cable end stuck in shifters??

zardoz said:

Hello all. Cabled up my road bike a while back and realised the cable
nipple wasn't in the slot (its a 7 speed RSX sti thinga) but lost in
the innards of the shifter.

Thats it really. Can't think how to recover the cable end. It's in
there somewhere 'cos ratcheting the shifter works down the gears but
then jams when you want to change up.

Not hugely helpful, I'm afraid, but the cable recently broke on my Sora
shifter, leaving the remains tangled up inside it. Having taken the
cover off, I took one look at the insides and decided to leave it to my
LBS. I'll normally tackle anything on the bike but I made an exception
in this case. The LBS removed the old cable, fitted a new one and gave
the shifter a jolly good service for about 25 quid. Money well spent.

Mike

Quoted message said:

The LBS removed the old cable, fitted a new one and gave
the shifter a jolly good service for about 25 quid

That's what I'm afraid of. ebay do shifters for 99p though, which is a
promising alternative. Any idea if I can use an eight speed shifter
with a seven speed cassette?

zardoz wrote:
......... Any idea if I can use an eight speed shifter

Quoted message said:

with a seven speed cassette?

No, the amount of cable pull differs and hence the spacing of the
sprockets in 7 and 8 speed cassettes. Unless you use spacers from an 8
speed cassette and 7 sprockets. You'd have a spare click on the
shifter. Another possibility, one that I have done is use 9 speed
shifters and cassette but only fit 8 sprockets, this fits on a 7 speed
freehub. sheldon brown describes it as 8 of 9 on 7.

Quoted message said:

Not hugely helpful, I'm afraid, but the cable recently broke on my Sora
shifter, leaving the remains tangled up inside it. Having taken the
cover off, I took one look at the insides and decided to leave it to my
LBS. I'll normally tackle anything on the bike but I made an exception
in this case. The LBS removed the old cable, fitted a new one and gave
the shifter a jolly good service for about 25 quid. Money well spent.

Took apart my (also 7 speed RSX) shifters ages ago. Not too difficult to
take apart, and only a little fiddly to get the cable thing to go back in
(hint: use a pokey thing). Shimano have exploded pictures of the shifter
somewhere on their site which may help.