Front derailleur stopped shifting. Shifter, FD, and cables are all less than 1000km old and in good condition to the eye. Problem started after a very wet gravel ride and a subsequent heavy cleaning.
The lever when pushed inwards (to move FD into the big ring) won’t go all the way across. As a result, the mechanism won’t roll over to pull the cable all the way across. With no visible obstructions, I’m at a loss of why the lever won’t go all the way inwards.
Photos show the maximum engagement of the lever. My road bike with identical levers sweeps much further in the movement. Something is stopping it from going all the way across here. Small lever works fine.
Any insight is appreciated! Thank you!
by YEGtreez
6 Comments
Have you checked your FD to make sure it’s not at the dérailleur side?
To fully isolate the problem u need to unscrew the cable at the derailleur and then see if the shifting problem is at the shifter end or cable or derailleur
Are you sure the cable is good? If I was working on this…
1. Disconnect the cable from the deraillleur, check the shifter action;
2. Remove the cable, make sure cable’s not damaged inside shifter (Shreds cable sometimes, often older models);
3. Still no shifter action? You’ve isolated the problem to the shifter in which case you could try lube/heat or overhaul/replace;
Note: Often the hood peeled back can block/hinder the action of the shifter, maybe return the hood to position before testing shifter action.
For reference: issue shifter vs a working shifter side by side. See the limited “sweep” in the issue shifter.
https://preview.redd.it/8uaoh8jjnigf1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2da154d43e08c3408595e40dde710257450bc5c2
Issue shifter
So only because I had a similar issue where I took the rear wheel off and changed gears with the tyre off resulting in something similar to what you’re describing.
I don’t know the name so I highlighted in red.
There plastic toggle parts needs to be seated and the gear cable had popped out.
You might find the gear cable is jammed and you might have to take out to then reinsert.
Then make sure that the springs under near the plastic flap inside are all seated and currently placed otherwise it won’t catch the pawls and shift. Oh don’t try to shift without it being back as it won’t work. Someone else made a post on this which described the process far better. If my explanation isn’t clear
https://preview.redd.it/wesulxnaoigf1.jpeg?width=1164&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0349c08212902d856a73bc85dd4105ee3f5d6fd4
I think that I had something similar with my 105 shifter. It would sometimes take a few attempts before I could actually shift. It ended up being that the cable was slightly loose and not seated correctly in the lever. It drove me nuts and I could swear that it was something wrong with the beautifully complex shift lever but was just a loose cable.
When I had this issue, I would start to shift, it would get caught then I’d either have to try again or push much harder until it uncaught.
https://preview.redd.it/hv1sbr4cdjgf1.png?width=884&format=png&auto=webp&s=e74cffff6e4dead1c9dff9bd8465fc35205c0e6b
What was happening in my scenario is that it was loose enough that it would leave the housing and then the plastic would get caught on this metal head thing.
I had a similar issue with my Ultegra shifter. Might be similar for yours. Behind the black plastic shifter handle are two metal prongs (you can see one of those in your photo). One of those – I don’t remember which – needs to engage before the other or the shifter mechanism won’t move. Try manually pushing each one across in the direction the handle swings before moving the handle normally. If that works it might be that the plastic part of the handle that would push and engage that first prong is damaged or worn and doesn’t catch it early enough. I had to stick something to that surface to get it to pick up the prong early enough. Worked perfectly since then.