I just got an older Specialized Allez. It is in very good condition, but it has been sitting and the Ultegra STI shifters should be working better than they do.
Any tips on getting them to work smoothly again?
Regards, Ray
Panama City Beach, FL USA

The standard "cure" for older, sticky or worn Shimano STI's is to flush them out with copius quantities of WD-40, Kerosene or odorless mineral spirits to wash out the gunk and then lube them with a thin oil like Tri Flow. This will usually loosen them up and get them working properly if nothing inside is broken.

Certainly try the WD40 trick first. If that doesn't fix them other things to try are replacing the cables and cable housings, check the derailleur alignment, check for bent derailleurs, clean the derailleurs and lubricate the hinge pins.
Good instructions for setting up and adjusting derailleurs can be found at: www.parktool.com.

+1 All good points. I just assumed the problem was in the brifters themselves but it could very well be cable and housing related or even further downstream.

I have always heard that WD-40 has no place around bikes. I personally have no bad experiences with it but I have avoided using it. I would start with tri-flow before WD-40.

Thank you all for the helpful replies. I will give them the solvent/clean - oil/lube treatment and see if that does the trick. I probably should lube the cables as well.
Regards, Ray

WD-40 is very useful for bike maintenance as a cleaner (basically it's an aerosol form of kerosene) and water displacer. Where it has no place is as a durable lubricant as it's not adequate for that use.

+1 WD40 doesn't work for lubing things like chains, but it's great for cleaning.

Ray,

If you cant get them working send them to me in Tampa and I can do it. Free of charge you just cover the shipping.

Replace cable & housing 1st (which, regardless if it solves problem or not, sounds like it needs to be done anyway). Then flush out the shifters if needed.