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06-19-09, 08:28 PM
Early this year, I stumbled upon a $420CDN 64cm 2008 Fuji Touring - it had obviously been quite used in its single year of life, but apart from the brifters that were contaminated by fine sand, it was very nice so I bought it. My first upgrade was to purchase a pair of 9-speed Dura-Ace bar-end shifters for $55 at PBK - I certainly could not trust the left brifter, that was highly contaminated and quite noisy, but still worked. As for the right brifter, I used it for a time and had no issues with it before I connected my second bar-end shifter.
Two weeks ago, I was given a nice older Columbus-framed racing bike that has already been respaced to 130mm and had a 2x9 Shimano drivetrain with friction-mode downtube shifters. I replaced the cassette with a 9-speed HG50, the chain with a HG53 and the RD with a Sora 3400SS. I installed the right brifter and a 105 aero brake lever and kept using the left downtube shifter for the FD. Works great!
But I still had that left brifter, so I decided to make good use of it. It's a Tiagra ST-4500, listed as a double/triple shifter - it's gonna actuate an old 600 FD-6400 that works great in all gears without needing trim - not even in the fsmforsaken big-big and small-small combinations.
So here is the question
My brifter was contaminated with some fine white sand so I removed the hood and proceeded to clean it best I could. I flushed it with a quarter of a can of WD-40 followed by a heavy rinse in running water, a good shaking off, another quarter of a can of WD-40 and finally an ounce of Triflow.
There's still some sand in there and while the brifter now operates a lot more smoothly, it still makes a gritty sound.
Should I go at it again, flush it with more and more WD-40, running water and then Triflow - or do you have anything better to suggest?
Hey, I could fill a container with mineral spirits (White Spirit) and agitate and operate the brifter submersed for a few minutes - then finish with Triflow, of course.
So, any ideas as to how to best get rid of that small, white sand?
Two weeks ago, I was given a nice older Columbus-framed racing bike that has already been respaced to 130mm and had a 2x9 Shimano drivetrain with friction-mode downtube shifters. I replaced the cassette with a 9-speed HG50, the chain with a HG53 and the RD with a Sora 3400SS. I installed the right brifter and a 105 aero brake lever and kept using the left downtube shifter for the FD. Works great!
But I still had that left brifter, so I decided to make good use of it. It's a Tiagra ST-4500, listed as a double/triple shifter - it's gonna actuate an old 600 FD-6400 that works great in all gears without needing trim - not even in the fsmforsaken big-big and small-small combinations.
So here is the question
My brifter was contaminated with some fine white sand so I removed the hood and proceeded to clean it best I could. I flushed it with a quarter of a can of WD-40 followed by a heavy rinse in running water, a good shaking off, another quarter of a can of WD-40 and finally an ounce of Triflow.
There's still some sand in there and while the brifter now operates a lot more smoothly, it still makes a gritty sound.
Should I go at it again, flush it with more and more WD-40, running water and then Triflow - or do you have anything better to suggest?
Hey, I could fill a container with mineral spirits (White Spirit) and agitate and operate the brifter submersed for a few minutes - then finish with Triflow, of course.
So, any ideas as to how to best get rid of that small, white sand?