Ithaka

My '07 Giant OCR c2 has had some issues with a jumpy chain when climbing out of the saddle, and I felt so confident after watching some Park Tools videos... Well, as usually happens with bike repairs, I messed up.

The shifter cable up front came out of the device (6700? Ultegra flightdeck triple) and I have no idea how to get it back engaged. I've attached a picture to explain...

I'm sure it's a simple fix, but I can blunder anything with two wheels.

Retro Grouch 

What happens if you just lift the rear wheel up off the floor and turn the crank with your hand?

cycledogg

Not having an actual first had look this is my take on the fix. Detach the cable from the RD. Then, shift the small paddle ( the small black colored one) until it stops shifting. Then, open the the shifter like you have in the posted photo (depressing the brake lever) and pull the cable until the cable stop seats inside the shifter body. Re-connect the cable end at the RD and adjust the shifting. I hope this helps. It looks like the shift cable became very slack, and just slid out of it's little seat inside the shifter body and you have shifted the little paddle so the seat is down out of site.
Cheers

Ithaka

That was my first thought, but the cable end had nowhere to seat into, as the hole in the shifting device is to small to accept it. I don't even know how it came out of a hole it doesn't fit into!

joejack951

What cycledogg described is correct. You'll know you have the shifter set to the correct spot because you will be able to see the cutaway zone where the cable head seats. Make sure you are pushing the inner shift lever and push it at least 9 times to be sure the ratchet mechanism is properly oriented. You may want to verify that it is moving properly as it could be locked up depending on what's going on with that shift cable. If you can't seem to sort things out with the cable installed, you may need to fully remove it.

Ithaka

Okay, I got the cable re-seated in the shifter by hitting the small lever 9 times, but when I attempt to shift to a larger chainring, it locks up.

Just to be clear, this is the front derailleur I'm working on.

Ithaka

Any ideas?

I think I may have just made my full carbon into a 9 speed...

joejack951

It sounds to me like you've connected the cable to the front derailler with the front shifter already shifted to the outer chainring. The result is a locked shifter.

So, disconnect the cable, press the inner lever multiple times to be sure it's shifted to the inner most chainring, connect the cable, and try again.

Ithaka

Tried it, didn't fix anything. The the small shifter works fine, but the larger one just locks up after 1 click. The derailleur doesn't even move with the one click...

joejack951

One click? If it's a double shifter, that's all it should click (save for the softer trim clicks). Are you sure you have enough cable tension? If the cable is too loose, the shifter won't be able to pull enough slack out to actually move the derailler.

How close is the nearest LBS?

Ithaka

Its a triple... I tried pulling the cable with pliers, but it didn't seem to change the tautness.

I really don't want to go to the LBS, as I just moved back home, to a smaller city, and they bleed you dry while simultaneously degrading you psychologically.

joejack951

Sorry for the slow response. Let's start over and see if you can find where the problem is.

Disconnect the shift cable from the front derailler. Can you move the derailler by hand and shift the chain to the largest chainring? If so, not problems there. If not, did you mess with the limit screws at all?

Hold some tension on the disconnected shift cable (pull with your other hand) and try shifting with left shifter. Does it move through all of the appropriate clicks or not? If not, you might have somehow damaged the shifter or maybe something got in there and jammed things up. Try flushing with WD-40 and see if that restores proper function.

Once you've confirmed those two things the rest (barring any limit screw adjustments) is reattaching the cable and adjusting tension using the barrel adjuster (I'm assuming you have one on your bike, right?) until the bike shifts properly. I usually need a turn or two in addition to the tension I can add by hand when installing the cable.

Ithaka

The derailleur moves by hand, but does not click when the cable is connected. I tried the WD-40, but it didn't do anything.

Looks like I broke the $300 shifter by simply detaching the cable, and reduced the value of my bike by about a third. Awesome!

Thanks for the help though guys. This place never disappoints.

joejack951

What happens when you try to actuate the shifter with the cable disconnected? Does the shifter click and pull the cable? I find it hard to believe that you damaged the shifter though stranger things have happened. Before you go getting all down on yourself about a failed repair, you should really double check everything first.

Also, you mention the derailler not clicking above. Deraillers don't index. The shifter does the indexing. In order to properly index the cable tension needs to be correct. You have yet to mention anything about adjusting cable tension which tends to make me believe that you don't fully understand what you are trying to accomplish.

And worst case, you need a single, left hand shifter (the one that fails the least) which you can pick up for probably $100 used. Not the end of the world.

cny-bikeman

I doubt very much that you broke the shifter by detaching the cable, and a trip to a bike shop will likely resolve the problem.

Crash_N_Carry

If you haven't done so already, completely remove the shifter cable for the front derailleur. Not the outer cable housing mind you; just the inner silver shift cable. The cable may be bound up inside the shifter.

After you remove the cable, press the small shifter inside the brake lever a few times. Now try to thread a new shift cable into the shifter (you could try to reuse your existing cable but I wouldn't. A new Jagwire cable will run you about $5 so it's not really worth it reusing the old cable). It should just go straight into the housing and into the shifter cable housing. Once the cable is threaded all the way to the front derailleur, pull the cable taught so the ferrule inside the shifter is pulled completely into it.

Before you attach the cable to the front derailleur, with one hand hold the cable taught near the derailleur and with the other actuate the shifter (unless you have a stand or another way to support the bike, you'll probably need a hand with this). Does it still bind up? If it does you probably have a bad shifter. I used to have Tiagra level shifters that were similar to your shifters and they went bad in a similar fashion.

If it doesn't bind up, while keeping tension on the cable, click the small shifter again a few times to bring it back to the lowest position. Reattach the cable to the front derailleur. Try shifting and see what happens. If it doesn't check the derailleur to make sure it isn't binding (and check the shifter cable path and the housing to make sure it isn't pinched somewhere).

BTW I highly doubt you broke the shifter.

Ithaka

Of course you guys were right.

I took a few days away from the bike, let it sit there, and I didn't think about it once. I had flooded the thing with WD-40 a few days ago, and it didn't appear to do anything right away. I read some other posts on here, and one guy said when everything else failed, he simply banged on things until it fixed itself. Well, I gave that approach a try and, as you can probably guess, the cable somehow find its proper home and the shifter started functioning properly.

I adjusted the limit screws, twisted the barrel adjuster a few times, and she's better than she ever was (for me).

Thanks!