Whilst I'm making myself look dense...

[John the Monkey]

Yes, I have to say, the only reason I really ever need to know what gear I'm in is the point where I'm at risk of trying to change down just one more, and finding that I don't have one more to change down to.

I find it's when I change up, and the chain is suddenly no longer on the cogs :/ The joy of non-indexed shifting, that is.

 

[Arch]

I find it's when I change up, and the chain is suddenly no longer on the cogs :/ The joy of non-indexed shifting, that is.

Ah, I never get that high...

(OK, I do, on the rear, but not on the front. All my large chainrings are for decoration...)

 

[John the Monkey]

Ah, I never get that high...

(OK, I do, on the rear, but not on the front. All my large chainrings are for decoration...)

Lol I only have ten speeds, I feel I have to use them all to make up for not having 20+ gears like everyone else

One of the things about friction shifting is that I tend to switch front cogs a lot (because it's easier to hit the right cog first time than it is on the rear). I reckon indexed shifting would see me using the back derailleur more than I currently do.

 

[Arch]

Lol I only have ten speeds, I feel I have to use them all to make up for not having 20+ gears like everyone else

One of the things about friction shifting is that I tend to switch front cogs a lot (because it's easier to hit the right cog first time than it is on the rear). I reckon indexed shifting would see me using the back derailleur more than I currently do.

On the Galaxy, when it still had downtube shifters, I had indexed rear, and non-indexed front, and that was very easy. On my old hack, the indexing on the rear went awol for some reason, so we turned the little screw thing to convert it to friction, and I got used to that pretty quickly. My one consoling thought, when it was nicked, was that hopefully, the first time the scroat tried to change gear, he threw the chain off in a nasty mess.