riceowls

Very unfortunate issue on my barely 2 year-old/5k miles road bike. It has hydraulic brakes and 2x11 spd. ST-RS505 shifters. Had issues with shifting and upon inspection noted an issue with the shifter. There supposed to be a piece of plastic guiding the shifting cable inside the unit. See my screenshots from dealers manual and arrows that I've added to indicate that piece. That piece broke off and the cable over time started to chew-into the plastic below. I would hate to spend $200 for a new snifter (+ significant initial costs for re-bleeding etc of the brake) over a small plastic piece but can't find the missing plastic guard for sale. Any ideas?

cpach

https://si.shimano.com/pdfs/ev/EV-ST-RS505-3902.pdf

Part 6. It's orderable. I see a few consumer sites out of the UK stocking them. I can't check Shimano B2B from home so I can't check their stock, but probably Shimano dealers can order it also.

riceowls

Wow - great, thanks. The lbs nextdoor that has my bike does not have a direct shimano account, will stop by a larger store to see if I can get the part. While searching for the part number found a similar story onle:
https://forum.bikeradar.com/viewtopic.php?t=13089841
Looks like I am not the only one having the issue. Afraid this is a design flaw for that series. Are there other compatible 11sp hydraulic sifter if it comes to replacing this one?

cpach

They'll all pretty much work. Yours is the ugliest/most awkwardly shaped so it wouldn't be a terrible idea, although if it were mine I'd just try to get the replacement part. If I was replacing I'd probably do ST-R7020, or failing that ST-RS685.

GBellairs

I had exactly the same problem with my RS505 shifters. The plastic guide 'grabbed' the cable and sawed through the plastic casing of the shift mechanism. It is a common problem from what I see and is due to poor design. There is no point replacing the plastic cable guide as the issue will repeat itself. I'm looking at having to replace the shift leavers; probably with GRX or 105 but only once I've checked out the design. I certainly won't be buying the RS505 shifters.