Why are thumb shifters so prized in the retrobike community?

[greencat]

Can you explain this please?

I was thinking that the only benefit I can think of with trigger ones is being able to maintain your grip and thought that trigger shifting doesn't necessarily have to be indexed so wondered if there are indeed friction trigger shifters which give the benefits of the maintained grip with all the usual benefits of friction shifting.

They looked a bit like this (but black all over IIRC)

Yes, trigger shifting does indeed help maintain grip/avoid having to shift it. I am going to say that indexed gears with trigger shifters is a solved problem now - and mostly very easy to use and set up. I resisted for many years, but frankly they just work. Hardly surprising after 30 years of R&D. I've got a deore 10 spd trigger system on my Whyte, and it still runs perfectly after 18 months - no adjustments whatsoever.

 

[retrobiker273891]

They looked a bit like this (but black all over IIRC)

Yes, trigger shifting does indeed help maintain grip/avoid having to shift it. I am going to say that indexed gears with trigger shifters is a solved problem now - and mostly very easy to use and set up. I resisted for many years, but frankly they just work. Hardly surprising after 30 years of R&D. I've got a deore 10 spd trigger system on my Whyte, and it still runs perfectly after 18 months - no adjustments whatsoever.

I would have agreed as I was thinking how simple they are on the new bike UNTIL the nightmare of indexing that has been plaguing me for days.

I am going to try a new gear cable and if it doesn't work, or if I don't think of any other solutions I might give up and get thumb shifters. Indexed gears give questionable benefit with a load more setup issues imo. I liked the intuitive feel of friction shifting. I would have got used to them if it weren't for the rigmarole of indexing.

The compromised grip I suddenly realized is largely a moot point if you are using bar ends where you will be shifting your hands around the cockpit regularly anyway. Also people got by for years fine on road bikes with the shifters far down on the frame!

 

[CassidyAce]

Also people got by for years fine on road bikes with the shifters far down on the frame!

They got by. 'Fine' is questionable. I always found them a pain, especially if you're out of the saddle and have to reach for the down tube, and then, due to the wonders of friction shifting, reach again because the shift wasn't quite right the first time. I can't imagine ever, ever going back to down tube shifters.

As for thumbies... If you go over the bars, you could spear a gonad on one, and who wants that? Gripshift all the way!

 

[bold stelvis]

I've got 9 speed dura-ace indexed down-tube shifters on my retro-modded peugeot road bike
they click REALLY nicely with a very solid snick and work fine, though I agree the whole 'reach down thing' is a lot less convenient than bar mounted shifters or brifters. They just suit that old 80s bike

thumbies and downtube shifters just feel more tactile somehow even if I have to agree that modern trigger shifters are just functionally better -
but I've realised these days that most of my bike obsessions are basically aesthetically related, so willing to put up with antiquated functionality for the looks

 

[Betsy]

I've got 9 speed dura-ace indexed down-tube shifters on my retro-modded peugeot road bike
they click REALLY nicely with a very solid snick and work fine, though I agree the whole 'reach down thing' is a lot less convenient than bar mounted shifters or brifters. They just suit that old 80s bike

I use them as thumbies..

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

There's not a lot of voices singing the praises of gripshift...

That's because it's shite
I have my coat thank you....

 

[tenbikes]

Ironically, thumb shifters are the only shifter where your thumb can be irrelevant. This is a real positive in case of injury or arthritis.
You can shift with fingers or heel of hand etc.

Other benefits are listed above.
The very best option for off road touring.

 

[Woz]

That's because it's shite
I have my coat thank you....

Saw a build once with a Gripshit mounted through a quill stem.

Difficult to decide if bike handling and changing gear would have been better than taking the risk of your bollocks being lacerated by extra long stem lever mounts.

 

[Woz]

As someone else aptly put it in the thread I like how you can 'dump the whole cassette in one sweep' if you want to though that alone is probably not much of a benefit in practice in that I am more likely to want to sweep multiple shifts up than down, when reaching a sudden incline. The other way round, when going downhill, as I am not in a hurry, there is plenty of time to click through down one by one.

Dumping the cassette in the upshift - a higher gear - is only really interesting on the road, and Shimano to my knowledge never had the edge on Campagnolo on that; 3 pushes on the paddle to go across a 10 speed block and drop to the smallest sprocket with even very early Ergo shifters.

Off road, dumping the cassette was primarily on XTR or XT level with Rapid Fire. One long push equalled three sprockets going to a lower gear. So three long pushes to go across a 9 speed block to the biggest sprocket. Shimano road stuff practically the same in 105 or Tiagra level. I am not aware of any Shimano shifter that could move to higher gears other than one click of a time.

IMHO, it is in rare extreme circumstances an entire cassette needs to be dumped. If you did your homework and selected gear ratios your would practically dump three or four or five sprockets with a single front shift. Dumping an entire cassette even with a thumb shifter is in no way a natural hand movement either.

You talk about all this in an odd way. One minute you are on about an 11 - 42 rear sprocket spread, and you would like the possibility to dump all that in one sweep with an ancient thumbshifter? That is a pure comedy scenario and you would probably fall off your bicycle.

 

[Woz]

From memory, the only circumstance I can remember requiring to dump ALL gears from high to low was a transition from a fast fire road then going straight up a single track short cut back out of the valley bottom via a sharp 100 degree left hander. Decelerating hard on the brakes and faffing with two thumb shifters at the same time never ever really worked and normally resulted in a dropped chain. With Rapid Fire it could be controlled much better with simultaneous braking - by getting 2/3 into the cassette with one rear shift, get to the granny ring with two clicks on the corner while soft pedalling, then out of the corner underload with two more rear full shifts worked.