firesfate

Hey... I feel like I am becoming that guy that drops in here every other day with an issue so I appreciate everyone that helps. My 20 yo Trek 830 Mt. Track XL has mostly original components and some are simply starting to brake.

So today I got my new grips and started to work on installing them. I knew that the grip shifters would most likely need to slide over about 1/2" or so to accommodate the grips I got. I went to loosen the 7 speed shifter on the right handle and it was fairly obvious as soon as I put the allen wrench in that the screw/bolt has been stripped. Up until recently I have never worked on my own bike so one of the bike shops did that. Does anyone have a suggestion on how I can get this screw/bolt out so that I can slide the shifter and replace the screw/bolt?

I am stepping away from it right now because I am frustrated enough to knock it off with a hammer and replace them with trigger shifters.

Any help is appreciated.

Andrew R Stewart 

Can the new grips be cut down to fit the OEM grip Shift position? Andy.

firesfate

They are Ergon GP5-L's not much that can be trimmed. With the size of my hands I really don't want to sacrifice grip area. I am starting to think it may be easier to change out the shifters/brake levers to Shimano Acera EF65's. It would give me more room on my bar and it is a fairly inexpensive upgrade. I still need to figure out how to get this one shifter to move.

This is all a pain in the butt but I am learning a lot about my bike!

Andrew R Stewart 

The Grip Shifts have a set screw that tightens within an AL collar that's housed inside the plastic shell of the shifter. If the set screw's allen socket is rounded out then somewhat destructive methods will likely be needed. First level is to try drilling out the set screw. Failing that I'd fracture and remove the plastic shifter cover/body and then hack saw the AL collar. Either way the Grip Shifter will be ruined. But they are inexpensive to replace with same or the Shimano EF65s. Just make sure to match the brake lever's cable pull to your brake system. (Canti or linier pull). Andy.

Jeff Neese

I put the EF65 set on my wife's bike to replace twist-grips. Way, way better. And the full "four-finger" brake levers are nice too. So just drill out or cut whatever you need to to get the old ones off. It will be an upgrade.

Bill Kapaun

The "four finger" version has the adaptability to be used with V or Canti's buy moving a little red plastic "plug".
The "two finger" version is V brake only.

fietsbob

there is a wider and a shorter Grip Shift GriP . though I found the remaining space between the bar end and the cable drum in a grip shifter kind of cramped

so maybe the GP1 minus the bar end, or since you may have the option of shifters, a thumb or button one may do..

firesfate

Thank you for the suggestions. Yeah that set screw (thank you for the correct term for that thing) is unfortunately rounded. It was disappointing when I put the Allen wrench in and felt it. I went ahead and ordered the ef65's. I see others said they like it too. Yes I ordered the one that works with v-brakes and cantilever. I have cantilever on my trek830. I'm at work today so I can't work on my bike

fietsbob

90%+ of the posts are on the company computer, at work [except retired types]

LesterOfPuppets

Yeah, when allen heads get that small they can be tricky. Most Gripshifts take 3mm wrenches and people often have trouble getting the 3 in there so go for the 2.5, then begin to think maybe it's SAE, at that point it's game over. I also see a lot of them that appear to have been attacked by phillips head screw drivers.

Those are often over tightened also. I see bars indented by the setscrews tightened by he-man Gripshift installers. You just gotta tighten it enough so it doesn't turn on the bar.

arex

I've done this.

arex

You might see if you could possibly jam a Torx driver you didn't care about into the stripped Allen head. Might not work, but it might.

LesterOfPuppets

That just might work.

Another one that sometimes works is to flip the bike over , get your 3mm allen in there and give it a tap with a hammer. Sometimes that will power it past some munged bolt faces and kinda cut good faces in there or pound the wrench past that into some still existing original faces.

Then try turning the wrench.

Also try the Torx + hammer, if just torxing doesn't work. Tap the wrench in there to give it something to bite.

headloss 

If the Torx doesn't work, you can probably get a screw extractor to bite. Worst case scenario, plan on drilling the head of the bolt off. Whatever the case, use some penetrating oil like liquid-wrench before you mess with it.