Slipping down tube shifters
 

I was wondering if anyone knew how to keep my old campy downtube shifters from slipping. Ive tried just tightening them but they still slip. Is there something on the derailleur itself that I have to adjust? Thanks.

Was it always like this? You might be missing some of the washers etc inside the shifter. Or your cables are gummed up.

Don't grease the screws that hold the levers on the braze on bosses. Clean the threads then apply blue loctite before reassembling. Take the levers off and make sure there is no lube or grease on the friction washers. Reassemble dry. The 2 things might slow the slipping down a little. I hate to say it but I gave up on Campy downtube shifters over 10 years ago for this exact reason. Mavic retrofrictions are much better.

I say grease the fastners! The Band has expanded a bit. So Just use a Shim. Anything will work. Like cutting one from a Coke can...

Do you mean that the shifters are slipping, or that the bracket which holds the shifters (bikes without shifter bosses brazed on to the down-tube use brackets) is slipping?

Different problems = different solutions.

- Wil

The shifters themselves are slipping. It causes the derailleur to move and makes the front rub the chain, and the back to actually shift into a different gear. It causes me to just push the levers all the way up and then Im cross chained. I checked and I have the washers. Maybe I'll try to clean it all out and see if I can somehow find some more friction. Or perhaps put in new washers? Here is a picture of my levers to give you a better idea.

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/dokko/www/basso/basso6.jpg

Nice picture! Looks like a very pretty bike, nice colour! OK… I'd clean the shifters, and make sure that the washers were assembled in the correct order (I'm sure there's a diagram or instructions somewhere on the web); use maybe just a smidgen of grease when you re-assemble.

I've had Suntour, Campy, Shimano, Benelux, Huret and Simplex over the years and I've found Campy to be one of the best, and the most long-lived in terms of performance. Just clean and check the assembly.

- Wil

PS: Just took a look at the rest of the pics. Don't you DARE convert it! It's much to nice for that!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the help everyone. I disassembled the levers and found a lot of grime and gunk. Cleaned it all out real good, greased it a little bit, and it works a lot better. I guess its just been a while since its been cleaned. Hopefully they will continue to stick.

Thanks for the compliments Wil. Don't worry, Im keeping her intact.

Don't be surprised if the problem returns quickly. Campy's old dt shifters were notorious for "ghost shifting" as they loosened spontaneously after some use. I had a pair of them on an old Bridgestone and they would begin to shift themselves about every three weeks after I tightened them. I finally replaced them with a set of Sun Tour Power Ratchets and that solved the problem for good.

BTW, in the 60's and 70's many pro teams replaced the Campy shifters on their otherwise all-Campy bikes with Simplex Retrofriction levers just to avoid this problem. You are in good company.

Wow, what a gorgeous bike. Yes, do grease the screws, and NO, don't grease the flat washers inside the shifters. If your problem returns, take them apart again and clean the grease off the flat washers. They work by friction (as the name implies), so you WANT friction between the washers (but do grease the bolts). The reason that those fastener bolts have loops on them, is specifically so that you can adjust the friction while riding.