Originally Posted by
billyymc2
I had one rear brighter "crap out" a few years ago on a ride. Not sure of the right terminology but the ratchet mechanism (I guess pawls?) was worn down so it wouldn't shift or stay in gear. I guess it had about 20,000 miles on it. Probably more frequent cleaning would have helped it last longer.
I'd say 20K miles is a good run. I had a 6800 rim brake shifter crap out at 10K miles and a 5800 hydraulic disc brake shifter crap out at only 5K miles. Pawls were toast. Neither was a jam, shift levers moved all the way without clicking.
The 6800 shifter bike has internal cable routing and I was sick and tired of replacing cables every 1500-2000 miles. I switched to SRAM Force 22 which so far as about 2000 miles. Other than a "user error" incident of forgetting a ferrule on the initial installation and having to do-over rear shifter cable after 500 miles, no problems so far.
I couldn't find a matching 5800 disc shifter, so I replaced the pair with used 6800 hydraulic shifters. Since this bike has external routing, changing cables is a breeze, so I stuck with Shimano.