Reviving Old STI And Trigger Shifters

I've read a lot of things online saying that Shimano STI shifters have a "shelf life". Once the factory grease hardens up, the shifters stop working, and supposedly can't easily be fixed. I'm here to prove otherwise. If the little pieces inside the shifter mechanism aren't broken, then there's no reason to replace old shifters. All you need to do is flood them with some kind of penetrating lubricant. Here's an old 8 speed 105 shifter that isn't working:

Now take your spray can and inject lots of oil into the shifter mechanism:

Be creative. Wherever you see an opening, just spray lots of oil (here's a really good spot):

Work the shift lever until you can feel it catching the pawls inside. This usually takes about 15 minutes to free up the shifter. If you've been playing with it for a while and the levers still won't click, then set it down and give the penetrating oil time to do its thing. Also, for whatever reason, loosening the center allen bolt on top of the shifter a little bit seems to make these things work more easily. Don't play with the allen bolt unless the oil definitely isn't working, and don't even think about removing it completely. If the shifter starts working again, then tighten the allen bolt down so the shifter won't come apart later on.

This trick also works on mountain bike shifters. Here I have some old 7 speed Alivio trigger shifters that have seen better days. I find it's easiest to carefully remove one of the plastic covers over the shifter in order to spray the ratcheting mechanism directly. Here I unscrewed the 10mm bolt on the bottom:

Now the shifter should stay intact, but be really gentle when removing that cover:

You can now see the little pawls and springs that need to be flushed with oil. Alternately you can remove the top cover by unscrewing a few small philips screws:

That's pretty dirty inside, no wonder it wasn't working. If you do it this way just make sure you get the plastic gear indicator to line up properly before you put it back together.

In case you're wondering, I used Liquid Wrench brand chain lube on these shifters, but I've even used WD-40 in the past. I also like to flood them with motor oil after flushing them out with spray lube, just to keep them from gumming up again. So far I haven't failed to revive any trigger or STI shifters this way (knock on wood). Hope this helps!

Schwinn Le Tour Restoration Part 2

Now that the fun part's over, it's time to do some actual work on the bike. First I'll start installing the fork. After soaking all the bearings in mineral spirits, I can pack the bearing cups full of grease and slide the fork in place:

Next I reassembled the headset and put the shifters back in place:

Now the handlebars and stem:

After the headset I repacked the wheel bearings. I didn't have to remove the freewheel on this one because there's enough room to work on the bearings (plus I don't have the special tool to remove a Normandy freewheel):

Wheels installed:

Now I can reinstall the bottom bracket:

Then the cranks. The 14mm nuts underneath the dustcaps need to be really tight:

Rear derailleur back in place:

It's easiest to adjust the RD when the chain is off. Just move the derailleur until the guide pulley is underneath the biggest sprocket, then set the limit screw so it can't move any further:

Chain reinstalled:

Almost finished:

Pedals and a new seat installed (the original one was so uncomfortable that it was unrideable):

This one came out pretty well, but it definitely needed a lot of work. As far as how it rides, it will never be an agile road racer. Instead it handles like how a touring bike is supposed to with a very stable feel.

Schwinn Le Tour Restoration Part 1

I have old Schwinn Le Tour IV here to fix up. It has duct tape on the handlebars and probably the most uncomfortable looking seat ever made. Thankfully it's going to a good home, but first it needs a major overhaul.

I'll start by removing the handlebars so I can repack the headset. First I unhook the brake cables from the levers:

The cable then comes right off after unscrewing the barrel adjuster on top:

After loosening the stem bolt, the bars slid right out: Now I can remove the top nut holding the headset together:

With those shifters out of the way I can unscrew the top headset race:

Now the fork slides out of the frame, along with all the little ball bearings that it spins on:

The chrome fork legs are a little rusty, so I rubbed some wet aluminum foil on the chrome to clean them up:

I'm going to take the bike apart some more, so off comes the brake caliper. It's held on by a 10mm nut:

Now the seat and seatpost (this is why you grease the post before installing it):

Now it's time for the brakes and bottom bracket. These dustcaps unscrew with a coin:

Then you remove the 14mm nut with a socket:

The crank wont slide off without a crank puller.

