Anyone else find the ergo thumb-button stiff sometimes?

[JohnO]

When I first installed them, my Chorus shifters might have been a tad stiff, but after a year they loosened up. No problems now. From the drops, they might be a bit harder to press, but never so stiff that they prevented shifting.

As I recall, Chorus/Record Ergopower are built to better specs than the others, so they might be smoother shifting. I'd suggest you hop on ebay and see what a set of Chorus shifters sell for, but the last time I looked, they commanded pretty healthy prices.

 

[phillman5]

Speed forward a couple years. I just got a Campy Chorus 11 speed setup and I have this problem! I find playing with the downshifter (go to larger cog) lever, will unbind the thumb shifter. A pain in the arus. Other than this the Chorus (replaced ~88 stuff that was all friction based, why I didn't do this long ago beats me) stuff is just great. I have ~2000 Velose that are ok, I don't have the binding problem with them. Maybe I should route both cables to the front of the handle bars like someone suggested, but it seems it is the mechanism that is binding.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Phill,

I have 2012 Chorus 11-speed also. I found a YouTube video on how to remove the rubber hoods from the levers. Go slow and easy with prying the locating 'tits' out and use soapy water to lubricate the rubber before prying too hard.

Once the hoods were off, I lubricated everything with oil and worked the mechanism repeatedly to get the oil into every recess and crevice. I blew it out with compressed air and went at it again. Campy ships the levers packed with grease, so I used a wood stick from a Q-Tip and applied a liberal amount of white lithium grease to everything I could get at.

I also carefully opened up the thumb button slot in the rubber hood as the button arm dragged on the rubber. A steady hand and sharp fingernail trimming scissors worked well for this.

Soap up the hood good with mild dish washing soap/water and carefully re-install the hood.

Even with over 4K miles on them, they are still loosening up/wearing in.

 

[alfeng]

Originally Posted by phillman5 .

Speed forward a couple years. I just got a Campy Chorus 11 speed setup and I have this problem! I find playing with the downshifter (go to larger cog) lever, will unbind the thumb shifter. A pain in the arus. Other than this the Chorus (replaced ~88 stuff that was all friction based, why I didn't do this long ago beats me) stuff is just great. I have ~2000 Velose that are ok, I don't have the binding problem with them. Maybe I should route both cables to the front of the handle bars like someone suggested, but it seems it is the mechanism that is binding.

The difficulty which you are experiencing MAY be (is more than likely!) due to a poor derailleur cable installation ...

• despite what I have read people-from-Boulder write, 'I' think that the derailleur cables are EASIER to install on the Ultra-Shift (aka V3) levers ...
• which means that THEY just don't know what they are doing (at least, not yet!?!) & may have kinked the cable during the installation ...

ALSO, if the installer insisted on using the parallel stranded cable housing which is supplied with the cable "kits" then it MAY be beneficial to enlarge the opening for the ferule which is tucked inside the lever ... presuming that they did not forget to install it!

BTW. I'm not certain, but I think that the small, white "guide" may actually be unnecessary ... but, there is no obvious reason to exclude-or-remove it.