Posted by: nothingfuture
Re: No Boring Bikes- back in the earlier days of riding extra-janky technical singletrack (and long before 1x had found it's way to anything that wasn't a DH bike...) I used to run a 32/22 2x up front, and I used an XT thumbshifter to allow me to set the front derailleur just right for chain retention. Even then it got lots of looks ("What's wrong with RapidFire?" they'd ask), but god did it work well.
I'm old enough to have raced on friction downtube shifters- and while I've no urge to go back to those days, I'll say that getting a friction shift *just right* is a special sort of joy. It's a little like when you rev-match a downshift on a manual transmission and you bang-on get it.
The multi-indexed GripShift front shifters were great for that too. Way fewer dropped chains.
Friction Thumbies are easier to operate in the heat of battle than down tube shifters but harder than indexed Thumbies and those are trickier than triggers. I love hitting a perfect shift, and also not shifting superfluously when a little grunt will do.
You should (MTB, Thumbie) friction shifting!!! Perfect candidate. Or don’t, I mean I know the selling points are a bit suspect.