Shimano 7speed Integrated Lever Repair

Step 1: Get Rid of the Nasty

After a few years bike hand grips get pretty stuck on. The first step to repairing your shifters is to remove these grimy cesspools of sweaty palm. Easiest way to remove them is by cutting them off

Step 2: Cut All Ties

Cables need to be changed frequently so if your cables are a couple years old just snip them. A new cable set will do wonders for your bike.

Step 3: Loosen Da Bolt

A 3-way Allen thingie is my favorite bike tool ever

Step 4: Remove Barrel Adjuster

Step 5: Unscrew the Screw on the Bottom

Step 6: Remove the Plastic Shell

These shifters are dumb because the function of the shifter is completely dependent on the integrity of the plastic body. This one is clearly cracked. Something must be done

Step 7: Crack Kills

The functionality of your wonderful vintage integrated shift/brake levers.

Step 8: Mix Up Some JB!

This time we'll fix the plastic with some of this awesomesauce. Sorry I don't have a picture of it all gooped up. Didn't wanna get my phone dirty.

Step 9: Now Onto the Big Problem!

The pall seen in this picture near the index finger of the hand model, is frozen. It is not engaging the notches at all and the spring is ineffective.

Step 10: The Only Place to Use WD-40 on a Bicycle

The magic that is WD-40 is mostly bad for most bike things. This is one exception. It will help loosen everything in the shifting mech. Play with it a lot until everything works crisply.

Step 11: Done Dun Dun!

Put it all back together and you've got a nice newly maintained shifter!

Comments

[criggie]

How tall is this bike's rider? I have an ongoing problem with bending the seat pole just where it enters the frame... mostly because I'm 195 cm tall and long in the leg. How does this bike not bend its seat stem ?

[Meta1Head101]

Probably a long steel seat post

[criggie]

In the three years since I asked that question, I bent another seatpost, and it wasn't a cheap one either. So I got an engineering firm to make me a 500mm seatpost with a wall thickness of 4.5mm They assured me it wouldn't bend again. Of course it bent, after about 6 months of normal riding. So I got them to redo the job this time using 8mm wall tube. They started with a piece of solid bar and drilled into the ends to make a pipe. Its probably twice the weight of a normal seat post, but it hasn't bent yet. Note, I'm 100 kg which is not small but not whale-sized either.

[Meta1Head101]

Actually, I doubt he's riding it like that based off where the marking and rusting has occurred.

[simsons]

i dismantled mine after it had refused to operate and i don't know how to fix it back. could you help me on this.

[zralla]

I've been doing this a lot of times , on many shifters of various years, it usually works !

I suggest using a toothpick to move the frozen parts.

[audreyobscura]

Coolest paint job ever!