How to repair road bike's integral Brake Lever, Gear Shifter? The shift lever fails to pull the cable.?

Question

My 1997 Cannondale Road bike has Shimano gears and shifters. The Left Shifter lever fails to pull the cable which is good and intact.

Does anyone have recommendations for repairing the Left Shifter assembly to make it pull the cable to activate the shifting mechanism. The cable is intact and moves freely. I can activate the Shifting mechanisms by pulling the cable away from the Frame Cross-bar, which demonstrates that everything from the Shift Lever on down to the front derailer is good.

Is there an on-line repair manual for Shimano Gears for the 1997 vintage bicycle that would show how to repair the integral Brake Lever-Gear Shifter assembly? Would parts be available from Shimano or from Cannondale?

Alternately, does it make more sense to simply replace the shift lever and Brake Lever assembly?

Recommendations? Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

Answer 1

The last time I had a problem with a Shimano integrated shifter, my local bike shop told me they really can't be dissembled and repaired. Try taking a look on the Shimano web site at http://techdocs.shimano.com/techdocs/ind... where you can find the docs for each of their components. Maybe there is something you can do.

HTH

Answer 2

Go with MRs answer I just fixed a bike the other day with the same issues.  Shimano used what I would call junk grease at the factory in the levers and over time the grease gets hard and will not let the ratchet action work, this will cause it not to pull or release the cable.  I just shot in a couple big squirts of LP-1 silicone lube and worked the levers until the old grease was eaten out by the new lube and the levers worked great, and I saved the lady a few hundred bucks for new levers (good for her, but not too good for my bank account), but a happy customer will always return.....

Answer 3

My old RSX (1st generation) STI shifters started doing the same thing as yours. I loosened the shifter pivot bolt a lot without it falling apart and got as much WD40 in the shift mech. as I could. I wiped down the shifters after a few hours and squirted a light lithium grease (out of a spay can) into the mech. I then snugged up the pivot bolts not too tight and they have worked great since.

I bet this is all you need to do as well.