I have a '96 Trek road bike with Shimano 105 STI shifters. After sitting
for a year in the garage, I got on it today and went for a ride. It was a
very short ride, because I immediately got stuck in high gear, The front
shifter is stuck on the big sprocket - its downshift lever moves but does
nothing. The rear shifter is also stuck in high gear (smallest sprocket).
I should mention that downshifting the rear cluster worked fine twice, but
the third time I tried to downshift I felt a "pop" and the lever swung all
the way to the side without doing anything. If I brake first with the
right hand sometimes the shifter engages engages and it downshifts okay,
but usually braking does nothing to fix the problem.
Do I need to oil it or something? I have no idea how they got this way,
the bike was fine before it sat in the garage for a year.
If anyone can advise me on what to try to unstick the front shifter and re-
stick (sort of) the rear shifter, I would really appreciate it. I've read
that rebuilding STI shifters is difficult/impossible since parts are not
available, but I'd like to try something. Any diagrams or liturature on
what's inside would also be appreciated. I bought the bike used, and it
came with zero documentation.