I've been waiting to see if this thread would survive the On Topic Filtering Software, and it seems folks have been able to keep it relevant, so I'll add my two cents.
I've been riding a (KOF) Ed Litton frame for a while with a Shimano Sante group except for the wheels, which use a modern, ramped 9-speed cassette (too many gears? too much money? yeah, they're both problems I wish I had!). Friction shifting and 9 speeds work fine, but maybe there's something different about the Sante DT shifters and derailer.
The only problem I have with this set-up is one I've had since my On Topic days using a Campy NR set-up with only 5 speeds. Under very heavy load (me out of saddle trying to power up a steep road), the chain would rather be on a lower, smaller cog. It doesn't (and didn't) seem to matter which cog the chain started on, left to its own devices it will always eventually find the smallest available. Unless I fall (fell) off first. Of course, I have this problem with completely off-topic drive trains, too.
Dave Ross Portola Valley, CA
At 3:33 PM -0500 12/4/07, Adam Hammond wrote:
>However, friction shifting and ramped cassettes (from what I read)
>don't appear to go well together. It seems that "ghost shifting" is
>a problem. I'm only planning on running 8 gears in the back, so
>things aren't as narrow as a 9 or 10 speed setup would be. But it
>seems like it would still be a problem.