Brifter Not Working

Mr Wood · 03-21-2009

Just went for the first ride of the season only to find out my right brifter is not working. It is not "catching" when I try to shift. Any ideas? Cleaning? Adjusting? Shimano RSX (1996?) Anyone who says "replace it" just because it's not Dura Ace or Campy will be ignored.

The Moontrane · 03-21-2009

You should replace it since it’s not Dura Ace or Campy.

By “catching,” do you mean it won’t increase cable tension, or do you mean something else?

Remove (or at least loosen) the shifter cable to ensure there’s no tension, and cycle the shifter through all positions. If it doesn’t shift, it might be gunked up and in need of some WD-40 flushing.

If it does shift, the cable might be suspect, but you’ll have discovered this after you removed it.

Mr Wood · 03-21-2009

Yeah, it won't shift into the smaller cogs. Downshifts are ok. When I push on the shifter, it just moves past where it would normally engage and shift without shifting. If I mess with it (push it repeatedly) I can get it to shift but that is obviously not the way it is supposed to work. I pulled on the cable a few times (where it runs past the downtube) and the cable itself was not caught or binding, so it must be the mechanism in the brifter.

livin4lax09 · 03-21-2009

yeah mine used to do that a bit... you may need to flush out your shifters, as previously said. Just spray wd40 in every bit that you can reach, rinse, then lube it up when you're done.

FatTireFred · 03-21-2009

you would even replace dura-ace, only campy is servicable... you can try to flush w/ lube, WD-40, whatever, but that's usually temp life-support before inevitable death

crispy010 · 03-21-2009

I had a dura-ace brifter do this to me. I tried flushing it and it got worse, eventually just ditched the thing and replaced it with an ultegra brifter.

Shimano brifters are in general not serviceable by the user or by the shop. Once they stop working, throw it away and buy a new one. It sucks, but that's the way it goes.

EDIT: yea, what FTF said. Once it does this, it's terminal. Just a matter of time.

JoelS · 03-21-2009

The RSX brifter on one of our bikes did the same thing. Flushed it with WD40. That helped a little. I ended up taking it as apart as I could, and destroyed/removed the plastic shield at the top too. I was able to see what was wrong. There is a little hook that wasn't moving to engage the teeth it needed to. By directing all of my cleaning attention at that, I got it working. Sprayed it down with lube and it's been fine for the last 1000 miles.

Good luck with it!

Kerry Irons · 03-21-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Wood

Yeah, it won't shift into the smaller cogs. Downshifts are ok. When I push on the shifter, it just moves past where it would normally engage and shift without shifting. If I mess with it (push it repeatedly) I can get it to shift but that is obviously not the way it is supposed to work. I pulled on the cable a few times (where it runs past the downtube) and the cable itself was not caught or binding, so it must be the mechanism in the brifter.

You mean you pulled on the cable from the derailleur end or the shifter end? The two obvious issues would be cable friction from either corrosion in the cable casing or frayed cable, and a sticky shifter. The sticky shifter needs the WD-40/TriFlow/ProLink flush while working through the gears. If you shift toward the smaller cogs and it gets there "after a while," then that points to cables/casing. If it never gets there, then that points to the shifter. If the cables are good and the flushing doesn't help, then you need a new shifter.

Mr Wood · 03-22-2009

Flushed the shifter with WD-40 and it's back! Thanks for the advice!

After the WD-40 flush, I let it sit for a while and then gave it a good Tri-Flow flush. Worked it through the gears during both "flushes".

Mr Wood · 03-22-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kerry Irons

You mean you pulled on the cable from the derailleur end or the shifter end? The two obvious issues would be cable friction from either corrosion in the cable casing or frayed cable, and a sticky shifter. The sticky shifter needs the WD-40/TriFlow/ProLink flush while working through the gears. If you shift toward the smaller cogs and it gets there "after a while," then that points to cables/casing. If it never gets there, then that points to the shifter. If the cables are good and the flushing doesn't help, then you need a new shifter.

I pulled on the cable where it runs next to the down tube (It's exposed there, not in a housing) and the cable was not sticking in the housing by the rear derailleur, nor was the derailleur sticking. When I say it would catch "after a while" I meant it would "not catch, not catch, not catch, catch. So it was sticking inside the brifter.

Ibashii · 03-22-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr Wood

Flushed the shifter with WD-40 and it's back! Thanks for the advice!

After the WD-40 flush, I let it sit for a while and then gave it a good Tri-Flow flush. Worked it through the gears during both "flushes".

Right on...I resurrected an Ultegra brifter this way and got a good number of miles out of it afterwards.

It doesn't happen to be cold where you live, does it? Cold exacerbates this problem...there's a decent chance your ancient, warrior shifter will last until next winter! Still, if I were you I'd start a right brifter spare change envelope...I got a Tiagra 9sp right brifter for 60 EUR when my Ultegra died, and it's doing its "keep the second bike functional" job with style and grace.

Mr Wood · 03-22-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ibashii

It doesn't happen to be cold where you live, does it? Cold exacerbates this problem

Yes. Chicagoland gets cold in the winter.

cxwrench · 03-22-2009

the assembly grease in the SHIFTER gets sticky as it gets old...happens w/ shimano road and mountain shifters. usually wd-40 will loosen it up for a while. you may have to repeat this every now and then, but it should keep the SHIFTER working for quite a while.

please note that i keep saying SHIFTER as 'brifter' is the most annoying word in use on this forum. i'm actually thinking of starting a website dedicated to eradicating this lame word.

SHIFTER...please...