SRAM shifter problem

twoshots
twoshots Posts: 58
edited June 2014 in Workshop
I have SRAM Apex on my bike and on the way home from work on Friday night the right-hand shifter started to refuse to go into the largest rear cog. An annoyance, but I thought perhaps it just needed some adjustment. However over the course of 20 miles or so I was reduced to using the two smallest cogs as it would refuse to shift any further.

Some fiddling just now seems to suggest that the shifting mechanism just pops off the ratchet as soon as it sees any significant force. I'm not quite sure if this is fixable or if this requires a new shifter.

Anybody seen this? A quick search suggests a new shifter is required but it just seems such a small issue. I couldn't see any broken parts.

Comments

  • racingcondor
    racingcondor Posts: 1,434
    What seems to occasionally happen is that the ratchet doesn't engage properly and grinds the edges of the teeth off. As you can imagine over time that means you can't engage the gears properly.

    I've had that failure once (in 4 years of SRAM) and like you it went from slipping a bit to having fewer and fewer gears as the ride went on.

    New shifter I'm afraid. The good news is that while it does seem to be one of the two ways SRAM shifters generally fail it usually takes a long time.