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Old April 20th 10, 01:58 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech,rec.bicycles.misc
gary
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Posts: 6
Default Ultegra shifter problem

On Apr 16, 12:59*am, "Kerry Montgomery" wrote:
"gary" wrote in message

...



graham,


can i see this screw normally or do i need to pull back the rubber
shroud (not really sure what the real name is) in order to see it?
hopefully i try to check it out this weekend. *if that is not it i'll
the flushing as was mentioned.


if my initial swipe to get it into a lower gear does not "click" then
by swiping the level as far as it goes and then returning and trying
again usually allows the gear change. *hopefully it is as simple as
you mentioned.


If the advice from others about cleaning and relubing or cable fray does
not
work check that the screw on the underside of the lever at the top where
the
lever leaves the housing is still there and tight. I had similar symptoms
to
yours when that screw on my STI came loose.


Graham.


Graham,
Thank you very much for the advice! My earlyUltegraSTI rightshifter
behaves similarly to what gary described. I've sprayed it heavily with Power
Lube, replaced the cable, and replaced housing, none of which fixed it.
Looking at my lever shows that screw to be _gone_. Off to find a replacement
screw, with high hopes.

gary,
Will try to describe where the screw is that Graham spoke about. You can see
the screw (or where it should be) without pulling back the rubber hood. With
the bike resting on it's tires, look up under the lever from the rear, in
the area where the small lever pivots. The order of pieces, from the front
of the bike, is: large lever, small lever, small plate (kind of "P" shaped).
There should be a screw that goes through a hole in the small plate into a
threaded hole in the large lever. My earlyUltegralever (the left side one,
that still has a screw) has what looks like an ordinary round-headed screw.
Also have a much later set ofUltegralevers, they have screws with
hexagonal outlines, and there's a thin metal locking device with tabs bent
inward against the sides of the hexagon, looking to prevent the screws from
loosening.
Good luck,
Kerry


graham,

you were dead on as far as the screw being missing. flipped the bike
over
and the left STI had the screw in place. however, the right STI (the
one i'm
having problems with) was missing the screw.

using kerry's description of where the screw is located it was pretty
obvious when i compared the left and right sides. the screw appears
to
be about 1/4" with a Phillips head.

you said "that screw on my STI came loose". did you mean that it
actually
fell out like mine or was just loose? i would think that if it was
just loose
but still present the shifter would still work.

the interesting thing is that i went out for a ride a few days ago and
even
without the screw i think i only had an "empty swipe" once. all the
other
times the shifter worked.

any idea what the purpose of the screw is? the only thing i can think
of
is that it prevents the little shifter from moving when swiping the
larger
lever. my theory (which could be way off!!) is that if the little
shifter moves
when swiping the larger one its like trying to shift in both
directions at
once so they cancel out.

a friend i work with called his mechanic and he said that he could
order
a screw from Shimano. he was aware of the location and had to order
one a few years ago. however, the place is 25 miles away so i'm going
to check out a shop on the way home to see if they can order one
(really
two since i'll want a spare!). if not, they might be able to "create
one"
like they did for kerry. going to put some loc-tite on it also.

i also checked out two neighbors bikes, one a Dura-Ace and the other a
105. those shifters were newer models and don't have the same design.
i could not make out a screw at all. so apparently this might be just
prevalent with the early Ultegra 6500 shifters (and maybe Dura-Ace and
105
from the same time period).

one other question to someone who might know. will using the shifter
before a get a replacement screw damage the shifter at all?

thanks to all for their suggestions and diagnoses.
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