Hey everyone,
I just picked up a bike equipped with Shimano Deore LX brifters. I spent some time cleaning and regreasing the internals, and they are now shifting flawlessly. However, upon closer inspection, I discovered a crack in the mounting/clamp portion of the housing.
Is there any reliable way to repair a crack in this area, or is the structural integrity compromised? I'd hate to toss them since the shifting is so crisp, but I'm worried about the lever failing under braking.
Can I ignore a small crack here, or should I start looking for a replacement body? Thanks in advance for the advice!
by j262byuu
7 Comments
Yeah, those are toast.
Those look modular, perhaps you can just change the brake lever/clamp portion and keep the shifter.
eventually yes but if it were me i’d ignore it, unless i was able to replace them immediately. drop some blue loctite in there and install with minimal torque.
the reason i say it’s fine is because the failure mode here isn’t likely to be dangerous. eventually it will split around the bolt holding it, losing purchase on the bars, and simply spin around the next time your finger pushes on the shift lever. unexpected, yes, but to me that seems unlikely to cause an accident. use at your own risk of course.
I mean, it’s not a structural component. You’re not gonna crash if it breaks mid-ride. If they work just keep using them, maybe just clamp them to carbon bars
I think most of the comments that are saying send it are overlooking the fact that this is also a brake lever. It will eventually fail at this point, and as a shift lever I wouldn’t worry, but since it’s also a brake, it could be very dangerous depending on when it fails.
I would be comfortable putting this on a bike that I would be able to stop only using the other lever, like a city bike or something for chill riding, but not on a xc/trail bike I’m taking down fast descents.
I would ride this until it broke. Maybe even try to save it with some epoxy/loctite. If this fails while riding you won’t die and you can still ride the bike home in whatever gear it happens to be stuck in. For safety critical stuff I always replace – stuff like this I ride as long as possible to keep out of a landfill
It’s not going to get better……so I would replace before it snaps completely.