Recumbent - Shifter failure

I own a Greenspeed GTO, with Dura-Ace bar end shifters. I've been having problems with the shifters failing after only a few hundred miles of riding, and once within 50 miles of installation.

The failure begins with the index shifting. First, it stops clicking into place and begins to function as a friction shifter through some of the gears. Then, as the problem progresses, the washer like innards of the shifter fall out of place and break through the plastic housing of the shifter. While the shifter continues to function in friction mode, the black plastic ring is forced out as the inside of the shifter are pushed around and break lose. At no time does the shifter fail to move freely, and it stays functional as a friction shifter.

Since this has been happening repeatedly, I was wondering if it might be happening to anyone else, and if anyone might have any insight as to the cause of the problem and any solutions I might try.

You might want to post this in the bike mechanics section.

Same thing happen to me on my Catrike Expedition. After the third replacement I switched everything over to Sram X-9 twist shifter and X-9 rear deraillieur. Dura Ace is a road bike component and the rear derailieur is mountain bike and were not compatable for me. If you look on bentrider online and do a search you will see where a lot of people had the same problem

Whatever the cause, SRAM shifters are a good fix, whether you want to go Attack or Rocket and keep your current derailleur or go full x.7/9/0

I own a Greenspeed GTO, with Dura-Ace bar end shifters. I've been having problems with the shifters failing after only a few hundred miles of riding, and once within 50 miles of installation.

The failure begins with the index shifting. First, it stops clicking into place and begins to function as a friction shifter through some of the gears. Then, as the problem progresses, the washer like innards of the shifter fall out of place and break through the plastic housing of the shifter. While the shifter continues to function in friction mode, the black plastic ring is forced out as the inside of the shifter are pushed around and break lose. At no time does the shifter fail to move freely, and it stays functional as a friction shifter.

Since this has been happening repeatedly, I was wondering if it might be happening to anyone else, and if anyone might have any insight as to the cause of the problem and any solutions I might try.


I've heard of this happening- and I think I saw the identical issue pop up on the Bentrider Online technical forum.

My diagnosis: the center screw is backing off a little, and the "friction/index" switch gets moved to someplace in the middle. This eventually causes the indexing mechanism to break. The center screw (#1 in this PDF: )
http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content/cycle/EV/bikecomponents/SL/EV-SL-BS77-1664_v1_m56577569830628723.pdf
needs to be very tight to avoid this. Make sure the "friction/index" switch is twisted all the way to "index" and take a big screwdriver and torque it for all you're worth. Once it's set, it won't come loose and it won't fail. I have a set of 7-speed Shimano bar-ends that are 18 years old and still work perfectly.

FWIW: Shimano "road" and "mountain" rear derailleurs use the same amount of cable pull and are 100% cross-compatible with "road" and "mountain" shift levers. This has been true since Shimano moved to 9-speed in 1998.

Why not take your question to Greenspeed themselves? There is an email link on the GS website. The site name is painted on my bike frame. I have contacted them a couple times with questions about my 3rd hand 2001 GS GTO and they always respond quickly with a helpful answer. I'm surprised you are having so much trouble with the thumb shifters. Mine must have well over 15,000 miles on the one I have. I only have a rear shifter since the trike is equipped with Schlumpf Mountain Drive but it gets a lot of movement and has never given me a problem.

Why not take your question to Greenspeed themselves? .

Because it's a Shimano part... a very common Shimano part, which had a very common problem. I'd agree with Adam- posting to the Bicycle Mechanic section would get as good an answer, but since I hang out here as well as there (and the Bentrider Technical forum, and the Recumbents.com forums), you'll get the same answer every time.

Greenspeed is still the best place to answer this question. They get feedback from GTO users and would not use this part if it were a constant problem without any fix. The shop is closed until Jan 11 so the OP will have to wait a few more days to get an answer if he emails them. Although this is a Shimano part, it is standard equipment on the current GTO model. BTW, there is a link at GS for adjusting the dura-ace shifters so that it works properly and does not break cables. Try the site and look for the link on adjusting the shifter under the GTO section.