RS505 cable guides - a cautionary tale
A quick tip that might save you a lot of money. The RS505 hydraulic shifters have replaceable cable guides within the body. I'd not considered that these should be treated as a consumable item, the cable slowly wore through the guide and I only realised when it had cut through the shifter body itself and eventually became completely jammed in the ratchet mechanism. I can't see any way to repair the damage, and ended up having to buy a new shifter.
Replacement cable guides cost less than £2 (Cable Guide A - Right - Y03N75000 or Cable Guide A - Left - Y03M75000), a new shifter costs £140. I'd recommend replacing every time you put in a new cable, mine wore through after a few months of use, there was no visible damage to the cable or any other factors that would obviously accelerate wear.
Couple of photos for illustration
Shifter body as it should look
shifter-1020908 by Sam W2, on Flickr
Shifter body with damage
shifter-1020914 by Sam W2, on Flickr
Replacement cable guides cost less than £2 (Cable Guide A - Right - Y03N75000 or Cable Guide A - Left - Y03M75000), a new shifter costs £140. I'd recommend replacing every time you put in a new cable, mine wore through after a few months of use, there was no visible damage to the cable or any other factors that would obviously accelerate wear.
Couple of photos for illustration
Shifter body as it should look
shifter-1020908 by Sam W2, on FlickrShifter body with damage
shifter-1020914 by Sam W2, on Flickr 0
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ME, the white guide you can see in the photographs is the end of the longer guide B no 5. The OP hasn't fitted the new guide A no. 6, to his new shifter, top photo. All is clear in EV-ST-RS505-3902.pdf
The cable cut right through the white plastic guide, then through the black plastic of the shifter body. I initially tried fitting a new white plastic guide, but it pulled straight through the gap in the black plastic and got caught in the ratchet mechanism.
Seems like a design flaw, and agree with comment above that the (removable) guide should be made of a more durable material. Also agree the manual ought to mention that the cable guide needs inspecting regularly to check for wear.
Right hand shifter with knackered gear shift but working hydraulics currently available on ebay
Is a symptom of this happening related to sprocket shifting failing?
Part way through Sunday's short blast, for the first time I've been aware, the shifting would work fine on the 32T-18T (or maybe 16T) but the derailleur would not shift from the lever on the smaller sprockets.
Probably worth mentioning I moved the cassette from my Hunt to Fulcrum rear wheel on Sunday. I wasn't aware of a shifting problem after the transfer and during the first half of the ride, but then again, I didn't specifically test the whole shifting range after the transfer and I wouldn't have had much need for the 14-11 sprockets early on the ride while heading up to Beacon Hill.
2020 Voodoo Marasa
2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
2016 Voodoo Wazoo
I had a look at repairing the shifter body, but came to the conclusion that it was going to be impossible with a home workshop. With better facilities you might be able to machine some kind of metal sleeve, but can't see it being cheaper than buying a new shifter.
Just had another look at the right shifter with the hood peeled back, the white plastic guide looks longer than in OP photos and looks OK.
However, I flipped the Cube upside down and successfully managed to shift into the 11T sprocket, which was great until I tried to shift towards the 32T sprocket... Not interested, not a single click from the shifter.
Started to worry the shifter was now wrecked, but had another look at the white cable guide and discovered the cable had sheared and one end was now inside the guide! :shock:
No shifter cable sets in the spares box, not sure I've ever done a gear cable replacement, nevermind one with internal frame cabling and I was hoping to go hill climbing over the next few days off work... Got a feeling I'm going to end up using the rear derailleur limit screw to pick something like the 16/18/20 sprocket to use with the 34/50 chainrings as a 2-speed system to get me to around Warnford and then climb cat4s that typically hit at least 7%. Tackling Harvesting Lane that hits 15%, nevermind Milland Hill that hits 25% and I want to climb for the first time will be off the cards.
2020 Voodoo Marasa
2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
2016 Voodoo Wazoo
Lost tension making changes into the big ring difficult/temperamental, and then on the way home from work the next day I lost shifting altogether. A quick Google lead me to this thread so I thought I'd take a look to see if I'd suffered a similar fate...
First thing I noticed was the curved upper cable guide was "sinking" in at the top causing the bottom half to stick out non-flush with the straight cable guide:
I removed the gear cable and cable guide (which wasn't damaged in any way), and low-and-behold the plastic beneath the cable guide had perished and torn open - hence why the curve cable guide was at an odd angle (sinking in to the hole in the plastic beneath):
I tried to fix it with some chemical putty (EvoStick Hard & Fast) by filling in the hole - I used the cable guide to help form the shape and not block the cable route:
Unfortunately, this didn't work. The cable guide still wouldn't really sit in flush, and when I re-ran the cable for testing the gear change would just cause the top cable guide to pop in and out (see video below) and the front derailleur doesn't move a millimetre:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/2E5j32AvB78MHzz18
So, it looks like I'm going to need to buy a new shifter.
Am I right in thinking I can reuse the existing hydraulic cables and caliper etc? Also, do I need to drain the existing mineral oil out before I can remove the old shifter then refill when the new one is fitted, or is there a way to keep the fluid in the system whilst I change the shifter?
Cheers!
If you move to the (in my view miles better) r7000/8000/9100 series levers then you would need to use the different gland nut those levers use, they are bigger and have a large flange on them. That'll almost certainly mean a new olive and barb. It'll only shorten the hose about 12mm so you'll probably be fine to use the existing hose.
If you can pick up a set of r7020 105 levers I'd fit those. Have done the same swap on the missus's winter bike and she likes them a lot more, more comfortable and better shifting.
The fluid will drain out of the lever, but you may get away with just pushing some new oil up from the caliper once the new levers are in place. In all honesty I'd probably drain and then do a full fill/bleed.
The new style levers also don't look like some kind of phallic ornament attached to the bars
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Ugh, think I have the same problem as this.
Came to change the cable on Sunday and the thing wouldn't budge out of the holder. The guide is sticking out like yours.
Has anyone had any look with warranty claim? Bike is 18 months old now but seems like a quite common problem.
Mind you, the bloke in the bike shop did a pretty good job of persuading him that carbon fibre has the structural integrity of candyfloss, so I'm not sure he's actually ridden the thing yet...
I received a warranty replacement on sat after 8 weeks back and forth with CRC. And would have been another 2-3 weeks for a decision from Shimano if CRC hadn't initially lost my shifters.
Long story short, I was offered a replacement before they found them so they stuck to their initial offer.
Worth anyone in future trying your luck, but can't say for certain Shimano would cover warranty - thinking I might have been lucky despite the wait.
I put the root cause down to two things:
1. Too much friction in the plastic cable guide plate under the bottom bracket.
2. Too much force needed for the old FD-5800 'lever' style front derailleurs
Since the plastic covers of the ST-RS505 shifters aren't available as a spare part, it does require that you replace the whole shifter. I was really lucky in that I happen to have a spare ST-RS405 left side shifter from a Tiagra 4700 10sp groupset, which uses the exact same cable pull distance as all the 11sp systems (note that the right side shifter has a special cable pull distance that matches the 4700 series 10sp rear derailleurs). I swapped in the whole unit, replaced the shift cable, bled the brakes and was back in business. The only visible difference is the plastic cover from the ST-RS405 has a matte finish, whereas the one from the ST-RS505 is gloss... no big deal.
The other change I made was to replace the original FD-5800 derailleur with one of the newer 'cam' style units, an Ultegra FD-R8000-F which are more efficient. The resulting setup shifts much, much more easily and crisper than the prior setup.