A Question About Vintage STI Shifters.

[Markone]

Recently I have come in to possession of a couple of sets of Vintage STI shifters,Shimano RX100 8 speed and Campagnolo Veloce 9 speed.

My question is,do these shifters typically require cable pull tension to function properly up and down the ratchet when not actually part of a bike?

 

[Southwestslacker1]

Re:

Can't say for Campagnolo but the Shimano should index and click without cable tension. From experience with old Shimano the grease inside them gums up and stops the tiny parts from moving.
A few liberal applications of GT85 or WD40 inside the levers should loosen them up.
Just keep working them and they should be fine.

Do not attempt to take them apart unless you are a watchmaker!
Guessing It's a similar story with Campagnolo but not had any experience with them.

 

[jimo746]

Re:

The above is good advice, had done RSX sti units recently that would shift up the cassette but not down. Entry of WD - 40 and patience and they worked good as new.
You can always fit a cable and tension it by hand to help the mechanism along until its freed off.

 

[allenh]

Conversely I've never taken the Shimano ones apart and by the sounds of the above it would seem the Campag ones are easier to take apart, there are some good videos and manuals about on servicing them.

The Campag ones up until quite recently though do suffer from a spring that fails but this is usually only on the right/rear side one, the springs themselves are usually a few pounds a pair and if you are reasonably mechanically minded are not that difficult to replace. The later ones I understand have more plastic in the mechanism and can break more terminally.

 

[cromoman]

Re:

Many Campag Ergo levers have a counter-spring in them that opposes the force of the derailleur spring. It wasn't present in the earlier models, but I'm reasonably sure it was in the 9-speed ones. Are yours pointy tops or round tops? I think 9-speed pointy top levers and all round top levers apart from the QS Escape ones have the counter spring.

When you operate the lever (the finger lever rather than the little thumb one) without any cable tension, it's quite normal for it to shift 2 or 3 positions in one go. When you have cable tension, it will shift one click at a time.

If when it's all cabled up, the indexing doesn't work, the most common cause is the spring carrier, which is prone to cracking.

Cracked spring carriers:
IMG_20180907_215120422 by cromoman, on Flickr

 

[Markone]

Re: Re:

Many Campag Ergo levers have a counter-spring in them that opposes the force of the derailleur spring. It wasn't present in the earlier models, but I'm reasonably sure it was in the 9-speed ones. Are yours pointy tops or round tops? I think 9-speed pointy top levers and all round top levers apart from the QS Escape ones have the counter spring.

When you operate the lever (the finger lever rather than the little thumb one) without any cable tension, it's quite normal for it to shift 2 or 3 positions in one go. When you have cable tension, it will shift one click at a time.

If when it's all cabled up, the indexing doesn't work, the most common cause is the spring carrier, which is prone to cracking.

Cracked spring carriers:
IMG_20180907_215120422 by cromoman, on Flickr

Great info,I have the pointy ones and worryingly after taking the hoods off both levers I found what looks like the 'post' of one of the spring carriers on the work bench.

Until looking at your picture I had ignored this bit of metal and imagined it came from something else!


I just watched a youtube vid showing the dismantling of the 10 speed Veloce shifter and the removal of the spring carrier,which thankfully looks very straightforward.

Do you know if 9 speed spring carriers are available anywhere in the UK?

 

[Markone]

Thanks for all the other replies guys most helpful.

RJ The Bike Guy has a useful youtube vid showing the partial disassembly and reassembly of the RX100 shifters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkGNN_2CfCY

 

[pigman]

Re:

Mercian cycles in Derby used to be known for stocking all the fiddly campag parts. I think they do a campag lever repair service also, if you want to leave it to someone else
I've taken campag levers apart and it's not that hard. Make sure you have a selection of pointy pliers.

 

[cromoman]

Re:

Campagnolo have many old spare parts catalogues on their website. 9-speed pointy Veloce levers are from 1998 it would seem, it's not the same part number, but I'm pretty sure it's a compatible part with the newer ones.

Sigma Sports have them for £2!

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/Campag ... arrier/AUC

There's a technique you have to use to get them back together with the correct spring tension and with sanity remaining. I can attempt a video if you like.

 

[Markone]

Re: Re:

Mercian cycles in Derby used to be known for stocking all the fiddly campag parts. I think they do a campag lever repair service also, if you want to leave it to someone else
I've taken campag levers apart and it's not that hard. Make sure you have a selection of pointy pliers.

Thanks,I have done many things like this over the years so I am not daunted by it.