okay its been around 5 years since i had gears but I'm feeling 1×9 might be the perfect set up. So the shifter indicator is to the right hand side of the window (SLX shifter) should that be large or small sprocket on the cassette.

Do people ever use shifter windows ?
Usually the first bit of junk to come off a bike IMO.

I'm going to hazard a thick idiot guess that the RH is the small cog.

Depends if you have a normal or rapid rise mech. Normal mech would mean small sprocket = right side of indicator.

damn that would mean the shifter may be broken, still it was free and he did say he thought it were. Still it looks and sounds alright.

since you're talking about rear mech, smallest sprocket will in fact mean little red marker at the left of the window.

Hmm who to believe hope your right b17. So just to confirm rear ultegra derailleur, rear slx shifer red indicator to the right =

b17 wins.

Apologies b17, small sprocket = LEFT

Do people ever use shifter windows ?
Usually the first bit of junk to come off a bike IMO.

Yes, I do, not all the time but they do get used.
It means I can look at my shifter to tell what gear I'm in rather than looking down between my legs. Which can be very useful. 🙂

I thought I would know, I can't remember ever looking!

normaly, the indicator is the first part of the shifter to break ime

if the shiftyness function works ok, dont worry about it anyway?

Shifters come with windows? 😯