Dura Ace 9100 shifter repair?
#1
Newbie
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Nice, France
Posts: 4
Bikes: Canyon road bike - endura-something?
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Dura Ace 9100 shifter repair?
So first time i've ever had dura ace, and first time i've ever had a shifter go out on me. Does anyone know whether there is anything in these shifters to adjust or repair, or does it simply have to be replaced? Is it common at all to have these things go out on you?
Longer story : noticed one day that i couldn't shift to the 3 smallest cogs in the back. Later i played with the cable tension adjustment, and got it to where i could shift down to those gears. But, duh, of course now i couldn't shift up to the 3 largest cogs. So instead of 11 speeds, i only had 8.
Proceeded to look around on the internet and such. Saw advice about using WD40 to loosen things up in there - basically flood it and work the gears, and try to get the gunk out, assuming there was any. While doing this, somehow the cable snapped. Then later, the shifter would not only not do 8 gears, but i can only shift once up to a larger gear.
First, the shifter is definitely not working. Second, each time i touch it, things get worse.
Thanks for any help.
Longer story : noticed one day that i couldn't shift to the 3 smallest cogs in the back. Later i played with the cable tension adjustment, and got it to where i could shift down to those gears. But, duh, of course now i couldn't shift up to the 3 largest cogs. So instead of 11 speeds, i only had 8.
Proceeded to look around on the internet and such. Saw advice about using WD40 to loosen things up in there - basically flood it and work the gears, and try to get the gunk out, assuming there was any. While doing this, somehow the cable snapped. Then later, the shifter would not only not do 8 gears, but i can only shift once up to a larger gear.
First, the shifter is definitely not working. Second, each time i touch it, things get worse.
Thanks for any help.
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Roswell, GA
Posts: 8,319
Bikes: '93 Trek 750, '92 Schwinn Crisscross, '93 Mongoose Alta
Mentioned: 30 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1438 Post(s)
Liked 1,092 Times
in
723 Posts
I'll bet that there is a piece of the broken-off wire left in the shifter; I suspect that your sudden change in shifting was due to the wire starting to fray prior to its breaking completely.
#3
Senior Member
This is likely your culprit. Thankfully, Shimano made their newer series shifters (x000) with two removable covers that expose the internal mechanism. Roll the good forward and look for the two small screws to remove on the bottom of the body.
#4
Full Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Denver Colorado
Posts: 337
Bikes: 2020 Pivot Vault, 1983 Rossin Record, Garneau R1, Mesamods home built gravel/rain commuter bike, 1995 Barracuda A2V modified with Surley single speed dropouts, 1969 Bottecchia junkyard special fixed gear, Cervelo P4, Mesamods 650b klunker
Mentioned: 3 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 94 Post(s)
Liked 71 Times
in
49 Posts
Yes, that would be my guess as well. Newer shimano STI shifters have a tendency to go through cables. Typically you'll get a warning of not dropping into the smallest cogs of just poor shifting down the cassette in general before the cable completely breaks.
I made a video on how to check and replace the cable on a Ultegra 6800 shifter which is the same process. Keep in mind, if there is an actuall issue with the shifter itself, shimano has a 3 year warranty on Dura Ace components.
I made a video on how to check and replace the cable on a Ultegra 6800 shifter which is the same process. Keep in mind, if there is an actuall issue with the shifter itself, shimano has a 3 year warranty on Dura Ace components.
#5
Newbie
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Nice, France
Posts: 4
Bikes: Canyon road bike - endura-something?
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Wow! Thanks all. I've suspected all along that the end was in there somewhere, but it seemed too much like wishful thinking. When it broke - it broke inside the shifter - i found the end that goes down obvisouly, but never the end that ends in the shifter. I'll look for that next. Was hesitant to take the thing apart.
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Posts: 5,773
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 453 Post(s)
Liked 104 Times
in
87 Posts
Good to see you have found the cause of the issue, as a side note, all 9100 will still be in warranty if you do have a parts failure; Shimano Dura Ace/XTR has a 3 year warranty, and as this was only introduced in mid-late 2016, so even the earliest sale parts will still have at warranty till mid 2019
https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/infor.../warranty.html
https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/infor.../warranty.html
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Mountain Brook. AL
Posts: 4,002
Mentioned: 14 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 303 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 136 Times
in
104 Posts
That reminds me of the experience ~2012 or so, DA brifters on tandem, cable breaks ~50 miles into a century on R brifter. This is two years after same thing
on a century at the 95 mile mark. We took it to the dealer after the 2d cable break, who discovered two broken off cable heads inside the brifter. Dunnoh how it worked so well with one
cable head loose rattling around inside but it did. Evidently we either didn't look hard enough or thought the broken head had fallen out after the first event and just put a new
cable in. Probablly not a bad idea to change at least the R brifter cable every two yrs or so.
on a century at the 95 mile mark. We took it to the dealer after the 2d cable break, who discovered two broken off cable heads inside the brifter. Dunnoh how it worked so well with one
cable head loose rattling around inside but it did. Evidently we either didn't look hard enough or thought the broken head had fallen out after the first event and just put a new
cable in. Probablly not a bad idea to change at least the R brifter cable every two yrs or so.
#8
Newbie
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Nice, France
Posts: 4
Bikes: Canyon road bike - endura-something?
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
So thanks again. That turned out to be it. Very easy to access inside there. Found the old head and broken cable and got it out. Working like a charm, whew!
Replacement if i'd gone dura ace would have been 240€. I'd have probably gone ultegra, but that still would have been 140€. !!!! As for warranty, i might have been able to make that work, but i bought the bike used and the original owner bought a canyon with ultegra and then swapped in dura ace - so i'd have had to track him down and see if he could furnish me with the paperwork for the dura ace. Guy was meticulous, he might have actually still had it.
Would have been a lot less trouble if i'd recognized the symptom right away and just changed the cable. So i learned something. And i'm sold on this place - nice forum.
Replacement if i'd gone dura ace would have been 240€. I'd have probably gone ultegra, but that still would have been 140€. !!!! As for warranty, i might have been able to make that work, but i bought the bike used and the original owner bought a canyon with ultegra and then swapped in dura ace - so i'd have had to track him down and see if he could furnish me with the paperwork for the dura ace. Guy was meticulous, he might have actually still had it.
Would have been a lot less trouble if i'd recognized the symptom right away and just changed the cable. So i learned something. And i'm sold on this place - nice forum.