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Hi all,
I've done about 4000 wet, muddy, sandy miles now with my Genesis Longitude. The original Deore rapid-fire shifters still work fine, but I was wondering if they get old? Should they be replaced out of prudence? I'm off on another remote trip over xmas, and while I can take spare cables no problem, obviously shifters breaking would be problematic. Recently my STI shifter on my road bike broke and the entire thing had to be replaced on account of it being full of intricate parts. A new shifter is only 20 quid but obviously rather not spend the money if I don't have to.
Cheers
Ross
Nah, if it works reliably it's good. Some old shifters stop "picking up " properly when they get older, especially when they haven't been used for this while, but even then they can usually be revived with a good squirt of degreaser and some vigorous shifting through their range.
They will eventually but if they feel ok with no play in the levers etc then they'll be fine. They'll start to feel baggy before they go, I had a nine speed deore shifter on a bike for 10 years with much abuse and minimal maintenance, still works now but is in the spares box
Sram yes
Shimano no
Sram yes
Shimano no
Erm I'm still running a set of 3x9 sram x9 shifters that junkyard gave to me, they've done a good couple of thousand miles whilst I've had them, and when I adopted them they must have done some millage as the logos were partially worn off.
Cables have obviously been renewed..lol
Whatever happened to junky anyway? He seemed to just dissappear 🙁
2000 miles is nothing.
Working in lbs I saw hardly any sti wear out .
Any deterioration in shifting is almost always down to cables not the shifter
I remember when STI first came out on MTB's in the early 90's - my first MTB came with them. Flaming shifter broke on a trip to Wales, so we had to pop in to Bangor for a quick thumb shifter so I could ride up Snowdon (no suspension !) - these new fangled gears won't last......
Got home and had the shifter replaced on the bike.
The shifter is still in regular use today, 26 years later. Mechs usually get sloppy (on it's second mech).
Sram yes
Shimano no
Not due to wear, but I had 2 SLX shifters fail on me in the same way, but both developed play in the lever before failing so there was at least a warning sign. No such issues after going XT.
I've seemingly worn out an old Deore shifter. It just stopped 'ratcheting' reliably. It was about 7 years old on an off-road commuter bike.
I always find that leaving them alone really helps, just spray some GT85 in occasionally if they get very wet or muddy. Never had any wear out but they can get temperamental - beginners tend to be a bit tougher with them.
The DX thumbshifters on my 1994 Kona will never wear out, probably the same for the Dura Ace Bar end shifters I converted to thimbshifters for my touring bike.
Yes - even shimanos wear out. A rear shifter (maybe 6 years old) failed about 1 mile into a 20 mile ride so was forced to go tringle speed. Worked out OK.
Not really, but the late 90s XT shifters used to snap the ends off the ratchet pawls for fun.. Haven't seen any do that since though.
Sadly, old Suntour XC Pro thumbshifters, which are an absolute jewel of minimal, lightweight design, do wear out. The left hand shifter is friction only and the friction is provided by a grooved pawl block, which presses aginst a grooved ring on the lever providing enough friction to prevent it from slipping backwards and releasing the cable tension. The grooves wear and it begins to slip and once it's started, you can't revive it. The right hand shifter relies on a trapped ball bearing for indexing so lasts well.
I still have some old Deore shifters that have probably done at least 50,000 miles of commuting since 1999 . At one point a mate told me that sram x9 was much better and I needed a new rear mech so I swapped all my stuff to x9. It barely lasted a winter and I ended up throwing most of it in the bin. The shifters went first. First the front then the rear. I went back to Shimano and carried on using the Deore shifters. I never did a bit of maintainance on them. They are still in my spares box somewhere.
I have worn out a set of 8 speed XT Shimano RF+, 105 Bar end shifters that are essentially the same construction as thumbies, and every pair of Gripshift I ran in the mid nineties. On the flip side I have DX Thumbies doing fine along with several other antiquated brands of Shimano shifter.
From my first season using sram after 14 years using shimano, I can conclude that sram walk all over shimano in terms of reliability and build quality.
Sounds scientific Jim. Is that 40000km in a year then?
That’s hilarious Jim.
I still use xt thumb shifters from 1988. Still going strong.
"From my first season using sram after 14 years using shimano, I can conclude that sram walk all over shimano in terms of reliability and build quality."
Not sure if being ironic or trolling
either way , sounds conclusive.
I have given away two bikes with XT thumbies from the late 80's recently.
True to forum name - but they were mates Uni offspring.