UtahMountainBiking.com

[LaMar]

The other day while riding I shifted to my large chainring coming down a hill and realized I could not shift to the smaller chainring anymore. It is like the lever won't catch anything. I've heard this happening to the 105's and people have had to replace them. I'm just wondering if anyone has had this problem and been able to fix it. I'm afraid mine are past warranty and I don't want to pay for a new shifter.

Although, it might be a good excuse to upgrade...

Thanks!

[cachehiker]

I've seen this as a result of Gatorade goo buildup in the cable guides under the bottom bracket. In any case, if my 6 year old Ultegras or 4 year old 105's give up the ghost anytime soon, I'll just switch the bike over to bar-cons.

BTW, the Ultegras are still going strong after 8000 miles of pure road whereas the 105's are just beginning to show their age after 5000 miles with a bit of cyclocross but they've probably got another few thousand left in them.

[sbstumpy]

If its not something with the cable, housing or FD, as suggested, then you might try to spray the whole thing out with triflow.

Hang the bike so the shifter is down and spray triflow into the works, trying to get it in everywhere. Continue to try to shift and push/pull the cable to try to get it free. Let it sit and drip for a while (5-10 minutes). Use a compressor to blow all the extra tryflow out afterwards.

This worked to unstick an ultregra triple front shifter I had the same problem with.

Although I don't usually lube my shifters (and its not recommended), I've seen this technique suggested quite a bit for stuck shifters on the roadbikereview forums with out any negative feedback and haven't seen where its done any harm.

edit:
Here is an example of a thread on roadbikereview:

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=166685&highlight=triflow

Some use WD-40 prior to triflow. I prefer not to use WD-40 on my bikes.

[LaMar]

Thanks for the info. Turns out there was a small plastic piece that broke inside the shifter. I ended up just buying an Ultegra shifter on ebay.