Ultegra Shifter Disassembly.

velo.2010

So my right hand shifter has developed some 'sticky shifting'. Thats to say after upshifting using the main paddle, it (the main paddle) doesn't spring back all the way and has to be physically moved back in order to downshift.

Its starting to annoy me as it happens more frequently, so it needs attention. I cleaned and changed cables in the hope it might alleviate the problem but now I'm pretty sure a spring needs reloading/replacing. There are Shimano instructions to disassemble the unit but I wonder has anyone done it? If so, did you fix a problem like mine or was it terminal for the shifter?

Any advice would be most welcome!

Dinging

Hey Velo, having the exact same issue and it was driving me crazy. I am running interal cabling. As yourself, I was shifting up and needed to click down to find the gear. Had the bike back in the shop last week. They changed the shifter but it made no difference. They did not look at the derailleur so cant help with your exact query but they put it down to road dirt collecting in the frame so if you are running interal cables you may want to check this first. I am not 100% that my shifting issue is resolved as I have not been out on the bike much lately. Let me know how you get on resolving this.

full gas

Make sure there is no frayed cable in the shifter , otherwise spend money on decedent cable shimano or SRAM 1.1 more expensive but it will work a lot better , change the outers to .

Chips Lovell

Got a link to those instructions?

velo.2010

Well, after a night soaking in degreaser it seems to have performed a minor miracle! It does appear that the unit was gunked up and simply need a good flushing out. I didn't have that problem with 5600 shifters in the past and it seems the general robustness of the latest generation of Shimano groupsets is not on a par with the previous. We'll see how long it takes for my shifters to go 'sticky' again.

@Vlad, I got all the Shimano sheets with the Canyon which included lever removal. The tech docs on Shimano's website give further details on taking the whole thing apart. Seems you need a special tool to for each lever to undo a spring or an e-ring.

http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponents/ST/EV-ST-6700-2936B_v1_m56577569830799963.pdf

http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/SI/105/SI_6KD0C_001/SI-6KD0C-002-ENG_v1_m56577569830686067.pdf

Chips Lovell

That's interesting. I'd always gathered from Shimano that their shifters aren't serviceable, hence the lack of availability of spare parts. But those docs indicate some level of serviceability. Having said that, it looks like the main mechanism is still one, unopenable unit.

velo.2010

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

Having said that, it looks like the main mechanism is still one, unopenable unit.

You are correct! Reading some forum stuff last night indicated older 6500 levers could be rebuilt with some fuss. Providing your levers are less than 2 years old they are still under warrenty, though not for crash damage obviously.

clog

The main assembly is still a sealed unit you can take the hood body and some of the covers off but there is no access to the main spring or retaining mechanism (this is the bit that usually gets stuck/broken). A good flush out with WD40 or the like can sometimes free up a lever especially an older one.

The newest shimano levers where the cables go under the bar tape can also play up if the cables/routing is a bit off shimano recommends ptfe coated cables.

camanstar

I have the exact same problem with the RH Ultegra 6700 shifter. Took it to the LBS who didn't get anywhere with it. They thought it was the shifter. As the bike is less than a year old and only has 4,500km on it, I contacted the manufacturer to check on warrenty. They replied;

"When riding in wet conditions or during rain, water can invade the gear cable housing and cause that the shifting gets stuck. After 4500 km we recommend to do a service / inspection at your bike and replace the gearing cables and housing "

They are sending on a new shifter as a goodwill gesture, however in the meantime, I lubricated every part of the assembly including the cables and it seems to have sorted out the issue for the moment. Hoping that it is fixed...

I researched the problem and there are reports of similar issue with Ultegra in some cycling forums. Not very happy about it to be honest...:mad:

Ole Rodrigo

Had the same problem on a 6700 Canyon recently, I thought a misaligned dropout had caused cable tension before it eventually snapped. The LBS was able to clear out the frayed cable pieces before putting in a new one. Thought it was a warranty job..

camanstar

Mine is a Canyon as well.....

velo.2010

camanstar wrote: »

They are sending on a new shifter as a goodwill gesture, however in the meantime,

I researched the problem and there are reports of similar issue with Ultegra in some cycling forums. Not very happy about it to be honest...:mad:

Lucky devil with the new shifter!;) Did they not want the problem one sent back? With the one road bike I can't really afford to be sending one off and waiting for another.

Anyway, the internals on the 6700 do appear more exposed than previous models and some surface rust is noticeable too.

camanstar

They usually ask for the suspect shifter back before replacement however they are moving workshops in the UK at present and a replacement is on the way as a result. Have to say that the Customer Service has been first class.

full gas

Don't flush it out with anything . It may work better in the short term but it will blow out the grease inside the shifter , which is going to cause problems ,