'sloppy' shifting on 105 compact

janwal

Because I already had a 105 triple,when i changed to compact on my Kinesis Ti the LBS said I could keep all the levers and mechs and just change the crankset.Once the mechs stops were set they were fine..The front lever says triple on it the rear one just 105.The rear mech is long cage.Recently though I'm having to 'double' click a lot of the rear changes to get them to move cleanly and it's getting annoying and just feels sloppy.So I want to tighten everything up.
Was thinking ultegra RD6700 rear mech as it will take the 12-30 I use.I assume this will work fine with the 105 front lever? Or do I need an ultegra shifter.Is the pull etc any different?
The front mech is a triple one but front shifting is ok but does take a ' long' sweep of the lever to do it.Should I swap to double front mech at the same time?Again would this work with the triple front levers?
Any other tips would be much appreciated.thanks

markhewitt1978

12-30 will work fine with a 12-30. Although I have to say I'm having the same issue with my 105 rear mech, but I'm sure it's down to lack of proper indexing on my part, and a partially worn cable, rather than anything being wrong with the mech or the levers.

slowbike

If it used to work nicely and now it doesn't then it's down to how clean it is ...
I suspect your rear mech cable has crudded up a bit and is now sticking in the outer - probably the bit down by the back wheel ... take it off and uncover the normally hidden cable and I bet you it'll be gunky ...
Either clean it or replace (inner and outer) - it's probably the same for the front too - although the long sweep is the lever itself rather than sticky cables ...

keef66

Every time my 105 shifting has gone significantly awry it's been because the cable has been fraying inside the shifter. Catch it before it starts depositing loose bits of wire inside the shifting mechanism; much easier to fish it out if you don't wait till it actually snaps :oops:

Easy way to inspect it without undoing anything:-

have the bike in lowest gear (largest rear sprocket) then without turning the pedals, just upshift all the way till you run out of clicks, while pulling the cable to maintain a bit of tension. That should leave you with enough slack to unseat the small loop of outer cable at the rear mech from it's stop on the chainstay. That in turn will allow you to push the cable back through the shifter to examine the nipple and the first 2-3 cm of cable.