Grrrr Damn Shimano Shifters!!!

prawny

Not pleased, my second Tiagra shifter just broke after less than 30 miles, the first one lasted around 70 miles. Both fronts so not heavily used, no crashes grrr!

I'll give you a run down of the problem. Pedaling along in the big ring all is right with the world come to a hill change down (I know MTFU!) and it's stiff makes a bit of a clunk.
Get to the top of the hill push across - no click, the mech moves but won't stay across.
Is it something I'm doing? Something about how Halfords (groan) are setting the front mech up?

I only got my Boardman road comp in December last time I took it in for a new shifter they had it for nearly 2 weeks. I'm going to ring today and see if they'll order one so I can spin around until it arrives! (luckily its a 50/36 compact and not a 34 - or a triple!!)

GRRRR! Did I mention i'm quite miffed! :evil:

itboffin

prawny wrote:

Not pleased, my second Tiagra shifter just broke after less than 30 miles, the first one lasted around 70 miles. Both fronts so not heavily used, no crashes grrr!

I'll give you a run down of the problem. Pedaling along in the big ring all is right with the world come to a hill change down (I know MTFU!) and it's stiff makes a bit of a clunk.
Get to the top of the hill push across - no click, the mech moves but won't stay across.
Is it something I'm doing? Something about how Halfords (groan) are setting the front mech up?

I only got my Boardman road comp in December last time I took it in for a new shifter they had it for nearly 2 weeks. I'm going to ring today and see if they'll order one so I can spin around until it arrives! (luckily its a 50/36 compact and not a 34 - or a triple!!)

GRRRR! Did I mention i'm quite miffed! :evil:

Sounds to me like you have either too much tension on the cable or muck in the cable housing or possibly bent housing.

I say that because I had the same problem in oiled everywhere changed cables reset the tension then out of pure frustration took the outer off and noticed dirt etc on further examination I found the cable wasn't moving smoothly, changed the outers and everything was back to normal.

It's worth looking at your cables before you explode.

prawny

Thank you, I will do that at lunch. How tight shoud the cable be?

il_principe

If you don't want to fiddle yourself, then pop into an lbs that isn't Halfrauds and get them to sort it out...

ride_whenever

Is the outer stop set right, could just be that you're hitting the stop before you hit the ratchet in the shifter.

prawny

jashburnham wrote:

If you don't want to fiddle yourself, then pop into an lbs that isn't Halfrauds and get them to sort it out...

I really could do with learning all this myself (i'm tight) and the only bike shop i'm familiar with in brum town is cyclesurgery and they charge the earth for repairs.

cjcp

It does sound like a cable tension issue. My front mech did all that clunking nonsense too, so I just got rid of it because I couldn't be ar@sed to faff around with it. MTFU.

Btw, you're lucky it wasn't Campag. You wouldn't have got out the door before it would have been clunking and shifting and breaking all of its own accord...

andrewjoseph

I had exactly the same problem with my 07 boardman comp, shifter broke in the first week.

Halfords replaced it within 2 days and I've not had the problem since.

But i do all my maintenance, it has not been back to halfords since.

itboffin

prawny wrote:

Thank you, I will do that at lunch. How tight shoud the cable be?

Undo the front mech cable and check the shifter works up and down, should be smooth both ways, if so shift down to the smallest setting re-route the cable and tighten at the derailleur bolt enough to remove all the slack, give the shifter a try if it's shifting again then follow these instructions http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=75. if not check those cables outers.

If the shifters don't work when the cables disconnected take them back to the LBS and go mental

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

Btw, you're lucky it wasn't Campag. You wouldn't have got out the door before it would have been clunking and shifting and breaking all of its own accord...

Heathen.

Philistine.

WITCH!!!

Campy is so simple even I can index front & rear mechs.

prawny

TBH I was thinking next time I'm gonna go Campy see if I can break those

Well either that or some downtube shifters!

Edit: Yay 200 posts

itboffin

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Btw, you're lucky it wasn't Campag. You wouldn't have got out the door before it would have been clunking and shifting and breaking all of its own accord...

Heathen.

Philistine.

WITCH!!!

Campy is so simple even I can index front & rear mechs.

Excuse me old man but how many clicks on a campy LH shifter? mmmh? how many trimming options?

I thank you, now off with the lot of ya! you fair weather tarty LBS using softies.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Shimanoboffin but Campydullard wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Btw, you're lucky it wasn't Campag. You wouldn't have got out the door before it would have been clunking and shifting and breaking all of its own accord...

