Ultegra 10 Speed Brifter Failure?

Steve Sr. said:

Hello,

I have a road bike with this group. The bike is less than a year old
and has about 3700 miles on it.

Lately I have noticed some shifting anomalies and have confirmed this
on the work stand. The rear der is having trouble up-shifting into the
4 smallest cogs. It is as if there isn't enough cable tension from the
rear der to get it to shift. If I manually play with the shifter and
put enough tension on the cable it will shift (release cable) like it
is supposed to.

However, in real operation if you push on the release lever it might
shift or might not. A lot of times it will shift on the second push of
the lever. The cable is clean and doesn't appear to be binding. The
rear der also appears to be in good shape.

Is this brifter on its way out after such a short time? I thought that
Shimano fixed all of these issues when they went from 9 speed to
10speed. Are these levers any more repairable than their 9 speed
predecessors?

Does anyone know if these are a 1 or 2 year warranty from Shimano?

Thanks,

Steve

Your shifter cable is very likely frayed inside the shifter. Replace it.
--
Philip Lee

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 20:17:13 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have a road bike with this group. The bike is less than a year old
and has about 3700 miles on it.

Lately I have noticed some shifting anomalies and have confirmed this
on the work stand. The rear der is having trouble up-shifting into the
4 smallest cogs. It is as if there isn't enough cable tension from the
rear der to get it to shift. If I manually play with the shifter and
put enough tension on the cable it will shift (release cable) like it
is supposed to.

However, in real operation if you push on the release lever it might
shift or might not. A lot of times it will shift on the second push of
the lever. The cable is clean and doesn't appear to be binding. The
rear der also appears to be in good shape.

Is this brifter on its way out after such a short time? I thought that
Shimano fixed all of these issues when they went from 9 speed to
10speed. Are these levers any more repairable than their 9 speed
predecessors?

Does anyone know if these are a 1 or 2 year warranty from Shimano?

Thanks,

Steve

My vote also goes for a bad cable. Replace the cable and then see what
happens.

Ultegra has a 2 year warranty. It is my understanding that all Shimano
gear has 2 years, except for Dura-Ace which has 3 years.

Life is Good!
Jeff

Jeff Starr said:

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 20:17:13 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have a road bike with this group. The bike is less than a year old
and has about 3700 miles on it.

Lately I have noticed some shifting anomalies and have confirmed this
on the work stand. The rear der is having trouble up-shifting into the
4 smallest cogs. It is as if there isn't enough cable tension from the
rear der to get it to shift. If I manually play with the shifter and
put enough tension on the cable it will shift (release cable) like it
is supposed to.

However, in real operation if you push on the release lever it might
shift or might not. A lot of times it will shift on the second push of
the lever. The cable is clean and doesn't appear to be binding. The
rear der also appears to be in good shape.

Is this brifter on its way out after such a short time? I thought that
Shimano fixed all of these issues when they went from 9 speed to
10speed. Are these levers any more repairable than their 9 speed
predecessors?

Does anyone know if these are a 1 or 2 year warranty from Shimano?

Thanks,

Steve

My vote also goes for a bad cable. Replace the cable and then see what
happens.

Ultegra has a 2 year warranty. It is my understanding that all Shimano
gear has 2 years, except for Dura-Ace which has 3 years.

Life is Good!
Jeff

What they said about the cable sounds most likely. Getting to the small
gears requires letting go at the shift control end and letting the
springs pull it down to the small cogs.
Sticky cable.
Bill Baka

On Thu, 06 Jul 2006 04:56:11 GMT, Bill <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Jeff Starr said:

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 20:17:13 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have a road bike with this group. The bike is less than a year old
and has about 3700 miles on it.

Lately I have noticed some shifting anomalies and have confirmed this
on the work stand. The rear der is having trouble up-shifting into the
4 smallest cogs. It is as if there isn't enough cable tension from the
rear der to get it to shift. If I manually play with the shifter and
put enough tension on the cable it will shift (release cable) like it
is supposed to.

However, in real operation if you push on the release lever it might
shift or might not. A lot of times it will shift on the second push of
the lever. The cable is clean and doesn't appear to be binding. The
rear der also appears to be in good shape.

Is this brifter on its way out after such a short time? I thought that
Shimano fixed all of these issues when they went from 9 speed to
10speed. Are these levers any more repairable than their 9 speed
predecessors?

Does anyone know if these are a 1 or 2 year warranty from Shimano?

Thanks,

Steve

My vote also goes for a bad cable. Replace the cable and then see what
happens.

Ultegra has a 2 year warranty. It is my understanding that all Shimano
gear has 2 years, except for Dura-Ace which has 3 years.

