JJPistols

I rescued an old Free Spirit 3 speed from the junkpile and have begun the resurrection. A quick bath, new chain, tubes, tires, a new used saddle, and now I'm starting to get my hopes up. Got a new shifter cable today, and managed to get it installed, but it appears my shifter is kaput.


It's a Shimano 3S system, marked on the hub. No faceplate or ID on the shifter itself, but I'm pretty sure it's stock. I'm guessing 70s era bike. When opening up the shifter, I found a plastic disc that looked like the corner was broken off or something, I'm guessing it clicked into place and held in gear, but now there is no click, and no holding. I can move between the gears, but it defaults to the high gear if I don't keep hold on the shifter. Before the new cable, I was stuck in 3rd and couldn't get out at all, so this is an improvement.


Baby steps for Bigfoot, I guess.


So what are my options? Is it possible to find a 30-40 year old plastic part for a 3 speed shifter? Can I replace it with any old shifter, or do I need this specific one? Will an SA work?


my "before" pics:



















Thanks for your help, I'm off to read through a bunch more threads found using search. So far, nothing has satisfied.

Pompiere

A SA shifter will not work, due to a different length of cable pull for each gear. The Shimano 3 speeds were pretty common, so you ought to be able to find a shift lever. The older ones had a chrome lever, the newer ones had a rubber grip on the end of the lever. There was also a twist grip shifter for the right hand grip. Good luck in your search. I have a Shimano 3 speed hub laced to a 27 inch wheel on a Kabuki frame.

JJPistols

I've got a Shimano 3cc on my Schwinn that I'm perfectly happy with



I see those shifters on ebay -- they are the plastic case ones - would they work here do you think?

tekknoschtev

On the Free Spirit my mom inherited, we replaced it with a Nexus 3-speed grip shifter per the bike store's recommendation. It took a bit of tweaking but it works great, despite being backwards (3rd gear is 1st, 1st is 3rd). Works great, despite being a little weird for riding but otherwise is awesome to have it working again.

not_jason

Really? I've never used a SA shifter with a Shimano hub, but I've ran shimano shifters with SA hubs before and had completely zero problems. I much prefer Shimano's shifters to SA's.

Fibber

Try posting your question over on the Classic & Vintage board. You may find someone who has just the part you are looking for.

brixtonsaint

Hello
I've just bought an old ladies Ross bycycle with the same 3 speed gearing system. The trouble is the arm which the cable attaches to is kaput. At the point it attaches to the lever arm, two protusions are supposed be pinned, the trouble is I only have one protusion as the other has snapped off. Can anyone direct me to someone who may still have this part? I hear Shimano only produced this gearing for a while and finding one will be like hunting hens teeth.
If anyone can help, it'd be much appreciated.
Thanks
db

S0dy

It sounds like what just happened to me today - I had disconnected/reconnected the cable from a Shimano 3 speed shifter on a mid/late '70's Columbia Sports 3 to turn the handlebars the right way around (found at thrift store). It had three solid stops before, but not after the switch. By carefully taking apart the shifter on a "sister" bike with identical drivetrain I found it was a 3/16" ball bearing that was missing, between metal disk that's an extension of the shift lever and the bottom plate of the shifter body. I had a bag of those for repacking front wheel bearings, but a LBS would have them, too. This could have been the issue here too, but you've probably gotten a replacement by now.