Hey! I was suspicious that my shifter was problematic, and opened it up and I did find a broken plastic piece… it was partially broken at first, but by time I put everything back together, it broke off completely.
I want to know what purpose it serves, to determine if it was the cause of the problems I was having or not. For all I know it’s useless… (Doubt it)
This pic (red circle) shows the piece in question… a white plastic that seemed to be on the end of the gear cable:
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[Thanks in Advance for any Help!](https://preview.redd.it/g2hn25e197qb1.png?width=442&format=png&auto=webp&s=dacc45d1e743d30c6445f7386b1edeb73fb7b833)
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UPDATE: seems the part was unneccessary (thanks Edward\_Li\_2022!), and my shifter works better than ever after sanding down, cleaning, and lubing the internal components. A lot of people were curious why I was messing with it in first place; my issue was that I could not shift AT ALL. Stuck in gear 1. No way to change to 2 no matter what I did.
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This video showed me how to fix it.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwYEYO3h2Po](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwYEYO3h2Po)
by RealSirHandsome
5 Comments
The little white plastic cable end nipple holder is fine.
A very experienced Brompton mechanic told me that while you can pop open a shifter to make adjustments, it will never really be the same again. I’ve found most shifting issues, especially three-speed shifting issues, can get resolved at the back of the bike.
What was wrong with your shifting before you attempted the repair?
Brompton shifters are a bloody nightmare. I’m a pro mechanic with decades of experience, and even I won’t open one unless it’s absolutely the last resort because I know 9 times out of 10 it won’t work again.
They’re cheaply made, badly designed and don’t work well even when they’re new. I hate them. Just replace it with a stock SA shifter.
go for sunrace / aturmey archer (same company anyway) thumb shifter to shift the internal gear hub.
Update: I did get it back together “properly” now, and it does feel more off than before I took it apart (lots of friction with the lever), but it actually shifts between two of the gears now, though I think the indicator is inaccurate. I am admittedly no mechanic, and this is my first bike as an adult, but I do like to learn, and my adventrue with taking the shifter apart at least did make it so I can change the indicator to something other than “1” (though it seems to fall in and out of gear wile riding)
update 2: i applied a bunch of lubricant to the inside parts and now it actually feels pretty good.. still cant access all 3 gears but can shift between two of them seamlessly. At this point maybe it just needs adjustment.. idk. still learning. if i cant fix it soon I’ll take it into a shop (which I’ve never done before)
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final update: yes, after that, all it needed was adjustment! I can now switch between all 3 hub gears, and Im pretty sure its shifting smoother than it ever was, even when new.
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I think my shifter was faulty. It always had problems, then stopped working at all. I edited original post to include the video that helped me, and more details about the problem, for future googlers or reddit searchers.
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Thanks everyone!