Looking for Suggestions on How to Strip/Polish Shimano STI Brake Levers
 

With the new Brifter sub-forum, this may not belong here. But hopefully the good folks who frequent C&V may have better suggestions.

A bit of a backstory...

In 2015 I retired my beloved retrofriction downtube shifters for downtube index. It was a good move.

I'll be 70 at the end of this year, Lord willing, and I know that the time will come when I end up going to brifters.

The thing is, I've been running non-aero DA-7400 brakes for years and I am having a tough time going to non-polished gray, or black, brake levers.

Years ago I picked up a set of Campy 10 speed Ergo's that will work with my no 8 speed setup. But my left thumb probably won't be able to operate the downshift lever. I'm not able to operate triggers for the front derailleur on my mountain bikes so I use an old Suntour thumbie.

I would like to go to a Claris STI's, but I need to figure out how to clean all the anodize/paint on the brake lever (only) so I can polish it and at least give it less of a modern look.

I doubt anyone has done this, but maybe a few suggestions might help me to take on this project.

I'm not really interested in the Gevenalle route. I already have a set of Kelly Take-offs if I am forced in that direction.

Thanks!

John

Take the lever off and spray oven cleaner on them or soak in drain cleaner (lye).

I've tried both and drain cleaner works best. But stay on top of the process, as it will dissolve the aluminum as well. Don't leave them in the solution overnight, as your levers will definitely be gone next morning.

I use extra strenght Eazy-Off oven cleaner. Smear it on. Wait five minutes max and wipe it off. Completely. Repeat until you get down to bare alloy all over. Wash in warm soapy water thoroughly to ensure that all of the Eazy-Off is off. Then...

Polish. I use a machine polisher that I bought at a yard sale for a few dollars and it works just great, but the machine is not necessary...
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a57fb9c96a.jpg

For machine polish you will need a couple of grades of polishing compound sticks. The cloth wheels are available at most hardware stores (got mine at Canadian Tire)...
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8745af8cf4.jpg

Or, you can go with wet and dry sand paper, starting with 1000 grit, then finer and finer, until the piece shines. Yes, it is a bit of time consuming work, but worth the results, which ever way you go...

Unpolished...
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ba67aa22ba.jpg

Ten minutes later with machine polish...
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...47d679b98f.jpg

Now, add some sunlight and ta-da...
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c6e6dae972.jpg

Sounds like a big job for such a small area. The only part that would be able to be stripped and polished is the lever arm, and as mentioned above it would need to be removed before stripping otherwise you are likely to damage the adjacent plastic/rubber parts. Shimano brifters have never been made to be pulled apart and while it can be done, it's not exactly an easy task. If you go through all that I'm not totally convinced they'll look any less modern. Sure, if you've got some other polished parts on your loyal steed it will look consistent. Report back with the results.

https://dassets.shimano.com/content/...1_750_750.jpeg

Yeah, that is my dilemma. And nearly every component is polished silver. I think 1 chainring is matte anodized, I don't have any black.

I appreciate the ideas, I'm just not sure I can flush any part of the upper section of the brake lever without damaging the shifter mechanism. I'll need something that won't destroy the aluminum. I'm not entirely sure if the gray is anodized or just painted.

I've thought about sanding those surfaces with fine wet/dry, but then there is a risk of getting grit into the inner workings. I do have more than enough time to do this project. Unfortunately these types of jobs are either a success or the result looks like garbage. Hard to find a middle ground where it will look nice regardless.

The newer ST-R2000 version looks to be easier to get to the lever, without a complete disassembly, (attached), but it still presents problems.

Thanks!

John

For your inspiration I'm submitting a photo of an MCS 110/130 bcd chainring I just completed this weekend. I used oven cleaner to remove the blue ano on the front side of it. Started with 120 grit sandpaper to remove the scratched parts and worked my way up to 2000 grit. (wet-sanding starting at 320 grit on up). Hand polished with Mothers Aluminum polish and finished off with Turtle wax.

Just got a call from NASA about it and they want to use it for their Kepler Space Telescope. That was a joke!
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0c65d18dc0.jpg

That looks nice!

John

Soak a scotch brite pad in acetone and it should come off like nail polish. Don't be shy with the acetone.

For the un-informed, acetone is nail polish remover. (some people don't know that)

Acetone is the industrial designation and available in bigger bottles at the local hardware store / auto parts store.
Nail polish remover can be a less potent version of the industrial stuff ( in UK at least) and usually comes in tiny bottles.
I recommend going for the 'acetone' labelled product.

Haha, you haven't seen the way my wife buys it. Of course, she always lets me 'borrow' what I need. Maybe that's why she buys such large bottles.

Lol

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...070d77122e.jpg

Harbor Freight 70 USD... Well worth it!

So acetone removes anodizing?

I recently used it to remove ink/stenciling off a black stem. I saw a very slight amount of black on the paper towel but the stem was no worse for wear.

If it is just a matter of multiple applications, I don’t mind a slow process.

John

Acetone will not work if anodized.

Which Claris levers are you using? R2000?
Not the ones with the side thumb release, I assume, due to your initial post. After the ones with thumb release, 2300/2400?, they should all be powdercoated, not anodized, iirc.
If you have the levers put up a picture.

To remove powdercoating you need something abrasive, acetone softens the coating and you are basically scraping it off. A scotch brite pad is best for your application because it won't gouge the soft alloy, like a wire brush would for example.
Using paper towels will feel like emptying a pool with a spoon.

In UK you can get a small bottle of nail polish remover at £1 stores. I assume there are $1 stores in US as well if you need to try it first.
The levers are quite small so the small bottle may be just enough for the job.
As far as scotch brite pads, common household item, I thought that's what americans use for their blinding white teeth, don't they? I kid, I kid.

I haven't bought them yet, but will probably go with the R2000. My wife has the 2400 (dual lever), and I put a set of 2300's with the thumb downshift on my son's road bike.

Since they are the dark gray, I imagine they are powder coated.

I've got acetone because I've been fixing our kids, (and mine), surfboards for years. I Googled and found that there is something called Benco B17, but that stuff is so nasty I would never consider it.

I'll need to test the acetone with scotch brite pads on something else first and see how it goes.

Thanks!

John

FWIW, I needed to ride my bike with black 105 crank arms with platform pedals and running shoes. The black coating (whatever it is) was easily damaged so I don't know that it would take too much effort or nasty chemicals to remove the coating from STIs and removing the levers as others have said would probably be a big part of it.

Are you specifically after the under-the-bar-tape shift cable routing of the R2000? Because there are lots of silver 8 speed brifters with external cable routing to choose from if you are not particular about that internal/aero cable routing.

And by the way- you'll probably want the Claris R2030 (3x9) brifters since R2000 (2x9) brifters use a different FD pull ratio (TIagra 4700 pull ratio to be exact) than the traditional Shimano FD.

Unfortunately lots, if not all of those 8 speed silver levers are out of the 90’s/2000’s, which is fine, except for having to replace the hoods and nothing is available.

I’ve gone through that with my 7400 levers, which are a lot easier to do a work-around.

I might just throw on the Campy levers and see how my thumb holds up. With a wide range cassette, I’m not shifting between chainrings that much these days.

John

I appreciate all the responses. The obvious problem is the lack of good access to the full lever, and there isn’t a way to keep the mechanism clean.

I’m going to try the Campy shifters. I have a pair of older Daytona, but new silver 10 speed Veloce can be had for $120.

I realize the Veloce is not as nice as Chorus, Record, etc., but when the competition is Claris or Microshift, for about the same price, it is worth seeing if they’ll work with my bum thumb.

Thanks again.

John