheap junk.

In your opinion, which shifter of that genre (handlebar-mounted,
friction-controlled) represented the best quality product?

SunTour's thumb shifters used their famous ratchet mechanism to reduce
effort in downshifting, and Shimano's used a spring-loaded clutch (like
Simplex "retrofriction" levers) for a similar effect. Both are
excellent.

The all silver Suntour ratcheting ones were great and really good
looking. However, even the cheapest Deore stuff worked very well. Even
the 5-6 speed stuff was quite good in friction mode.