Cracked Sora Shifters

AlfaJim

Hello all.

I've recently started cycling clipped to my pedals and have taken a few embarrassing low speed tumbles. I checked my bike after each one and it always looked fine, apart from a few more scuffs here and there.

Yesterday I changed my bar tape and unfortunately when the old tape was off I noticed that both the left and right shifters (Shimano Sora's) have got some fairly large cracks on the plastic casing.




I've had a look online and Shimano publish the documentation for all of their parts, it looks to me that it's the main structure that is damaged. This is the link to relevant documentation:http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponents/ST/EV-ST-3500-3422_v1_m56577569830800256.pdf To my eye it looks like I have damaged part no 12.

At this stage I'm worried by bike isn't safe to ride, which is a real bummer for me as I use it to commute each day and try and do some recreational cycling over the weekends.

So in conclusion, I guess I have the following questions:

Is my bike safe to ride? Is the main unit broken, or does it look like just a cover? Is this costly to repair? If possible I don't really want to be buying two new shifters (I'm pretty hard up at the moment)

I would really appreciate any advice or suggestions, will take it down to my local bike shop as soon as possible, but I wanted some background knowledge before I did!

Anyway, thanks for reading!

James

ride_whenever

I'd take them off, expoxy the cracks and wrap them in something to get a really good bond then I wouldn't worry about it, seeing as money's tight.

It looks like it's been done by over tightening.

AlfaJim

Awesome, thanks very much for the reply.

Not sure If I would be able to get them back on if I took them off. But having said that I doubt I can make them a lot worse!

Monty Dog

Epoxy won't really work - it doesn't really bond that well to the polymer that the lever body is moulded from - by the position of the crack it certainly looks like the clamp has been over-tightened. Drilling a small hole at the apex of the crack to stop it propagating; replacing the lever body itself, or simply buying new levers are the options available.

AlfaJim

Thanks for the reply! The shifters were definitely too tight. From the research I did it seems they are supposed to shift inwards in case of impact. Mine definitely did not do that.

If as you suggest, and I fear that gluing doesn't suffice, do you know if it is possible to replace the body with any kind of equivalent? Or would it have to be a Sora part. I haven't been able to find any replacement parts for Sora shifters anywhere online. Seems they weren't designed to be self maintainable. To be honest I haven't seen any replacement bodies either.

Thanks again for you reply and help.

James

rolf_f

Shimano STIs aren't exactly renowned for their repairability particularly at the lower end. Even if you could get the part, I doubt it would be economical to fix it.

So firstly, do the cracks in the shifters actually affect the function? If not, then I'd leave them be (following Monty Dogs hole drilling advice above).

If I was minded to try a repair, I suspect I'd see if it was possible to screw a strip of metal across the crack. Or maybe even a horrible and messy fibreglass repair? I suspect you'd be able to get away with something pretty hideous and it not feeling or showing under the hood rubber.

bianchibob

I have a pair of Shimano Sora shifters spare if you are interested. £35.00 plus P&P £4.50. They are only 18 months old and are spare as I have upgraded.