The Shifter Upcycling Project

Got interviewed by the awesome Escape Collective on shifter repair. Got to speak with one of my favorite cycling writers Iain Treloar in between his trying to fit out his kid for Halloween. (may be paywalled)

A broken shifter doesn't have to mean the end - Escape Collective Repairing shifters is a brain-meltingly fiddly task. But what if there was a way, and what if it could help African cyclists?

New video - how to repair a shifter lever blade that doesn't return due to broken spring.

How to repair a Shimano release gear lever blade - broken return spring Common problem with aged Shimano levers. The return spring on the release lever fails. They can be pretty easily repaired by following steps described in thi...

I may have a problem.

After a busy year on the bike last year (20,000km, humblebrag to some), some annoying things have kept me away from the saddle a bit in 2024. So I've recently been on a shifter repair blitz. If you've got any broken shifters I can look at for you, feel free to hit me up before I get busy again!

If you've ever wondered what causes mechanical shifters to stop working properly, this is the most common cause.
One of these springs is OK, the other will cause missed shifts or jamming.

Fixed this bad boy today. A malfunctioning LH Shimano 5800 unit. A bit had broken off one of the lever ends so I swapped one in from another malfunctioning unit I had on the shelf. The spring holding the pawl (silver rectangular item at my thumb tip) had dislodged, you can see it is limp. Straightened the spring so it holds the pawl down. Will test it to see if it holds.

Put it all back together and it shifts nicely! Will return to its owner if it tests OK. To test I will put it on my commute bike for a week of commuting.

Happy New Year everyone.

A while ago someone (B.L.) donated a Shimano 6800 11sp RH shifter with broken casing. The casing can't be re-joined, but after letting me keep it for parts, I have since:
1. Donated and fitted the internals to someone whose own shifter's internals were malfunctioning.
2. Donated and fitted the blade (shifter lever) to someone who had a minor collision and broke theirs.

So just a thank you to those who've donated to to us. Those aren't cheap parts to replace so that act of generosity in leaving me with a broken lever has saved others $100s.

Things have been a bit quiet due to riding but then I broke my hip. So I had a chance to do more shifter repairs. I made a video of this Shimano 6700 Ultegra (RH) shifter repair. The 6700 (and 5700 and 7900) shifters are great candidates for repair, because they mostly fail at the return spring. As shown in the video, you can repair the spring. Spare parts are always the biggest challenge with repairing shifters so being able to recycle parts is ideal.

It takes a bit of practice, trial and error to learn what the problem is with shifter faults. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes not. I'm getting better - pretty happy with this outcome.

If you know anyone with non-functioning 5700/6700/7900 shifters - tell them to send them to me!

Guide to repairing Shimano Ultegra 6700 10 speed RH shifter Shows key steps for repairing common fault with 6700 RH levers where the spiral return spring for the release lever either breaks or loses tension. You can s...

Here's an example of what typically fails on the old x600 series Shimano shifters. (5600, 6600 etc.) It's a pawl that holds and releases the gears. It comes under a bit of pressure and the LH example as photographed has broken around the pin it rotates on. Unfortunately it can't be repaired or fabricated easily, but in this case I had a spare from another donated shifter. It's not identical but it will hopefully work when I fit it. Shimano moved to a different (better) design with its x700 series shifters that don't use this pawl design. It's an illustration of how donated, non-functioning shifters are invaluable in resurrecting them.

Bit of an update. Over Christmas while down in Melbourne I donated 6 shifters to the Hidden Athlete Podcast. They support Ugandan cycling - a country in which parts are not just a click away from online purchases. These were older model Shimano Sora left and right shifters donated by the generous Yifan Lei and another person who wanted to remain anonymous.

If you have any older parts, shifters or otherwise - used or not working - consider donating them to the Hidden Athlete (working condition) or to me (not working - I can look at repairing). There is a lot of old stuff floating around Australian garages that is not 'cool' anymore but could make a huge difference to African cyclists who just need a functioning bike.

On the topic of repairing shifters - I've got a personal goal to improve my skills. I made a fair breakthrough recently in fabricating a spiral spring used in Shimano shifters that tends to break in 5700 (105) and 6700 (Ultegra) and 7900 (Dura Ace) shifters. Shimano don't sell them as replacements so you otherwise need to buy a whole new shifter. Not anymore! I can fix it. I'm pretty happy with that.

I've fixed a few shifters over the past several months and I have 2 I recently received that I'm working on now. It's not something I can easily scale up to an industrial scale - it takes a bit of time, practice and patience. But it saves money compared to buying a replacement one.

Lastly - a call again for more donor parts. If you have or know anyone with broken shifters lying around - consider asking them to donate to me. And I'm always happy to try and fix and return them to you.

Here's a Shimano Ultegra 6700 LH 10 spd. shifter. Donated anonymously - thanks.

It was playing up but I seem to have got it working nicely after dissembling and putting back together a few times. And borrowing a couple of bits from another faulty one I have. I put it on my bike and used it for a couple of weeks - shifts well and really nice condition. Like new again!

If you have an expired/faulty one - happy to swap.

These are the internals of a Dura Ace RH 7900 shifter. On the left is the return spring for the release lever (to shift to harder gears on the cassette). It's busted. Shifters are delicate pieces of machinery - even the slightest problem can renders them non-functional.

The bike's owner had already purchased a replacement shifter. It was a quick job to replace it.

Fixing the lever would be straightforward too - with the necessary replacement spring. Shimano does offer some spares for shifter internals, but not for this model as far as I can find.

So if you've got or know anyone with a non-working shifter - a 7900 as here or any other model - feel free to let me have a look at it for you.