Shifter problems!

Backi00 said:

I have a 96 GT Rage that i purchased semi recently. The bike is in great condition for the age and has full Shimano 105.
The problem is that just recently the right shifter is having major trouble shifting to the lower cogs. The lever just seems to not 'catch' and goes beyond where it should be switching. A mechanic flushed the old lube and re-lubed it once which helped for a short time.
I was told the cables are good and i cant find anything wrong myself.
Does it need to be cleaned more thouroughly or is just on its way out and i should look to replace?

Despite what you were told, I recommend that you either LUBE or change the cable & housing for the rear derailleur ... run the cable through a dab of Vaseline that is between your thumb & finger tips.

BTW. I preferred to use BRAKE CABLE HOUSING for the derailleur cables when I used Shimano STI shifters vs. the small inner diameter housing that Shimano provides.

While the cable is detached from the rear deralleur, ensure that the derailleur moves freely through its entire range ... oil the derailleur's parallelogram pivots with sewing machine oil OR 3-in-1 weight oil.

N.B. In the worst case scenario where you feel you must replace your shifters, you can substitute a set of 10-speed Campagnolo shifters for your 8-speed Shimano shifters ... the only inconvenience is that you will have to unwrap your handlebars so that you can strap the derailleur cable housing against the handlebars.

The QS Campagnolo shifters are less robust than the non-QS versions ... but, because the LEFT shifter is designed to handle a triple, it actually has enough indexing indents to allow it to shift ANY front derailleur ... I did a 5-minute bench test a couple of years ago to confirm this ... I also used a 9-speed, 105 shifter to shift an 8-speed XT front derailleur on a double crank (again, the triple capable shifter was the key to successfully shifting the derailleur between the two chainrings).

But, the price difference isn't that much between the QS shifters & the more robust non-QS shifters, so you may as well look for non-QS shifters -- your cost will be between $100-to-$300US, depending on where you buy them AND which model you choose ... the cheapest non-QS Campagnolo shifter has internal components which are interchangeable with the most expensive non-QS Campagnolo shifter, and so the shifting is almost indistinguishable between the best & the least.

The 10-speed Campagnolo shifters can index to 8-/9-/10-speed drivetrains with little or no effort ... indexing for a 9-speed Shimano cassette just requires attaching the cable differently on the rear derailleur ... indexing for a 10-speed Shimano cassette will require a new rear derailleur & attaching the cable in a slightly different manner.

IMO, Campagnolo shifters shift better than Shimano shifters ... they are an worthwhile upgrade for ANY non-Campagnolo drivetrain.