Heathen.

Philistine.

WITCH!!!

Campy is so simple even I can index front & rear mechs.

Excuse me old man but how many clicks on a campy LH shifter? mmmh? how many trimming options?

I thank you, now off with the lot of ya! you fair weather tarty LBS using softies.

Having trouble with your Campy stuff?

Oh dear, oh dear. :P :P :P

Have you tried grip shifters? I hear they're pretty simple

itboffin

For your information I never have trouble :oops:

I have 9 speed campy shifters working on a 10 speed shimano set up and 7 speed shimano working with campy/suntour - I'm great me

I do however need more space for my bikes & tools and it may take some time to get set up initially :oops:

Six clicks on a LH shifter I mean WTF!!!

lost_in_thought

I was learning from those who know better about indexing over the weekend (your chain's rubbing Oliviaaaaa!!), and thought I was doing quite well, until I pushed the LH shifter through a click too many and shifted the chain right off the smaller ring.

D'oh!

Self, you do NOT have a triple. :oops:

itboffin

lost_in_thought wrote:

I was learning from those who know better about indexing over the weekend (your chain's rubbing Oliviaaaaa!!), and thought I was doing quite well, until I pushed the LH shifter through a click too many and shifted the chain right off the smaller ring.

D'oh!

Self, you do NOT have a triple. :oops:

That's shouldn't happen, sounds like your L screw needs adjusting.

I have spent far too much time fettling :? I really need to get back to work pronto.

prawny

Update - Shifter is knackered halfords have got to order me one in so 20 miles of spinning for me tonight!

Now does bouncing on my seat mean it's too high or too low? :?

greg66_tri_v2.0

prawny wrote:

Update - Shifter is knackered halfords have got to order me one in so 20 miles of spinning for me tonight!

Now does bouncing on my seat mean it's too high or too low? :?

It's least likely to mean that it's too high.

But (sorry to say) the most probable cause is that your spinning technique needs some refinement: you're pushing down (and rebounding) instead of pedalling in circles.

Think Mr Miyagi: "wax on, wax off"...

prawny

Ahh so!

I'll get some practice tonight then, do you want to paint your fence next week? (tis a very nice fence btw)

whyamihere

You're near me... Want to try a bike with Campag some time?

lost_in_thought

itboffin wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

I was learning from those who know better about indexing over the weekend (your chain's rubbing Oliviaaaaa!!), and thought I was doing quite well, until I pushed the LH shifter through a click too many and shifted the chain right off the smaller ring.

D'oh!

Self, you do NOT have a triple. :oops:

That's shouldn't happen, sounds like your L screw needs adjusting.

I have spent far too much time fettling :? I really need to get back to work pronto.

What's an L screw? :oops:

Feltup

L = lower H = higher i.e. the small screws that adjust the maximum limit the changer can move. They are used to stop overshifting i.e. past the small chainring and on to the bottom bracket!

gtvlusso

It is unlikely that the shifter is broken - if it is you have a serious setup issue - more likely knackered or badly routed cables/knackered mech If you are in Bristol, I would be only to happy to set it up for you and show you how to do all this stuff.

L- Low
H - High

Adjuster screws on the mech to set the low and high tolerances (across the sprockets or rings - so that the mech does not go too far either way!

Doh - always a fecker when it goes "bong" on you....can make for an uncomfortable journey home!

lost_in_thought

Thaaaaanks!

Now I just need to find it... I'll look in my park tools book...

prawny

@ GTV Lusso - I'm in brum mate cheers for the offer tho - I took the cable off completely at lunch and it still didn't work, I did some research apparently there's a problem with the pawls or spring on some of the tiagra and 105 shifters.

@ whyamihere - I do, very much but i fear it would make me want to spend more money that I don't have

whyamihere

You can try them on a Shimergo system if you want, then you can keep most of the Shimano drivetrain.

prawny

whyamihere wrote:

You can try them on a Shimergo system if you want, then you can keep most of the Shimano drivetrain.

Really? I thought you had to have all the gubbins, pray tell me more

whyamihere

Couple of ways to do it. I'm running 10 speed shifters on an 8 speed shimano drivetrain. You can get adaptors to run 10 speed Campag shifters on a 10 speed Shimano drivetrain or vice versa.

prawny

Would campy 10 speeds work on a 9 speed shimano block? although I do have a 105 10sp rear mech so I could just get a new cassette hmm, oh look what you've gone and done now :shock:

whyamihere

They can do with an adaptor, yes.

itboffin

google shiftmate they work