Down Tube Shifters.

jogger2000

Hello All,
I am trying to fit some Shimano 105 (7speed braze on) down tube shifters to an old road bike.Imanaged to fit the rear mech shifter and operate fine but when it comes to fitting the front mech shifter I cannot get the lever to run parallel with the down tube when it the lower gear position .(this is when the even the cable is not connected) Can anyone help I've tried numerous combinations but they just don't work. Many Thanks!

Raph

"to run parallel with the down tube" - do you mean it goes too far back, or doesn't go far enough?

If you mean it goes beyond parallel - I'm not sure about that exact type of lever but with most down tube levers the back plate has a tab that stops the lever moving any futher back when it's parallel to the down tube. Sounds like that could be missing. If the stop tab is internal to the lever then I don't know, sorry.

Phil Russell

This sound as if you have got the lever mech fitted 90 degrees out of place and that a lever stop is preventing the lever returning ... I assume you want the lever to point up towards the headtube while at present it is sticking out horizontally.

remove the lever and backplate ... I assume there is a back plate with a square cut out in it which fits over the brazed on part on the downtube. Maybe dismantle the lever to allow the backplate to sift round a quarter turn. There may well be a cable guide hole on this ... it needs to be pointing towards the bb.

I cannot see any other reason why it is as you describe.

Cheers, Phil

jogger2000

Thanks for the advice Phil. I'll try dismantling the lever and see if that works.(any idea how you do it.) Many thanks again.