Campagnolo ergo help

bianchimoon

Strange, just been lubing the bike cables etc, never touched anything i shouldn't - honest, when it refused to downshift more than from top 3 cogs, still makes all the downshift clicky noises but refuses to go down more than 3 cogs, I can put tension on the cable near derailier by hand and it will drop down to bottom cog, but without hand tension, just refuses, cable 'seems' loose enough. Anybody come across this problem before with Campy veloce? thanks in advance

PhilofCas

drop the rear wheel out and undo cable at the mech, move the mech in and out by hand and see if it moves freely, obviously it will push outwards on its spring, just see if it moves all way in with your hand and then forces your hand back out again smoothly. Then move up through the gears with the lever until it stops clicking (i.e. into lowest gear), then whilst pulling at gear cable with one hand and changing into higher gears with the other, check that each click releases a bit of cable. By doing both of these actions you should be able to suss out where the problem lies, hope this helps.

darren H

I once had a similar problem with a chorus lever. Turned out it needed a re build.
You can get kits for them but I'm told it's a pain of a job.

Jeff bowyer at Mercian did mine, he's semi retired now but still does 3 days a week. His nickname is ergo as he has spent more years repairing ergo levers than most.

Good luck with it. One of them bloody niggle things you can do ain't it, especially if you have no spare ones.

Rodrego Hernandez

Check you tube for rebuild and dismantle videos.

bianchimoon

Oh dear, sounds worse than I was expecting, thanks will try all suggestions

Tom Butcher

When you say it wont downshift from top three do you mean change up to a bigger gear/smaller sprocket ? If that's the case (think I've got this right) then it's quite likely the shifter is releasing cable but the cable or the mech is sticking somewhere.

If it wont shift to the bigger sprockets/smaller gears then that does sound more like an ergo problem assuming there isn't something blocking the mech from moving - either a limit screw or something jammed in it.

Like PoC says you need to release the cable and see if the ergo is pulling and releasing cable with each click of the lever/button. If it is then the problem is with the cabling or the mech which is obviously good news as most times a recable or a good strip and clean of the mech will sort it.

bianchimoon

Thanks Tom and Poc, am working on it at the moment seems the problem was a sticking cable, have taken out and lubed casings, now seems to working , just need to adjust to get full range - thanks again

PhilofCas

good result

bianchimoon

thought so, but seems to have reverted back to problem, can't get the full range of gears, seems to be doing a max of 4 or 5 in any one direction but cable seems to bind when going to smallest cogs

darren H

It's an odd one ain't it.

Have you tried taking your bar tape off. I once damaged my bar tape and it caused an obstruction to a cable.

You def haven't adjusted your rear mech ?.

I'd try a bit of olive oil in the lever. If that don't cure it then you have virtually done all you can and it must be the lever.

It could be the g spring is faulty
What a pain isn't it

Rodrego Hernandez

make sure that the outer cables are OK and not crushed or deformed - especially at the ends and also look for kinks / twists in the inner cable. Can recommend the gore sealed system for fault free shifting too.

bianchimoon

Sure is frustrating darren, tried all I can only thing I can think of it has some aftermarket carbon bars on and the fitting was quiet tight, although that was 12months ago and possibly the cable is snagging inside the bars. I can click down 9 clicks on the thumbshift but now lever is loose on upshift for a few presses, then it will engage 3 or 4 upshift but no more, think it needs lbs knowledge when they open again on Tuesday shame as had a ride planned for monday

darren H

You don't have to scrap your ride. Just ride it semi fixed and shift with the front mech.

A ride must never be scrapped


Yes lbs should have come across it. If they have no joy I have to pop into Mercian next week and will ask them.
They will def have come across this before.

Rodrego Hernandez

bianchimoon wrote:

Sure is frustrating darren, tried all I can only thing I can think of it has some aftermarket carbon bars on and the fitting was quiet tight, although that was 12months ago and possibly the cable is snagging inside the bars. I can click down 9 clicks on the thumbshift but now lever is loose on upshift for a few presses, then it will engage 3 or 4 upshift but no more, think it needs lbs knowledge when they open again on Tuesday shame as had a ride planned for monday

Don't give up just yet!