Crank removed, the left side comes off the same way:

On the left side you can unscrew the lock ring that holds the bottom bracket in adjustment. I use a special tool, but you can use a vise grip or channel lock pliers if you don't mind a few scuffs on it:

Now unscrew the left side bottom bracket cup. This one came out with a 5/8" wrench:

With the bearing cup out of the way, you can slide out the spindle and ball bearings (these were really dirty):

The right side cup comes out with a big adjustable wrench. This one is reverse threaded, so unscrew it as if you were trying to tighten it:

The rear derailleur needed some love too, so I removed it for cleaning and oiling the pulleys:

 

To clean and oil the cables, you can slide them out of the frame through these slots:

 

To do the wheel bearings, use a cone wrench and an adjustable to undo the locknut on one side. Then unscrew the cone all the way and slide the axle out:

I soaked all the bearings in mineral spirits together to break up all the dried up grease and dirt. In the past I used to use degreasers or soap and water, but I never got the bearings nearly as clean as I can with mineral spirits. It's definitely worth it if you do a lot of bike work.

Don't use duct tape on your handlebars, this took more than half an hour to remove:

On a final note, make sure your inner tube valves are straight before you inflate them, otherwise this happens (and it's not fixable):

My next post will show how to put this Schwinn back together in much better working order. Cheers!

XTR Rear Derailleur Overhaul

I bought a used 8 speed Shimano XTR derailleur, and I thought it might be useful if I showed how to take one of these apart for cleaning. This one is an M910, but I would imagine this procedure would also apply to the original M900 models too. First the easy stuff.  

Remove both pulley bolts with a 3mm Allen key:

Now unscrew the cage stop with a #2 Philips screwdriver, and carefully let the spring unwind:

 

With the guide pulley out of the way, you can loosen the bolt that holds the pulley cage together:

You should be able to separate the cage from the derailleur. Keep track of all the little pieces, especially the little metal ring that sits over the end of the bolt:

Now we'll take apart the B knuckle. First stick a small flat screwdriver inside the c-clip and twist:

With the c-clip removed, you can wiggle the backing plate off:

Here is the derailleur taken apart now. Make sure to clean everything well:

Grease the barrel of the pulley cage bolt before reassembly:

Now slide the bolt back through the cage plate, and add the dust guard, spring, and metal ring. Pick one of the 2 holes for the spring to sit in. The hole that's further clockwise is the default setting, the other is the high tension setting:

I ended up using the normal setting for less chain drag (because race bike). Now you can slide the spring back into the knuckle. It's important that the other end of the spring fits in the hole that's inside the knuckle, so it can be a bit tricky to line everything up. Once it's back together, tighten the bolt:

Now wind the cage back and reinstall the stop screw:

Pack the empty knuckle with grease and reinstall the spring. Again, the spring needs to align with the hole in the knuckle:

Grease up the bolt and place the dust guard and backing plate back over the spring:

Here is the toughest part. With a set of pliers nearby, twist the backing plate until the tab lines up behind the stop on the knuckle. Here I used a small screwdriver against the bolt for leverage:

Use the pliers to press the backing plate against the knuckle while the plate is rotated behind the stop. Once they're together, use the pliers again to reinstall the c-clip to lock the assembly together:

Now you can reinstall the pulleys. This one has a weird aluminum aftermarket pulley, but even the stock ones have tiny cartridge bearings inside so there aren't any bushings to clean. You can still drip some oil around the bearing seals to keep them spinning easily.

Once you tighten the pulley bolts you're all done. This derailleur isn't really much different than the cheaper ones, but even after 20 years of use (and some likely abuse) this one has zero play in the pivot points. I guess that says something about the quality that went into this thing.