rapidfire shifters seized/stuck?

I went out for a ride today after not riding it for about 2 years and
I think the cycle gods have decided to punish me (I guess thats
karma!!)

I have a mountain bike with stx-rc rapidfire shifters (early 2000's I
think, individual shifters without brake levers) with XT derailluers.
My bike was stored in a dry shed so rust is not the problem but the
thumb levers to shift up to a bigger chainwheel do not seem to be
engaging properly.

I had left the front derailluer on the midlle chainring and the rear
in the middle of the cluster. I could shift between the granny and
middle ring on the front but pressing the thumb lever down
further/again to get on the big ring did not seem to engage inside the
shifter and move the derailluer over. The same seemed to happen on
the rear, I could only shift to a smaller cog than where it had been
left and back up to it but I could not shift up to a bigger cog.

I thought it may be due to cable stretch but tightening the cables
made no real differencs. My guess is that the little pawls inside the
shifters have got stuck and are not moving freely enough to enagage.

Has anyone had a problem like this before after prolonged storage of a
bike, I am thinking of trying to spray some lubricant inside the
shifters first before resorting to anything more drastic.

Cheers

Darryn

Yeah, a bit of the ol' CRC/WD40 should sort it out. I had the same problem
with an el-cheapo Repco.

--
www.ozcableguy.com
www.oztechnologies.com
"Darryn" wrote in message
...
Has anyone had a problem like this before after prolonged storage of a
bike, I am thinking of trying to spray some lubricant inside the
shifters first before resorting to anything more drastic.

Cheers

Darryn

On Sat, 12 Nov 2005 13:53:47 +0800, Darryn wrote:

Has anyone had a problem like this before after prolonged storage of a
bike, I am thinking of trying to spray some lubricant inside the shifters
first before resorting to anything more drastic.

There is a little pawl that can potentially come loose, but as suggested
by OzCableGuy, a blast of WD-40 is the first step. You might prefer a
silicon spray if you've got one, but just about everyone has WD-40
floating about somewhere.

Otherwise STX-RC of that era aren't that hard to pull apart and fiddle
with, within reason. IIRC it's a 4mm allen key to remove the dust cover,
after which it should be fairly obvious what's out of wack.

--
Dave Hughes |
"Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as
reading sex manuals without the software." - Arthur C Clarke

There is a little pawl that can potentially come loose, but as suggested
by OzCableGuy, a blast of WD-40 is the first step. You might prefer a
silicon spray if you've got one, but just about everyone has WD-40
floating about somewhere.

Otherwise STX-RC of that era aren't that hard to pull apart and fiddle
with, within reason. IIRC it's a 4mm allen key to remove the dust cover,
after which it should be fairly obvious what's out of wack.

Cheers for both responses, luckily I have silicone spray somewhere in
the back of the car for work purposes so I will give them a hit
tomorrow. Hopefully it fixes it otherwise it looks like I am
generation behind as far as components go, had quick look on ebay
today and the majority of the shifters are all for 9 speed stuff :-(

Cheers