Suddenly my 5 year old Shimano 105 front derailleur brifter is hanging up when I attempt to shift from the small to big ring. If I fiddle about slightly engaging and disengaging the front brake as I hold tension in the upshift direction I can pretty much always get it to shift. Downshifting is never a problem. As I go through the upshift process it feels as if there's a metal against metal conflict that finally unlocks. I just pulled the cable expecting that it was frayed and causing the problem but the old cable was fine and the new one is acting the same way when I test it with hand tension not even hooked up to the front derailleur.

Any ideas outside of replacing the whole brifter?

Thanks for any insight you might provide.

Best Regards,

Hugh