gforeman 

Do the shifters need cleaning or lubing? I have Shimano 105 STI's on my Madone 3.1, and I just had all the cables replaces a few weeks ago, but the actual shifters seem a little dragging. Not sure if there is any maintenance on these required. I would think any moving parts would need periodic lubrication.

Thanks

SweetLou

What do you mean by "dragging"?
I would recommend not lubing the shifters. Shimano puts grease in them. If you start to oil the shifters, the oil will dilute and remove the grease. Sometimes this grease can get gunked up preventing the shifters from working properly, then a shifter flush is needed. If I do a shifter flush on a customer's bike, I tell them to oil the shifters every now and again since all of the grease is now gone.

gforeman 

The left one for the front derailleur seems to be less than smooth when shifting to the large chainring. Also, when I do the trim shift, it seems to stick.

Al1943

Were the cable housings replaced when the cables were replaced? They should have been. If the short housing at the rear derailleur was not replaced that could be the problem.
I recommend that you shoot the shifters full of WD40. This should loosen the old grease and restore good shifting performance.

gforeman 

All new housing and cables front to back.

Kimmo

Sounds like it could prolly benefit from a squirt

SweetLou

Before doing anything with the shifters, I'd check the new housing and cables. See if there is a kink or too tight of a bend anywhere. Check to see if there might be a reason for any binding.
I would not recommend any WD-40 or any degreaser to do a flush, use oil.

skoda2

+1 on that, I've seen too many components gunked-up with WD-40, it's really too thin to lubricate properly and attracts dirt like a magnet. Some riders even use it for chain lube??? I've had luck using wet chain lube for the shifters as it has a higher viscosity and lubes better.
Cheers

gforeman 

I would never use WD40 to lube anything. It was never designed as a Lube, rather a Water Displacement. I actually have some Mobil 1 spray lubricant. The stuff is awesome, and they don't make it anymore. Might try a very small shot of it. I used it to lube a door hinge on a friends car once, after that he could no longer keep the door open when getting out

But I will say, WD40 is great for cleaning chain lube OFF the frame!

Al1943

Wd 40 has been proven many times over to be the best cure for poor performing STI shifters. All you need to do is look through the forum archives here and at other forums. It's not because of its lubricating properties it's because it works to fix the problem which is old dried factory grease and dirt from riding in dust and dirty water spray.
WD40 is a very good solvent. I don't understand how anyone could suggest that WD40 would collect dirt and at the same time recommend using oil.

SweetLou

WD40 or a degreaser will remove the dried up grease. Now, your shifters have no lubrication in them. You will have to add oil (unless you have figured a way to get grease in there) to the shifters, but if you did not remove all of the WD40 or the degreaser, it will thin out the new oil, making it less effective.

Oil will clean out the dried up grease without the negatives of WD40 or degreaser. The oil that is used to flush the shifters is also the new lubricant. Sure, WD40 will do a fine job at doing the flush and get the shifters to work. But I then will have concerns over the long haul. Those little parts like to wear quickly with no lube.

Shifter flushes are the only time I use a spray oil. I will also tell a customer that he should regularly add oil because the grease is now gone. I show them how to do it with a spray can. I can only hope they do it, but seeing so many dry chains, cables, etc. in the shop, I don't have faith in people lubing their bikes.

Kimmo

WD40 isn't going to flush out all the grease.

When it evaporates it leaves a bit of light oil behind, for a start... and anyway, STIs are so labyrinthine there's no way you're actually 'flushing out' the grease; you're just dissolving it a bit.

IMO you can do it a couple of times no worries. After that, they shouldn't gum up again anyway.

I don't give Shimano many marks for the elegance of their design, but it is pretty well-engineered for what it is; that maze of pressed steel plate does have little brass bits in it and so on... I think it's actually pretty durable.

Al1943

+1
WD40 is all you need. If you want to add a light oil after using a solvent, that's your choice but if you ride in dusty conditions or dirty water spray WD40 will help keep the shifters cleaner, or at least less dirty.
My 7700 Dura-Ace shifters totally quit functioning after 4 years. After a good flushing with WD40 shifting performance was as good as new again. After another 10 years they are still working as good as new with no further problems. I've fixed several other shifters using only WD40.

bobotech

WD40 is what people have been using to refurbish STI shifters ALL the time. Use that. You need to break down the old grease which is has hardened up inside causing the shifting problems.

Don't use straight oil, that won't break down the grease. Use WD40 and that is where the magic happens.

SweetLou

Hmmm, seems strange since that is what I have used on hundreds of shifter flushes.

brundle_fly

Release and reinstall the fron't cable.This happened to mine recently.It was a stiff cable/housing problem.I just freed it up and lubed it

bobotech

its just that wd-40 is good for breaking down the grease that Shimano used. That grease hardens up and gets nasty. WD40 will break it down and flush it out. Then you lube it with a good quality oil and shift away.

