Jicafold

I have a set of Shimano ST-2300 3 x 8 shifters. The right sided (rear) shifter works just fine and smooth. The left sided (front) shifter requires a lot of force with the thumb shifter when going from large to small chainrings. I'm not just saying it could be smoother, but it is to the point where you feel you might break your thumb off because you have to press the lever so hard. It's worst going from large to middle chainring, somehwat better going from middle to small. It works perfectly smooth when the cable is not connected. Something is not right. Any ideas?

70sSanO

I'd be interested to hear if any modifications can be made. My solution was to change to a set of Claris shifters on my wife's bike. She simply could not get the thumb lever to press down to shift from large to middle chainrings on her triple.

My guess is that there the small lever does not give enough leverage to easily overcome the higher derailleur spring tension against the shifter pawl; when in the outside chainring on a triple.

John

Jicafold

I'd used a set of Sora shifters before with the thumb thingies. Worked well. These take so much force i'm not sure a female with small hands could even do it. I was wondering if something else was wrong. I have new cables and housing and a new Tiagra triple derailleur.

curbtender

I'd check the cable routing to the cable clamp.

Kontact 

Make sure the cable isn't frayed inside the shifter.

70sSanO

In my wife's case... new shifters with new cables. Lever was hard from the beginnig. Shifting from middle to small required less effort. The shifting was quick and smooth enough for the shifter level. There was no hesitation once the lever was depressed completely.

When I replaced them with the Claris shifters, I used new cables.

Her bike also has a Tiagra triple FD.

John

Jicafold

No frayed cable noted on removal. Cable and housing looked fine. I gave up and scrapped the project. I realize that ST-2300 is bottom of the line but still. Thank you though.