CMAW 

Bought a set of these (SL A050) for a beater project, looks like cool shifting. But man they are stiff — you need to use your palm to shift, thumb won't cut it, especially for upshifts. Anything I can do about that? Will they get smoother over time maybe?

Kontact

Are you sure they are installed correctly? But I have never worked on these.

Andrew R Stewart 

I would start with the usual "hard to move my shift lever" items like smooth and freely flowing cable routing, separating the cable from the der and move the der ant then the lever through their travel with your hands/fingers. Excepting the levers' detents, all should have free and easy movement. If not, seek correction for the offending part. Not much can be done for the indexing detent design of the levers so that will have to be acceptable and will also wear some over time.

Now having answered the question comes the rant... These levers are to address a problem that some riders have, often as they enter the cycling world as an adult, the discomfort, lack of confidence, inability to reach far enough forward to engage drop bar located levers. These levers are essentially a replacement of the "classic" stem mounted shift levers, which were the "answer" previously. These types of levers are generally produced to have a very low cost as to be able to be used on entry level bicycles and as such have cheaply made internals with less concern for function than the selling feature benefit. Their next to the stem location makes holding the bars along their straight and flat tops seem easier. Of course this hand position has its issues with lower leverage on the steering, less chest opening that reduces breathing depth and the longer reach/movement to get to the brake levers. There are reasons why mountain bikes were so well received so quickly back in the mid 1980s, the more upright body with both brake and gear levers at your finger tips made for a far more friendly test ride for the masses. I would never expect these stem/top of drop bar levers to work very well for very long.

If you find that these levers are too difficult to work easily I would suggest checking out alternatives like STI/brifter lever units (if you're OK with the longer reach from the seat) or even flat/upright bars with their correct lever choices (if the reach to the drop bars already feels too long). Andy

CMAW 

I just put them on a spare bar, no cables, it's the shifter internals that feel stiff. As I said, it's for a beater project, a bike to ride around town mostly when hanging in the drops isn't advisable. I hadn't seen these before and they looked like fun. A change from my other bikes with Ergos, Sti, downtube or bar end shifters, rapidfire, indexed or friction etc. I know they're cheap and beginners level shifters, but diversification is the word here .

Jay Turberville

I have no specific knowledge on these, but if it were me I'd give them a nice douse of good silicon/ceramic/teflon lubricant and work them a bit to see if they loosen up. Tolerances may not be as well controlled with inexpensive stuff and a few dozen cycles might help.

veganbikes

From all the wallymart specials I have seen those on the shifting has never been that great. They are pretty cheap shifters designed to hit a price point and that is about it. You could try as others have said and put some lubricant in there and see if they loosen up but I have never seen one that I would ever want to shift willingly. I could probably find some cheap friction shifters which would be a better choice or dig something out of the parts bin. A local co-op might have something as well or maybe someone at your local shop has some shifters. Any shifters like that I wouldn't put time or money into unless I was beyond desperate in a more apocalyptic situation or I was so absolutely poor that I truly couldn't afford shifters or really anything and had no way of getting them by other means for some reason.

There is diversification and then there is just buying stuff to buy it.

StefanoLazzari

Sorry to ask the group a maybe silly question but what would you recommend between silicon, ceramic, teflon or other bike lubricants for hardened 9-speed SHIMANO TIAGRA shifters?

70sSanO

I bought a set of those years ago. I wanted to see if they could be mounted by the brake levers. After a few hours I realized they were pretty bad shifters and not worth the effort.

I would look for index stem shifters, or inexpensive thumb shifters that would fit on road bars.

John

t2p

I don’t believe the type of lubricant will matter much to loosen / soften the hardened factory lubricant (grease ?)

I’ve used WD-40 and sometimes a mix of WD-40 and Tri-Flow lubricants with success

sometimes follow up with a squirt of chain lubricant like R&R Gold

grumpus

Try loosening the mounting screws, they could be distorting the shifter, or the handlebar diameter could be out of spec.

StefanoLazzari

Using WD-40 first and then Tri-Flow lubricant seems like a good option. Thanks.

veganbikes

Heat also works well because it will generally melt out the grease. I used a heated parts washer for a couple old 600 STI levers and it worked a charm actually it was a few of them but I have sold or gotten rid of the rest. For an old Dura Ace 9 speed shifter I used a lighter because I was bored and didn't care as it was a free shifter and it was not functional and eventually I got it functional. You need to be very careful if you do the lighter method and realize you could be screwing up a shifter for good. I was able to save it but it is a very silly way to do it.

After they are finished Tri-flow spray is perfect I once tried T9 and that gummed things back up

StefanoLazzari

I followed the advice and not they work like a breeze (though some adjustments are still required to the front derailleur.) Many thanks!