These were bar-end shifters? That's pretty quick to fail, was it potentially installed badly, or is it just a cheap'n'nasty bit of kit?
I guess it should be covered by warranty at least.
I've been using friction shifters on my beater bike - I must admit I find them a bit painful, though I suspect part of that is having 20y.o. kit at either end of the wire.
It's mid range Shimano bar end (SL-BS77 9-speed), which by all accounts should last for many of thousands of km. Failed in under 3000km, about 4 months. The mode of failure looks like the unit was over-tightened, but I don't really know enough about bar ends to be certain of this. I will definitely be speaking with the bike shop who originally sold me the bike, and will be most put out if repair/replacement is going to be at any cost to me.
The front shifter is friction only, and I think I prefer it that way (particularly given the wide range of the rear cassette, and hence the chain angle). Having ridden 25km on rear friction now I'd say I prefer indexed, but (at least with newish gear) friction isn't too bad. It does make the largest two cogs easier to get in to.
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I guess it should be covered by warranty at least.
I've been using friction shifters on my beater bike - I must admit I find them a bit painful, though I suspect part of that is having 20y.o. kit at either end of the wire.
Cheers,
Leighton...
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The mode of failure looks like the unit was over-tightened, but I don't really know enough about bar ends to be certain of this. I will definitely be speaking with the bike shop who originally sold me the bike, and will be most put out if repair/replacement is going to be at any cost to me.
The front shifter is friction only, and I think I prefer it that way (particularly given the wide range of the rear cassette, and hence the chain angle). Having ridden 25km on rear friction now I'd say I prefer indexed, but (at least with newish gear) friction isn't too bad. It does make the largest two cogs easier to get in to.
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