Raleigh M-40 self destructs

Pat said:

I went to take out my beater bike today for a ride, only to find the plastic parts holding the
cables on to the handlebar for the grip shifters have broken. Both sides broke in exactly the
same place. I knew it was hot in my garage, but this is ridiculous! If I can't get some cheap
replacement grip shifters, I guess I will have a single speed bike. Has this happened to
anyone else?

Kind of hard to picture what broke, but if both broke at the same time, I'll bet you a dollar to a
donut that they were both lubed with some sort of petrochemical (aka "oil"😉. Oil will embrittle the
plastic in a grip shift and it will then break very easily.

I've had the same shifters on my own bike for probably 5 years now, and wore the original grips down
to nothing, and am now working on the second set. They still work as well as they did when they were
new - because there's really not much to wear out.

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles habcycles.comhabcycles.comOpen ↗ Home of the $695 ti frame

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Quoted message said:

Kind of hard to picture what broke, but if both broke at the same time, I'll bet you a dollar to a
donut that they were both lubed with some sort of petrochemical (aka "oil"😉. Oil will embrittle
the plastic in a grip shift and it will then break very easily.

I've had the same shifters on my own bike for probably 5 years now, and wore the original grips
down to nothing, and am now working on the second set. They still work as well as they did when
they were new - because there's really not much to wear out.

Mark Hickey

I don't know what to call it, but I am talking about an 'L' shaped piece of plastic where the
cable inside its housing joins on to the grip shifter at the handlebar. I bet you are right,
because when a person turns the grip shifter, this 'L' shaped plastic takes a lot of pressure to
pull on the cable.

Pat in TX