New thumb friction shifter Sturmey Archer 9 speed?????

Hey hey normally only post in the retro road section but in need of a solution!!!

I need a thumb shifter for a friends bike im building for him and after telling him the price of "Pauls Thumbies" and getting a funny look I thought about using a 5 speed sturmey archer shifter for the rear mech,,

But I can not for the life of me remember if they have a "friction" option as well as a click and if the stroke will be long enough for a 9 speed set up?????

model im thinking about is SLS50 T5

any input??

i doubt they would have a friction mode as sa hubs need a definite position to change properly.

I looked at these the other day as they look nice!

However I concluded that they didn't have a friction option.

I did think about taking them apart - indexing usually achieved by a little ball bearing - you could remove this.

However I didn't know if there would be enough friction to hold the gear so I gave up.

Just wondering if the clamp will accept a standard Ultegra or Dura ace lever, as Pauls thumbies are soooooooooooooooo expensive for what they are,

For the cost of £15 maybe worth getting one and seeing if any of my friction levers I have in the shed will work with it...

Of course if someone has already done this then that would save some head scratching

if you dont mind what they look like, you can use a shifter mount from a set of stxrc shifters or similar.

Good thinking - the SLS50 shifter blurb here http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sturmey-Arche ... 0258365309 says it can be mounted to a downtube, so assume the fitting is the same!

Just not sure on the diameter of the "reel" bit of the shifter - if a shimano is bigger then it might not fit.

Let us know if you try it out!

I was thinking of running 1x10 on a retro MTB frame. Prob have to use an index shifter tho for 10 speed.

But how do you mount the cable stop?!

dont need a cable stop if running them in friction mode. oh and a six speed thumbie has just enough throw for a 8/9 speed block.

oh go on then I will order one and take a punt... Pic and report in a few days!!!

They actually look pretty cool:-)

If they work out well that will be very interesting