Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
> > I don't know where you come from, but friction shifters are SUPPOSED to
> > be lightly greased, especially campy ones. That wrench knows his
> > stuff. The grease allows the shifters to be tightened sufficiently to
> > achieve smooth progressive lever movement (w/o slipping) instead of
> > "ratcheting" action. If you can't seem to tighten the lever enough it's
> > most likely because your screw is bottoming out in the shifter boss, or
> > you have very worn shifter internals.
>
> The problem might not be where the grease is, but where it isn't. If the
> mechanic didn't lube the screw that tightens the shift lever, you may not be
> able to get it tight enough to hold things in place.
>
> It's also possible that things are so worn out that the only reason things
> were staying in place was due to corrosion etc. Cleaning things up exposed
> those issues.
>
> Still, it's not an excuse for not discovering in the repair stand or on a
> test ride that the shifter wasn't holding things in gear. Don't know if that
> warrants a rant on usenet though. Could be a visit to the shop and someone
> will quickly recognize and fix the problem.
>
> --Mike Jacoubowsky
> Chain Reaction Bicycles
> www.ChainReaction.com
> Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA
>
> "damyth" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > Blair P. Houghton wrote:
> >> A couple of weeks ago I left my bike at an LBS for a teardown and lube
> >> (it's cheap, it's quick, and they don't have to keep going back to the
> >> LBS for parts).
> >>
> >> The dufus who finally did the work seems to have greased my shifters.
> >>
> >> My /friction/ shifters.
> >>
> >> Now every time I get out of the saddle and hammer, the varying pull on
> >> the front der cable (because of the flex in my steel frame) tugs the
> >> lever to a slacker position, dropping the der halfway to shifting off
> >> the big ring, so every time I sit down I have to readjust the lever.
> >>
> >> The tension screw is plenty tight, in case you're wondering. I should
> >> get in there with some solvent sometime soon.
> >>
> >> Mommas don't let your babies grow up to be wrenches.
> >>
> >> --Blair
> >
> > I don't know where you come from, but friction shifters are SUPPOSED to
> > be lightly greased, especially campy ones. That wrench knows his
> > stuff. The grease allows the shifters to be tightened sufficiently to
> > achieve smooth progressive lever movement (w/o slipping) instead of
> > "ratcheting" action. If you can't seem to tighten the lever enough it's
> > most likely because your screw is bottoming out in the shifter boss, or
> > you have very worn shifter internals.
> >
This is the prime example of "no good deed goes unpunished."
The mere fact that this wrench knows to grease the friction shifter
tells me the wrench knows his stuff and is relatively thorough. Look
at how "greasing friction shifter" comes as a surprise to many people
in this thread, including at least one bike shop owner. And even out
of the total population of wrenches who do know about greasing the
shifter, I'd wager there are many who wouldn't bother greasing the
shifter for a "tune-up" job.
There are many reasons why the wrench didn't discover that the lever
wasn't tight enough. The OP says the problem only shows up when he
gets up and hammers. Perhaps the wrench is no longer a spring chicken
and doesn't have as much power as the OP, or maybe he was too short to
test ride the bike. (I belong to the latter, and can't test ride many
bikes, as I ride a 50cm myself.)
More importantly, the OP states this only happens to the left (front)
shifter. This begs the question why it doesn't happen on the right
shifter. I'd assume the wrench greased BOTH shifters.
Back in the day, it was very rare where I didn't have to grind off the
shifter screw by 1mm or more cause there was always brass or some other
junk in the boss, even on new frames. I'd say I had to grind off at
least one screw on each bike 75% of the time.
And to the OP, you can easily test the theory that the screw is
bottoming out by installing a washer betw. the screw head and the
outmost shifter assembly. I'd wager the auto-shift problem goes away.
