Q: Jim,
After making a quick web search concerning repairing RSX brake/shifters, I came across your name. I have an immediate need, and I was hoping you could help. I have an old Raleigh touring bike with RSX brake/shifters. It's been in storage for awhile, but then I took it out and have been riding it frequently (in the cold and rain sometimes). Shifting became intermittent, so I tried spraying silicon lube right into the crannies of the shifter, and had the cables replaced. I think the cables may have helped one problem, but I may have created another.
I removed the screw on the front of the unit, the only one you can see with the hood on. When I pulled the cap away from the housing, I heard a 'tik!'. Damn it - the torsion spring relieved itself, and I knew it would not be fun to reinstall. I did manage to reinstall it with the spring in the right holes, but the shifter continues to have intermittent function. I suspect the spring had a preload, and I did not wind it or reinstall it right. Does this front spring have a preload? How do I reinstall it right?
Last night, when it was around 39 deg F outside, my shifter did not engage at all. Earlier, when it was warmer, it worked intermittently (I'd sometimes have to flip it a few times before the upshift caught). This suggests a lube issue, but how the heck do I lube this thing?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Matt
A: Hi Matt,
Unfortunately, Shimano STI levers aren't designed to be serviced by the user (apart from very basic service unrelated to the shifting mechanism), which is why you won't find any information on this on their website. You're not supposed to try to take them apart. Instead, if you have a problem, you take your bike to a local shop, have them take a look, and if it's a defect, they ship the lever to Shimano and see if the company agrees it's a defect and if it is, and you're within the warranty timeframe, you get a new, working lever from Shimano.
It sounds like you unscrewed the main piece holding your lever's shifter together so getting it covered under warranty is out of the question now, though it was probably too old anyway. I'm not certain if that spring has a preload or if you just unscrewed the bolt when the spring was under load and it released. The fact that you were able to put it back together is a good sign. And, it sounds like it works just like it did before you took it apart. You might try again flushing the shifting part with a penetrating lube like WD-40, something that you can spray into any little gaps into the mechanism you can find. Do this inside where it's warm so the lube is thin and any gunk inside the lever is, too. I've heard that a good "lube rinse" will sometimes free a sticky, non functioning RSX STI lever.
If you're lucky, that might work and get you going. If not, you might instead search on www.eBay.com for used RSX shifters (or any Shimano STI levers compatible with your bike) and see if you can't find a right one or a pair for a decent price and then just use your old one for spare parts as needed in the future.
If you want to read about how other people have managed to fix their Shimano
STI levers, here's a link that might help you out: http://www.billcotton.com/sti_shifter_repair.htm This page is old and some of the links on it no longer work, but it's at least a start and maybe it'll help you figure out your lever and get it working again. If you search www.google.com for the phrase "STI repair" you'll find a few other links with some interesting comments, too.
Good luck and sorry I can't provide specific repair instructions,
Jim
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