Monday, February 14, 2011

Shifter woes

My poor mixte, Hedwig, seems to be plagued by shifter problems. First it was her original Shimano Altus stem shifters that just wouldn't hold the cable anymore.




I replaced them with some Falcon thumb shifters, which I really liked. Until today when part of the plastic housing broke and allowed the cable as well as it's housing to be pulled into the shifter when I would try to shift. This got all mangled and just wouldn't shift anymore.

With it being such a beautiful day out today, I just couldn't pass up on a ride so removed the thumb shifters and replaced them with another set of stem shifters that were graciously given to me not too long ago (thank you!).

Everything went smoothly, and I was on my way out to the barn when I started having trouble shifting again. I limped her the rest of the way there and discovered that the cable had started to fray apart at the shifter!




So, I reluctantly called my husband to come rescue Hedwig and me. At that point there was nothing I could do anyway.




Now, I've come to really like thumb shifters, but am wary now of buying cheap. So, should I just replace the cables and continue using the stem shifters, or go ahead and buy good quality thumb shifters? I'm leaning toward investing in good thumb shifters.

1 comment:

  1. We use Sunrace thumbshifters at our local bike coop. They have plastic bits. A piece of plastic chipped off of one shifter on my bike after 3 years, but the shifter still works. If you can find them, look for some vintage Suntour thumbshifters or stem shifters (with ratcheting clicks) at your local bike coop/kitchen/recyclery.

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