mjclub0320

Hello, I need to clean up my STI shifter and regrease it.
I took my CX bike to a near beach and put it on the ground....(I'm DUMB)
And now my left side shifter has lots of sand in it.
How do you suck that out??
I can see the sand particles all stuck with grease and I can't take them out simply using q-tips.
Shifting is ok but I sometimes can feel the sand rubs in my lever.
Any ideas??

Thanks.

Iowegian

I think you'll have to remove the grease to remove the sand. I haven't done this personally but I've heard of people getting good results by running the brifter through a dish washer (take the hoods off first!). You could also just try shooting carb cleaner or some other nasty solvent through the mech's to remove the grease and follow up with compressed air if need be. I'd finish with a light grease like white lithium, the kind that comes in an aerosol can.

Good luck.

cascade168

Yup, don't put sand in your STI's.

When you say "regrease", what are you "greasing" with? You don't want any heavy oils or grease in STI shifters. Very light oil only. Anyone using a FlightDeck will rue getting any type of lubricant - at all - into their shifters. There is a flex circuit in there for the FlightDecks and, unless you are using some very exotic lightweight conductive lubricant, any lube will make it hard for the Flight Deck to work properly and indicate the correct gear position. Short version ... Flight Decks are a PITA and will create major headaches for many users. Gotta keep those brifters VERY clean for them to work properly.

Get the grease and sand out by using an aerosol lubricant (liberally, and at full pressure). A lot of people like WD-40, but I like spray TriFlow myself. Once you hose the brifters liberally, try to get any more sand out with compressed air.

No matter how you cut it, any sand in those brifters is going to diminish the life of them. No question about that. Try REALLY hard to get all that sand out. A spray can of TriFlow is about $10. Much, much cheaper that a new brifter. Rinse and repeat until the sand is gone.

z415

Hosing it out with WD-40 is the way to go. Word of advice, assuming you don't have it handy, don't get the WD-40 with the flip top that has the straw built in because it seems to have a lot lower pressure and won't work for this as well

Good luck.