Check that the rear mech is lubed and moves smoothly
Loosen the bar tape and check out the cables for breaks / problems
Lube the entire cable and check that it is installed correctly - especially around any internal routing and cable guides.
Make sure the cable is attached to the rear mech in the correct spot.
Make sure the lever works - just hold the cable tight and run through the gears with the cable not attached to the rear mech - it should click 9 times up and 9 down. If it feels rough, spray some lube in to it and maybe if you are feeling brave follow the UTube clips to dismantle - rebuild.

It has to be a simple solution, just keep at it and you'll get there.

Tom Butcher

It sounds to me like it's the cable or the mech - if the cable is frayed somewhere and catching or gummed up inside then no amount of lubing them is likely to make a difference - in fact some people will tell you lubing the casings regularly can lead to attracting gunk which will hasten them getting gummed up. I had a similar problem on my winter bike last year and it was the cable fraying and catching on the cable guide under the bottom bracket.

Rather than lube everything and hope it goes away go at it logically - there are only three possiblities and you can eliminate them step by step.

Like someone said earlier release the cable at the rear mech and then while you apply pressure (pull it) get someone to click up and down the ergo. If you feel it pull or release cable with each click then it almost certainly isn't a problem with the ergo because that is all it is supposed to do - pull and release cable.

If you feel it pull and release cable but it takes some effort for you to pull it through then it is almost certainly a cable problem. If you can take up any cable released by the ergo with minimal tension then that suggests the ergo is working and the cable is running free with little friction it's probably the mech.

bianchimoon

Tom, rodrego sounds good advice will try it again tomorrow with a fresh mind and let you know how I get on, happy new year - Alan

Monty Dog

I'd focus initial attention on the cables or rear mech - I've certainly experienced 'sticky' rear mechs before where they become so gunked-up that they shift-up under cable tension, but are slow to downshift. Remove the rear mech and give it a good clean e.g. dunk in cleaner and scrub with old toothbrush. When Ergos 'go' it tends to be that they cannot upshift i.e. ratchet doesn't engage/pull the cable.

bianchimoon

Thanks monty dog, having tried again it's definitely the spring tension on the rear mech is not enough to drop the gears due to the cable not running smoothly as without cable attached it drops cogs fine. The cable goes through bars at quiet a tight angle am wondering if some crude got in there as rest of cables are clear

Rodrego Hernandez

Sounds like you need to strip the brake cables down and rebuild and replace any worn or out of shape sections.

darren H

This got me thinking of how long ergo s should actually last.

My winter bike, now in it's second life. Originally it was a bianchi until I finally got a Mercian.
Ive still got mirage nine speed levers on it and they have done six years without fault. I don't think that's bad to be fair.
Next year I'm upgrading to 11 speed and I'm pretty happy with how long they have lasted.

campagone

Had something similar with my Centaur shifter earlier this year, the shifter worked but the gears werent lining up properly in the bigest sprockets, and in the first gear (biggest sprocket) if I gave the cable a gentle tug it would click and release into second. Tried everything, new cables etc to no avail then found an article about the rebuild mentioned earlier in the thread. Have a read of this http://www.campyonly.com/howto/ergo_rebuild.html
I ordered the parts from the US shop mentioned and they delivered quite quickly. When I did the rebuild I could see that the G spring carrier had split and it was opening up under load, by the way I bought the carbon carier for my lever and it worked fine. Im not sure if these parts are suitable for a Veloce but they should be ok, I think the basic mechanics of the levers are the same throughout the range. Good luck.

bianchimoon

Mine are veloce ergo less than two years old, after the autopsy at LBS may have to look at chorus or record if ergos at fault, regardless will report back and let you know what cause of fault was - cheers

Rodrego Hernandez

Had my Centaur lever fail and after the initial panic, followed the you tube video and managed to dis-assemble and re-assemble. Your problem sounds like it is related to the cable though so in theory should be a simple case of stripping the bar tape off, examining and replacing the cable where necessary and then putting back together. I hope it is that simple though!!