Life is Good!
Jeff

What they said about the cable sounds most likely. Getting to the small
gears requires letting go at the shift control end and letting the
springs pull it down to the small cogs.
Sticky cable.
Bill Baka

I don't think you are right about how the springs work in a Shimano
road derailleur.
The springs don't "pull it down", the springs are released.

Odds are, the cable is fraying inside the shifter, not just sticky.

Life is Good!
Jeff

"Jeff Starr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 20:17:13 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have a road bike with this group. The bike is less than a year old
and has about 3700 miles on it.

Lately I have noticed some shifting anomalies and have confirmed this
on the work stand. The rear der is having trouble up-shifting into the
4 smallest cogs. It is as if there isn't enough cable tension from the
rear der to get it to shift. If I manually play with the shifter and
put enough tension on the cable it will shift (release cable) like it
is supposed to.

However, in real operation if you push on the release lever it might
shift or might not. A lot of times it will shift on the second push of
the lever. The cable is clean and doesn't appear to be binding. The
rear der also appears to be in good shape.

Is this brifter on its way out after such a short time? I thought that
Shimano fixed all of these issues when they went from 9 speed to
10speed. Are these levers any more repairable than their 9 speed
predecessors?

Does anyone know if these are a 1 or 2 year warranty from Shimano?

Thanks,

Steve

My vote also goes for a bad cable. Replace the cable and then see what
happens.

Ultegra has a 2 year warranty. It is my understanding that all Shimano
gear has 2 years, except for Dura-Ace which has 3 years.

If the bike came as a bike, take it back to the shop. they'll be able to
tell you if it is U/S and sort any warranty issue. All the bike
manufacturers I can think of have a 1 year parts warranty on top of
Shimano's.

Quoted message said:

Life is Good!
Jeff

Skippy
E&OE

On Thu, 06 Jul 2006 03:47:49 GMT, Jeff Starr <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 20:17:13 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have a road bike with this group. The bike is less than a year old
and has about 3700 miles on it.

Lately I have noticed some shifting anomalies and have confirmed this
on the work stand. The rear der is having trouble up-shifting into the
4 smallest cogs. It is as if there isn't enough cable tension from the
rear der to get it to shift. If I manually play with the shifter and
put enough tension on the cable it will shift (release cable) like it
is supposed to.

However, in real operation if you push on the release lever it might
shift or might not. A lot of times it will shift on the second push of
the lever. The cable is clean and doesn't appear to be binding. The
rear der also appears to be in good shape.

Is this brifter on its way out after such a short time? I thought that
Shimano fixed all of these issues when they went from 9 speed to
10speed. Are these levers any more repairable than their 9 speed
predecessors?

Does anyone know if these are a 1 or 2 year warranty from Shimano?

Thanks,

Steve

My vote also goes for a bad cable. Replace the cable and then see what
happens.

Ultegra has a 2 year warranty. It is my understanding that all Shimano
gear has 2 years, except for Dura-Ace which has 3 years.

Life is Good!
Jeff

Err... Care to try for the best 2 out of 3? Well actually there can
only be one correct answer. Unfortunately, this wasn't it!

I pulled the cable loose but did not take it completely off.
Everything looks fine and I cannot feel any friction on the cable.

This is starting to look more like the shifter.

I am sort of hesitating taking the bike back to the shop if this can
easily be fixed by a flush and lube job if that is what it needs.

If the shifter is toast then I'll let them replace it. I am trying to
avoid loosing my main ride for a week or two while the shop diagnoses
the problem and then has to wait for the part to come in.

Steve

On Thu, 06 Jul 2006 20:43:50 -0400, Steve Sr. <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My vote also goes for a bad cable. Replace the cable and then see what
happens.

Ultegra has a 2 year warranty. It is my understanding that all Shimano
gear has 2 years, except for Dura-Ace which has 3 years.

Life is Good!
Jeff

Err... Care to try for the best 2 out of 3? Well actually there can
only be one correct answer. Unfortunately, this wasn't it!

I pulled the cable loose but did not take it completely off.
Everything looks fine and I cannot feel any friction on the cable.

This is starting to look more like the shifter.

I am sort of hesitating taking the bike back to the shop if this can
easily be fixed by a flush and lube job if that is what it needs.

If the shifter is toast then I'll let them replace it. I am trying to
avoid loosing my main ride for a week or two while the shop diagnoses
the problem and then has to wait for the part to come in.

Steve

I still say replace the cable, it's a $5 part.

If you need to have the shifter replaced, why would your shop need to
keep the bike?

Either one of the LBS that I use, could diagnose while I waited, and
if the shifter wasn't in stock, they would have me bring the bike in,
after the part arrived. Ask them if they can do that.

Life is Good!
Jeff