Shoutout to the bike shop in Portland that still uses friction shifters on their rental fleet

I was in Portland for a few days and stopped by a shop near the river that rents out bikes. All their rental bikes, maybe 30 of them, had old school friction shifters, not index. The guy at the counter said it's because they never need adjusting and tourists can't mess them up. I get the point about being tough, but I think it's a bad call. It makes the bikes harder to use for people who aren't used to them. You have to fiddle to find the right gear every single time. I saw a family struggling to get up a small hill because they couldn't get the shift right. For a rental, you want something simple and sure. A basic 7-speed index system is cheap and just works. Has anyone else run into a shop sticking with friction for the wrong reasons?

3 comments

3 Comments

craig.mila23d ago

Oh man, that's a whole vibe lol. I borrowed my cousin's vintage bike with friction shifters last summer and spent a solid ten minutes just trying to get it into a gear, any gear, to leave the driveway. I can see the shop's point about them being tough, but for a random family just trying to cruise along the river? That's like handing someone a manual transmission car when they only know automatic and saying "figure it out, it's more reliable.

the_kim23d ago

Imagine thinking a tourist on vacation wants to master a fine art like friction shifting. That shop is basically running a hidden talent scout for future bike mechanics. Their logic is bulletproof until you watch someone just give up and walk the bike.

patricialee23d ago

My uncle still rides an old ten speed with those shifters. He calls it "listening to the bike" but it just sounds like a chain eating itself to me.