tastewar

My daughter just bought a 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th...) hand Bianchi Volpe, and it has a couple of mechanical issues I'm looking to fix. The one I'm most concerned about at the moment, because I have the least experience with it, is a problem shifting the rear derailleur. Shifting to a larger cog works fine, but using the smaller, inner lever to upshift to a smaller cog doesn't work well. The outer lever comes along for the ride, and it doesn't end up shifting. On the repair stand, I can hold the outer lever stationary, and then shift the inner lever, and it works fine. But there's some reason that the outer lever is coming along and not allowing the shift to occur naturally.

Has anyone had this kind of experience with Shimano Flightdeck and know what to do?

Thank you!

dsbrantjr

Not Flight Deck specific, but be really certain that your inner wire is not fraying inside the shifter (or elsewhere); if the head breaks off inside you will have the devil of a time getting it out.

fietsbob

Odds are it's the cable . friction is resisting the return spring ... unhook the cable to confirm..

Of course Indexing works from an aligned frame hanger as a foundation..

Andrew R Stewart 

Shimano did have a known problem with an internal spring failure on some STI units many years ago. The problem resulted in the brake lever blade being dragged along the sweep of the secondary/release lever. This would make upshifting inconsistent at best. Simple finger on the brake blade, holding it in place, during the upshift solves the problem but is a pain to do. I just spent the time/effort to clean and lube a Dura Ace lever set only to discover that this lever sweep movement issue was present (and until the common "old gummy lube" problem was fixed one couldn't tell how the rest of the function was) Andy

blamester

Pull the cable to go up uses hand strength. To go down requires the derailleur spring.
Lube the cable, shifter and shifter with wd or similar.

tastewar

So... thanks dsbrantjr for the reminder. I had a similar problem on a totally different set of shifters in the past which *was* related to a fraying cable. So I did replace the cable on this one, to no avail. In fact, the cable looked quite new. Seems like it could well be the issue that AndrewRStewart mentioned. Is there a good guide available on servicing these, so I'd know how best to clean out any possible old gummy lube?

Andrew R Stewart 

If the problem IS gummy old lube the solution is very well documented on this and many other online sources. Soak the shifter pods in a solvent to clean out the old lube. Spray in light weight lube then a heavier lube after working in the light weight stuff. My earlier post was to suggest the problem is NOT gummy lube. Just that gummy lube can hide other issues.

Gummy lube problems usually present as the levers moving through their sweep, as before, but don't have any ratchet function happening. Andy

tastewar

OK, and there is no replacement spring, correct? Best choice is sourcing a replacement unit on eBay?

Andrew R Stewart 

Shimano never intended their STI shifters (road or MtB) to be serviceable outside of applying lube. Spare parts were never stocked, at times complete shift pods/levers sub assemblies have been out there. But like many companies Shimano finds it too costly to produce repair parts for much of it's products much past a few years of being current.

I would go through the exercise of cleaning out and relubing the old shifter before you go further. Either you'll find out the problem was gummy lube or you'll be sure of the need to replace. Andy

tastewar

Thanks for the advice!

Retro Grouch 

Me too. Cheap to try and my bet is that will fix it.