Bicycle Mechanics - ErgoPower wear/failure

A friend of mine has been describing a failure mode he gets in various Ergo levers - Veloce, Centaur, and Record. The shifts start ocurring without the click in the lever, first in one, then in more and more positions. It still works, but without the obvious ratchet action. The failure is slow to progress, giving time to plan a rebuild.

While I have seen a bunch of stuff on rebuilding them - hence the need to, I assume - I have never seen any mileage associated with this. His experience is less than 5000 miles to the start of the problem, which I find astounding. In fact, I have a lot more on my Centaur (and my wife's as well) with no hint of such an issue.

Any other experiences out there?

A friend of mine has been describing a failure mode he gets in various Ergo levers - Veloce, Centaur, and Record. The shifts start ocurring without the click in the lever, first in one, then in more and more positions. It still works, but without the obvious ratchet action. The failure is slow to progress, giving time to plan a rebuild.

While I have seen a bunch of stuff on rebuilding them - hence the need to, I assume - I have never seen any mileage associated with this. His experience is less than 5000 miles to the start of the problem, which I find astounding. In fact, I have a lot more on my Centaur (and my wife's as well) with no hint of such an issue.

Any other experiences out there?Mileage has nothing to do with it. Depending on rider and terrain,one might shift very little or alot in xxxx miles. And it's always possible to get a shifter with some sub par parts in it.

Mileage has nothing to do with it. Depending on rider and terrain,one might shift very little or alot in xxxx miles. And it's always possible to get a shifter with some sub par parts in it.
You are good, but I see I have to spruce up my language a bit in this particular forum. I have spent too much time in the Tour de France forum lately. :)

Of course you are right - it is the number of shifts. And the quality of same probably. But they are extremely accomplished riders who switched to "modern" Campa from Nuovo Record, so who knows.

And there are three different level Ergos and two different riders involved so I would hope the quality issue was not it. They ride almost always on flat terrain in the DC Metro area, so I would also hope that the number of shifts was not more than I need in the rolling foothills of the French Alps, where I have encountered no such problems with two riders and three sets of Ergos of two levels - 9s and 10s.

And there are three different level Ergos and two different riders involved so I would hope the quality issue was not it. They ride almost always on flat terrain in the DC Metro area, so I would also hope that the number of shifts was not more than I need in the rolling foothills of the French Alps, where I have encountered no such problems with two riders and three sets of Ergos of two levels - 9s and 10s.

The problem you describe is the typical failure mode for Ergopowers. It's caused by the g-spring carrier cracking next to it's post. You can still shift, but it's not as defined and precise. Happened to my 9s levers last year. Campy has redesigned the part so there isn't such a stress concentration next to that post. I'm not sure how much better the new part is, but I think it's still the weakest link in the mechanism. The new Record Ultra shifters have a carbon g-spring carrier but I'm not sure if they're better or worse than the metal ones on all the other models. All these parts are available aftermarket, making repairs feasible and inexpensive. The parts are identical between all the different models or levels, except for those Ultra carbon ones and possibly the Xenon mechanism that I'm not familiar with, so there's not much of an issue of relative "quality" or anything.

The problem you describe is the typical failure mode for Ergopowers. It's caused by the g-spring carrier cracking next to it's post

I have never heard of this failure and have rebuilt my Centaur 10's twice, with about 30 thousand miles on them. The problem described in the OP sounds like g-spring wear. The springs lock into the ratchet to hold the gear. With age and shifts, the springs lose tension and the shifting degrades. g-springs should be replaced every 5-10000 miles (I think - better chech Branford Bike). The ratchet lasts about 20-30000 miles and I have replace it once on the right side. The return springs also fail after a while.

On your first rebuild, Branford suggests replacing the g-spring and return spring together. You can look and see if the ratchet is warn (the points will be rounded off). If the ratchet is not worn, replace the springs and you are good-to-go.

Branford Bikes has all the parts (Campy originals) plus a nice rebuild manual for $5.

Good reading.... http://www.branfordbike.com/brake/brk01.html#item4

I have never heard of this failure and have rebuilt my Centaur 10's twice, with about 30 thousand miles on them. The problem described in the OP sounds like g-spring wear. The springs lock into the ratchet to hold the gear. With age and shifts, the springs lose tension and the shifting degrades. g-springs should be replaced every 5-10000 miles (I think - better chech Branford Bike). The ratchet lasts about 20-30000 miles and I have replace it once on the right side. The return springs also fail after a while.

Certainly possible. More good reading, describing the problem I'm talking about:

http://www.campyonly.com/howto/ergo_rebuild.html