STI Shifter repair?

[paulg]

A friend had a similar problem with some older STI shifters not releasing the cable or indexing properly and I remembered a fix I’d read about on some bike forums:

Squirt some WD40 in the mechanism and see if it frees up, it worked like a charm for my friends bike.

I’m fairly sure that STI shifters cannot be dismantled without some serious effort and lots of small springs flying around the room!

Good luck.

[dkel]

I had similar trouble with my STI a few months ago after only having the bike for a few months. I remember trying to tension the cable, and being unable to pull the thing hard enough to get it to start working. Very frustrating. Anyway, the cable was frayed inside the shifter, causing it to flake out. A new cable returned it to full function. I know you just put new cables in recently, but you may check that they haven’t frayed. Good luck!

[hozn]

Yeah, Shimano road shifters are not really serviceable, apparently. I run Sram (that is one of the reasons, having replaced shifter paddle once now). I also hate how vague the Shimano stuff gets as it ages/wears. I often experienced similar “why did it click twice that time!?”-type behavior on my 105 group before I replaced it with Apex. Much happier, love the decisive shifting from SRAM. Try the WD40, thoughts, sounds like that can’t hurt!

[sam_aye_am]

@dkel 116383 wrote:

I had similar trouble with my STI a few months ago after only having the bike for a few months. I remember trying to tension the cable, and being unable to pull the thing hard enough to get it to start working. Very frustrating. Anyway, the cable was frayed inside the shifter, causing it to flake out. A new cable returned it to full function. I know you just put new cables in recently, but you may check that they haven’t frayed. Good luck!

Didn’t see your reply before getting into the garage after work…and after having to push start my motorcycle to get home of all things.

Sure enough, the cables some how frayed and pierced the cable end cap. Apparently binding the shifter up. Ordinarily, I’d assume some hack did this. But that hack was apparently me. :confused: I know I used my park tool housing and cable cutters and properly de-burred the ends. It isn’t like this was my first time at cable and housing installation or replacement. Maybe yokozuna (sp?) cables aren’t all that. Maybe I need to suck it up and track down the SRAM equivalent to the GORE Ride On cables I’m using on the mountain bikes. Guess I’ll keep monitoring.

On the plus side…relatively easy fix and there is nothing wrong with my shifter. No runs to the LBS or desperate orders on line. And I get to commute via bike tomorrow.

[hozn]

That is a great outcome. I’m having some issues with my Yokozuna cables/housing too on my road bike RD — just very difficult shifting. I’ve been assuming that there’s corrosion in there, though this bike hasn’t spent too much time in the wet. Perhaps it’s related to this. I’m gonna switch back to Jagwire stainless cables and Ripcord universal housing for my road & commuter bikes (like my mtb); the Yokozuna stuff is indeed very compressionless, but I think Ripcord will work well enough and I never had any problems with the housing or cables. And it also doesn’t cost $70 per set !!!

[DismalScientist]

Bar end shifters FTW.

[dkel]

@DismalScientist 116425 wrote:

Bar end shifters FTW.

Fixed gear FTW.

[mstone]

@dkel 116427 wrote:

Fixed gear FTW.

Worst. Shifting. Ever.

[dkel]

@mstone 116452 wrote:

Worst. Shifting. Ever.

Never. Needs. Repairs.

[mstone]

@dkel 116461 wrote:

Never. Needs. Repairs.

Also never gets any better.

[Terpfan]

Following along this same vein, I noticed my left integrated shifting was a little loose. What’s the trick to tightening in. I pulled back the tight plastic hood a little but didn’t see a place to tighten a screw/bolt, which is what I presume holds it there in place. They’re shimano shifters. I’m sure it’s fairly obvious and I’m just missing it, but hoping someone smarter can point it out.

[hozn]

@Terpfan 119240 wrote:

Following along this same vein, I noticed my left integrated shifting was a little loose. What’s the trick to tightening in. I pulled back the tight plastic hood a little but didn’t see a place to tighten a screw/bolt, which is what I presume holds it there in place. They’re shimano shifters. I’m sure it’s fairly obvious and I’m just missing it, but hoping someone smarter can point it out.

You probably just need to pull back the rubber further. For my Shimano shifters I just rolled up the rubber hoods from the base of the hood, not the front. You’ll see a 5mm hex bolt exposed eventually; that’s what you want to tighten.

[Terpfan]

@hozn 119244 wrote:

You probably just need to pull back the rubber further. For my Shimano shifters I just rolled up the rubber hoods from the base of the hood, not the front. You’ll see a 5mm hex bolt exposed eventually; that’s what you want to tighten.

Awesome, thanks!

Worked perfectly. Took 20 seconds once I rolled hood back far enough

[Author]

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