Found in a Skip...XT 7spd Thumbshifters!
- Thread starter teethgrinder
- Start date
- Feedback
- View
teethgrinder":3qvlbgb5 said:
I have a good front deore thumbshifter and not so good rear, know mines not an xt but I could live with two missmatched/but working, thumbies if you could
?teethgrinder
Retro Guru
- Feedback
- View
sounds like a plan, as long as I can keep the XT mount. In the past I've had at least 3 front shifter mounts go on me!
- Feedback
- View
Cool, can you poss. instruct me how I would remove the mount, never needed to take one apart before, is it as simple as unscrewing the bolt under the barrel? I will post you a picture tonight to let you see the thumbie
captain8track
Retro Guru
re:
be aware of the marins size, they are pretty big. measure before u buy. I did that mistake, ended up having to sell my team marin frame!
be aware of the marins size, they are pretty big. measure before u buy. I did that mistake, ended up having to sell my team marin frame!
silverclaws
Senior Retro Guru
Watch it with the thumb shifter, they have a lot of parts in them, especially the RH shifter, that one is a nightmare. My RH shifter is currently totally apart for an operation to remove the side to side play many old and worn shifters have. Counting all the bits that comprise the shifter, the total is 22 seperate bits, including two small ball bearings. That is not including the shifter mounting and hex cap screw that holds the mechanism body to the mount. The detented LH nut on the top under the plastic top cover which is removed via a thin screw that comes up from the bottom, can be moved to take up some wear, but wear in the vertical plane. Wear in the horizontal plane, side to side movement when the shifter is in index mode, the change feels sloppy, rattly even is caused by the cover that compresses a spring and puts in tension, acting on the centre spindle. Two lugs used for the locating of this cover onto the spindle become worn and dig into the spindle face, the result being the sloppy side to side movement.
I am at the present trying to build up this wear damage, and replace the worn lugs to make my shifters acceptable to me. The RH shifter is always the worst, as it is the one used the most.
The LH shifter, that one can suffer detents caused by wear, the ball bearings, yes, it has a couple of bearings too, running on a hardened steel bearing face, this face gets gouged. I have sort of made that shifter better, by smoothing out this gouged wear, the shifter is not as detenty.
The thumbshifter, has easily got to be the most complex part on a MTB, but seeing as the following, and everyone it seems wants thumbies, one has to wonder is this 'the' part that defines a retro bike.
And seeing as there is so much interest in thumbies, and their problems, perhaps we could start an archive and pool all the knowledge about these things, to include disassembly, successful repairs, assembly and adjusting. I know, certainly an order of parts diagram would be a massive help, as my parts seem to have migrated to three seperate locations in my room, I am thinking it is going to be trial and error to work out the assembly of this thing,a Japanese puzzle, but once worked out, I will know how to do it again.
Sealed for life I hear, they wear, chuck them away and buy new ones, well, given the things are unavailable, I bet even Shimano people strip them down and repair them if they want them for their cycles.
I am at the present trying to build up this wear damage, and replace the worn lugs to make my shifters acceptable to me. The RH shifter is always the worst, as it is the one used the most.
The LH shifter, that one can suffer detents caused by wear, the ball bearings, yes, it has a couple of bearings too, running on a hardened steel bearing face, this face gets gouged. I have sort of made that shifter better, by smoothing out this gouged wear, the shifter is not as detenty.
The thumbshifter, has easily got to be the most complex part on a MTB, but seeing as the following, and everyone it seems wants thumbies, one has to wonder is this 'the' part that defines a retro bike.
And seeing as there is so much interest in thumbies, and their problems, perhaps we could start an archive and pool all the knowledge about these things, to include disassembly, successful repairs, assembly and adjusting. I know, certainly an order of parts diagram would be a massive help, as my parts seem to have migrated to three seperate locations in my room, I am thinking it is going to be trial and error to work out the assembly of this thing,a Japanese puzzle, but once worked out, I will know how to do it again.
Sealed for life I hear, they wear, chuck them away and buy new ones, well, given the things are unavailable, I bet even Shimano people strip them down and repair them if they want them for their cycles.
teethgrinder
Retro Guru
- Feedback
- View
I know what you mean...took a Deore II one apart years ago...mind you, not as bad as an early 300LX STI shifter!
Similar threads
