draco_m

Hi folks,

Please see this 2 min video. Any ideas on how I can fix this problem?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkq-l1ZhseE

I already went to one bike shop and the mechanic didn't have any advice. He just commented the bike is kinda old.

I really like this bike so it'd be cool to have a fix.

Thanks!

TiBikeGuy

Squirt some WD-40 or any other lube inside the shifters. This should free up whatever is holding both levers.

a77impala

I have fixed many of those at Yellow Bike, the best way is to take the cover off, spray with WD 40, work the moving parts with a pick or small screw driver to loosen, operate shifter til all parts move freely. Bingo you fixed it!

djb

I have a bike with late 90s stx 8 speed trigger shifters, and what you are describing happened to my shifters when I changed bars a few years back. When positioning the shifters on the new bars that have a rise and bend to them, they did the same thing as yours, not coming back to position. I did notice that there was some binding going on due to the actual angle of the shifters (it must have been caused by the shifter coming into contact with the rise part of the bar). In any case, as the shifter wasnt doing this just before I changed bars, I knew it had to be some cable binding going on, so I changed the angle slightly of the shifters, plus moved them slightly away from the "bend" of the riser part of the bars, and the binding went away.

this probably isnt your situation as your bars are straight (and I assume nothing has been changed on the bike, that this just began happening?) so it may be some binding in the cable/housing that is doing this. I suspect its an easy fix, try loosening the bolt holding the shifters in place, and move stuff around to see what happens. If the cables have not been changed in a long time, it might just be that.

ps, spraying "Jig-a-loo" is something I do once in a while to help reduce friction for the innards, but to be clear, for my situation when this happened it wasnt gummy innards that were the cause, only the position of the shifters/cables.

Bill Kapaun

You might also check to make sure the cables are moving freely. Maybe a clean & lube on those too?

draco_m

Thank you all! I'll start by pulling on the cable. If that causes the shifter to "return" then I'll know it is a binding issue in the cabling. If that doesn't help, I'll shoot some WD-40 in the housing. If that doesn't work then I guess I will disassemble and see if I can figure it out. Thanks all for the feedback.

I posted this problem on another site and was told that there is indeed a return spring that is probably tired. I don't know.

speedy25

I looked at some titles after your video and found this one-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wtb57AXD0o

It covers the FD shifter, but the info is proper for the RD shifter too.

Gummed up is typical. Old lubricants seem to become goo after a while and keep mechanisms from working correctly.

-SP