Broken Shimano XT Shifter......my fault? Probably......

That sounds like it might have been that the front derailleur itself might have been out of
adjustment.

--
Lewis.

......................... "Jay Adair" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Well, after a mere 45 minutes of riding my new-to-me V45, I managed to
break
> the front shifter. I was finding it impossible to get the chain up onto
the
> large chain ring, the trigger shifters would move the chain nicely
between
> the middle and smaller ring, but would not scoot it over to the far right. I kept working the twin
> triggers and finally tried pushing harder on the trigger that would move it higher....then sudden
> slackness and no more shifting at all.
>
> I opened the shifter case and found the cable pulled out of the plastic keeper and squashed in the
> space above it, folding over and closing the
slot
> in the plastic hub. I tried to ease the slot back open with a
screwdriver,
> and....snap - it broke off. The bike is now at my LBS awaiting arrival of
a
> replacement XT shifter.
>
> I was just wondering it this is normal for a 3 year old Shimano XT shifter (supposedly one of
> their better ones?) or was I just a total buffoon? (I can take it) I've ordered a bicycle
> maintenance book to try and educate myself on basic bike tuning, since the derailleurs were
> apparently out of whack.
>
> Jay 2000 Vision V45 (bent, broken, but still mine...)

As you have surmised, the front derailleur was out of adjustment.

Main Entry: man·han·dle Pronunciation: 'man-"han-d&l Function: transitive verb Date: circa 1865
1 : to handle roughly
2 : to move or manage by human force <manhandled the posts into place>

I think there is a good reason there is no female equivalent word.

and from the famous phrase in 'The Graduate': "Plastic!" Just about sums it all up.

Whether the shifter should last three years or more depends on how it was treated in the first three
years that you did not own the bike. You probably did not buy this bike from a woman eh?
Manhandled...

The price of the book will be well spent. I am surprised that the LBS did not have a set(2) of
shifters for you to buy. The included instructions from Shimano are more than adequate for you to
install and adjust the shifters (two) And the price of a set of shifters will probably be less than
the cost of having the LBS replace just one.

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> Well, after a mere 45 minutes of riding my new-to-me V45, I managed to break the front shifter. I
> was finding it impossible to get the chain up onto the large chain ring, the trigger shifters
> would move the chain nicely between the middle and smaller ring, but would not scoot it over to
> the far right. I kept working the twin triggers and finally tried pushing harder on the trigger
> that would move it higher....then sudden slackness and no more shifting at all.
>
> I opened the shifter case and found the cable pulled out of the plastic keeper and squashed in the
> space above it, folding over and closing the slot in the plastic hub. I tried to ease the slot
> back open with a screwdriver, and....snap - it broke off. The bike is now at my LBS awaiting
> arrival of a replacement XT shifter.
>
> I was just wondering it this is normal for a 3 year old Shimano XT shifter (supposedly one of
> their better ones?) or was I just a total buffoon? (I can take it) I've ordered a bicycle
> maintenance book to try and educate myself on basic bike tuning, since the derailleurs were
> apparently out of whack.
>
> Jay 2000 Vision V45 (bent, broken, but still mine...)
>
>
>

--

Cletus D. Lee Bacchetta Giro Lightning Voyager http://www.clee.org
- Bellaire, TX USA -

> As you have surmised, the front derailleur was out of adjustment.
>
> Main Entry: man·han·dle Pronunciation: 'man-"han-d&l Function: transitive verb Date: circa 1865
> 1 : to handle roughly
> 2 : to move or manage by human force <manhandled the posts into place>
>
> I think there is a good reason there is no female equivalent word.
>

Well, I'm a firefighter by trade, and we pretty much specialize in tearing stuff up. Most of us
could tear up an anvil using a Q-tip. And, as you can see, it isn't always a good thing.

> and from the famous phrase in 'The Graduate': "Plastic!" Just about sums
it all up.
>
> Whether the shifter should last three years or more depends on how it was
treated in the first
> three years that you did not own the bike. You probably did not buy this
bike from a woman eh?
> Manhandled...
>
> The price of the book will be well spent. I am surprised that the LBS did
not have a set(2) of
> shifters for you to buy. The included instructions from Shimano are more
than adequate for you
> to install and adjust the shifters (two) And the price of a set of
shifters will probably be
> less than the cost of having the LBS replace just one.
>
>

You are probably right in this. I was rather disgusted at the moment and just wanted it fixed by
someone who would probably not break anything else, and if they did, I could point my finger and
yell at someone else....of course, this is the same LBS that couldn't be bothered to quote me a
price on a new R40, even after two personal visits, and a phone call by ME to Vision to call THEM
with a price. I dislike having to patronize them now. Thanks goodness for the internet and
E-Bay....and this newsgroup.

Jay

> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> > Well, after a mere 45 minutes of riding my new-to-me V45, I managed to
break
> > the front shifter. I was finding it impossible to get the chain up onto
the
> > large chain ring, the trigger shifters would move the chain nicely
between
> > the middle and smaller ring, but would not scoot it over to the far
right.
> > I kept working the twin triggers and finally tried pushing harder on the trigger that would move
> > it higher....then sudden slackness and no more shifting at all.
> >
> > I opened the shifter case and found the cable pulled out of the plastic keeper and squashed in
> > the space above it, folding over and closing the
slot
> > in the plastic hub. I tried to ease the slot back open with a
screwdriver,
> > and....snap - it broke off. The bike is now at my LBS awaiting arrival
of a
> > replacement XT shifter.
> >
> > I was just wondering it this is normal for a 3 year old Shimano XT
shifter
> > (supposedly one of their better ones?) or was I just a total buffoon?
(I
> > can take it) I've ordered a bicycle maintenance book to try and educate myself on basic bike
> > tuning, since the derailleurs were apparently out
of
> > whack.
> >
> > Jay 2000 Vision V45 (bent, broken, but still mine...)
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
>
> Cletus D. Lee Bacchetta Giro Lightning Voyager http://www.clee.org
> - Bellaire, TX USA -

"Lewis Campbell" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> That sounds like it might have been that the front derailleur itself might have been out of
> adjustment.
>

And/or it was not matched with the correct front derailleur. There is a *specific* Shimano front
derailleur that matches the cable pull of MTB shifters (such as Deore XT) and works with larger
chainrings (48-tooth plus). It's Shimano part number FD-R443 . Harris Cyclery (aka Sheldon Brown)
sells them: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/derailers.html#front

If you have a mismatch, the cable pull may come up short before shifting to the big ring. I have
a similar setup (Deore XT shifters, 105 front derailleur) and it's tough to get a consistent
shift out of
it.

Jeff