Originally Posted by
dedhed
Once the grease gets old and hard enough it won't matter what weather it is and you have to do the flush & lube
Originally Posted by
dedhed
[...] Certain Shimano STI road levers are also notorious for frayed inner cables at the shifter. I replace my 6600 cable yearly just for that reason.
It seems to me that Shimano uses cheap grease, if that's the case. I've used grease that has lasted way longer than this grease. And, yes, I've busted several cables right at the end, inside the shifter housing--boy, it is a real PITA to extract the cable end when it happens! I once had to pay a mechanic $40 to extract it with a special tool.
Overall, my impression of Shimano has not been favorable. They build the STI shifters in such a way that there are no 'user serviceable parts' inside them; they are basically disposable and cost, I don't know, maybe $300 to replace. It would be nice if they warned customers about the importance of inspecting the shifter cable ends every 2000 miles or so. And it would be nice if they didn't use cheap grease...