That is what I have read that 90 percent of the people do when refurbishing brifters. That is awesome that you use straight oil but I imagine you would have even better luck using a solvent such as WD40.

willbur

Greetings-
I've used WD-40 and sometimes it doesn't work, probably because it did not fully penetrate into the mechanism. I then place the shifter, wo its cover, in a container of kerosene and let it soak for a day or so. Shift it a few times to work the gunk out and blow it out with compressed air. Lube it with your choice of oil or spray grease. Works everytime! Just do it outside because of the kerosene vapors.

Al1943

One trick I've used is to turn the bike upside down while shooting the WD40 into the mechanism.

jefscolnago

I have Campy (Chorus) and clean and rebuild mine every year. It takes about 15 - 20 minutes per side. Every Spring, I feel like I have a new bike. I use Le Tour "Whisper White" although any very high quality white grease will do, I think.

Just be VERY CAREFUL when you put new cable housings on. At least for Campy, the interiors of the housings are pre-greased on ONE SIDE ONLY and if you are shortening the cables you must do it from the opposite side, or you will diminish the lubrication!

In over 10 years, the only problem I've ever had was with a G spring that broke because I tried to push it, and really could see that it would need replacing but thought I could squeeze another year out of it. $4.50 to replace.

Bottom line? EVERY bike needs routine maintenance - and that doesn't mean splashing oil (or WD-40) on it!

bobotech

Not sure if you are aware of this, but Shimano brifters are nearly impossible to rebuild. You can rebuild them but they are very difficult to put back together. They are not like the campy ones that are designed to be rebulit. You can't buy spare parts for them either.

gforeman 

Okay, time to END this thread...

Today, I put the bike on my repair stand upside down. I gave the shifters a little shot of Mobil 1 spray lube (awesome stuff). With all the tension off, they seem smooth, but when I try to actually make them move the front rear DR, they bind, so I start trying to find where in hell this is happening. I have all new cables, and it feels like crap!

I finally found it. The cable guide that both cables go through under the BB. It was dry. I put a dab of Mobil 1 Synthetic grease on it, and OMG, what a difference.

Grease may not be what I want on this in the long run, but I needed to prove my findings. Grease will certainly attract dirt. I may try to find some dry graphite and I'll clean it out good and lube with the dry stuff.

I probably didn't need all new cables, but what the heck. I'm so glad it's fixed. Just finished 26 miles, and the shifting was so smooth, like a new bike!

Do they make any upgraded guides made out of something more slick, or even with roller bearings? Seems like a real bind point for the cables.

Comments are still welcome

vredstein

Not sure how old your bike is, but most stock plastic bb cable guides are slick enough on their own. It could have been defective with a cut, the cable was somehow misguided out of the groove, or some seriously stick substance (dried energy drink?) got in there. Some guides are not just a pair of open grooves, but have a short "tunnel". If something was blocking the tunnel, you might feel it at the shifter.
Many times adding grease in this area will make it run smooth in the beginning, but over time will it will act like fly paper for dirt and road spray. They do make replacement guides and you should match it to your frame. Some have the grooves running at different angles, some are designed with a curve for a big, fat diameter bb shell.

gforeman 

I'm going to clean them good with a degreaser (maybe simple green or something) and a toothbrush, but at least I know where the problem is. If it needs anything to keep it smooth, I'm going to try some dry graphite, and if all else fails, I'll just replace it.

jefscolnago

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobotech

Not sure if you are aware of this, but Shimano brifters are nearly impossible to rebuild. You can rebuild them but they are very difficult to put back together. They are not like the campy ones that are designed to be rebulit. You can't buy spare parts for them either.

Thanks - I honestly didn't know this - I just took it for granted that almost everything mechanical can be taken apart and put back together, although that's not even true for cars anymore. Do you remember the days when a good motorhead could swap an engine out in a couple of afternoons after school? I recently saw a teenager who didn't know lug-nuts screw on clockwise! I'm not kidding!

Anyway - I only got into Campy by experimenting. At first I was running Shimano 600 and if my memory is correct, this was before indexing. I kind of remember mixing and matching between the two. I finally changed frames to get the wider dropouts for indexing and went with Campy. After a few years and a couple of Campy 9 and 10 speed groupo's, I needed to rent a bike for a week, and the only thing available was Shimano equipped. What a great opportunity to give it a try-!! I took it back after about 3 or 4 days - I just couldn't wrap my head around shifting with the brake levers!!! OMG! What are they THINKING!!!???

I don't want to start yet another big squabble about Shimano vs. Campy, but this seems like one more reason... well you know the rest.