Hi all,

I have a problem with my brake lever/shifter. I was breaking at a stop and suddenly the plastic part of my right brake lever/shifter just broke apart. I have a super old mountain bike where the shifter and the brake lever are connected together. I was thinking of replacing it with some new ones, but it seems nowadays you have to buy the brake lever and shifter separately. Can I superglue the plastic together, or do I have to go out and buy some new ones? Thanks!

That's your problem right there. You need to stop breaking and start braking. "Breaking" breaks stuff. "Braking" slows you down.

Seriously though, you might be able to find a donor lever blade off an old bike at a thift store or off of a complete shifter/brake unit on ebay or something.

Yeah thanks. I think I'm just going to buy some new ones.

My bike is an 18 speed (6 x 3). If I buy a shifter that's 21 speed (7 x 3), it should also work, right?

WRONG. First, you need to know what type of brakes you have. I'll bet you've got canitlever brakes. If that's correct, new brake levers set up for V-brakes won't work. Setting up a 7 speed to work with a six speed freewheel takes someone who knows what they are doing and probably won't shift smoothly through all the gears. I mix and match 8 speed shifters to 7 speed because the spacing is almost identical, but 7 speed adapted to 6 speed I've not tried. I'd try to get a six speed shifter and brake assembly. Maybe on ebay you can find some used parts or maybe you can find a donor bike as has been said.

You might check some bike parts sellers online. I think I saw the one piece unit you descibed at Jenson parts, You might also check Pricepoint.com