Why are thumb shifters so prized in the retrobike community?

[boy"O"boy]

Love Thumbies.
My bikes between them cover most shifter types.... everything from Campagnolo bullet, Mavic wishbones and DX STI, but the preferred option if I'm not doing a catalogue build has to be the Thumb shifter.
Deore DX, Deore XT, Campagnolo, and the Suntour XC pro.

They never did an XTR thumb shifter?? ....has anyone tried to create one here?

Cheers
boy"O"boy

 

[bikeworkshop]

They never did an XTR thumb shifter?? ....has anyone tried to create one here?

You can mount dura-ace bar-end levers on a Paul's bracket for that sl900 quality experience.
Xtr rf+ might be cheaper though

I dont think shimano felt an over-bar 8+ speed thumb lever was appropriate for an XTR racing-designed groupset.

 

[Ingola]

A reason not to use thumbies

 

[retrobiker273891]

If you want thumbies but the current bike has the underneath brake trigger shifters will you have to change the brake levers too? I forgot, but seem to remember the shifters are integrated into the brake levers.

 

[hamster]

Some do some don't.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Some do some don't.

And if your integrated trigger shifters are broken, sometimes the shifter unit can be unbolted, other times it can be cut off.

 

[retrobiker273891]

If you set up your mechs properly in the first place the indexing just works and you can enjoy the ride. Personally I welcomed the demise of thumb shifters and the improvement that rapidfire shifting brought to cycling. When your bouncing around on the gnarly stuff getting a perfect gear change every time is important.

It would make sense for people that do but I don't ride stuff like that. Similar to how I would not have any use for the chain retention stuff.

I had thumb shifters on my early bikes and preferred them in friction mode as the indexing never worked reliably for me, but worst problem with them was you couldn't keep a good grip on the bar and change gear.

This happened to me this week but worse with grip shifts and caught in the rain. I was in middle rings on the back and reached a hill and was stuck in that gear as I couldn't get grip to shift.

 

[retrobiker273891]

Will thumbies work with any speed so long as you don't use indexed? So comtemporary 9+ on back would be fine with thumbies in friction mode?

 

[retrobiker273891]

Thumb shifters are great for obsessive fiddling on quiet rides where you can hear the ticking and make proper adjustments to get it straight.

Yes! This is my riding style! Slowly crawling up long hills.

 

[hamster]

Will thumbies work with any speed so long as you don't use indexed? So comtemporary 9+ on back would be fine with thumbies in friction mode?

Yes, with 6-9 speed MTB. After that the cable pull changes and I'm not sure - the mechs require more cable and I've never tried to see if there is enough. 10 speed road rear mech is compatible with 7-9 MTB so is also going to be OK.