Indexed Front shifter on Trike ?

[Arakasy]

Sooooo... In my youth (mtb) we used a new findangle device that had just hit the market called a "rapid fire shifter" basically little triggers were pushed and the gear would flick over to the right spot no worries.

My Performer trike E (called the black widow) has a non indexed front shifter...I'm finding it painfull when I fudge the "pull" and the chain grinds and makes large bang noises... I need to be super carefull when up shifting so this doesn't happen... Also if I pull the shifter too far... Chain comes right off and that sucks...

I just spoke to one the local bike stores... He says I'll lose gears if I go for a front indexed shifter... Something about chain rub on the front derailer... I agreed with his assumption on the phone BUT... We have those little chain guide things under our seat... Keeping the chain in one spot as far as the front derailer goes.

So my questions are...
1: can we use indexed front shifters without loss of gears ?
2: if we can't... How can I stop the chain falling off if I pull the shifter too much..

Guys thanks for your help... 18 yrs not riding... Then swapping to the recumbent trike... Has really thrown me a curve ball.

[rdp_au]

I used an indexed trigger shifter for my front derailleur on my homebuilt recumbent. Worked perfectly once set up. As you say, the idler keeps the chain line constant (or very close to it), so there are no problems with chain rub.

[Arakasy]

Ohh sweet... Upgrade time

[OldBloke]

Arkasy, you just need to adjust the two stop screws on the front derailleur. The Shimano website has some good guides on how to do it.
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[OldBloke]

If your derailleur isn't adjusted properly you will probably still have over shifting problems even with a trigger shifter.
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[ldrcycles]

Stopping the chain from coming off is a simple matter of adjusting the limit screws on the front derailleur. Just screw them in until the derailleur won't move far enough to push the chain off the chainring.






Indexed shifting has it's place but on the front you will only have 2 or 3 chainrings, so with practice it's easy to shift almost as quickly as with an indexed shifter, and there is less to go wrong. Marginally lighter weight too for what that matters.

[Arakasy]

I was afraid of this... Glad it was only $10 to get the lbs to do the original gear setup... What a !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! job they did... Back gears don't like to do what they are told either... Going to have to learn how to tune gears whoop whoop

THANKS GUYS !!!

[John Lewis]

The bar end shifters both front and rear are indexed on my trike.
It works well enough but you do have to get them set up correctly.
Mine can be also used in friction shifter mode and I've used them that way for years now.
Changing on the rear is almost like automatic transmission no clunk clunk etc.
It didn't take long to get used to. Indexed shifting is way overrated in my opinion.
My trike only has 8 speed on the back. Dont know what it would be like with 10.

With only 3 rings up front I think it makes little difference whether indexed or not. Really a matter of personal preference and what you are used to.
Trigger shifters would be awkward to fit to a trike I think.

John