OK...dumb question...how do the Silver Shifters really work?

[Jay LePree]

I use ratchet wrenches, and they all have a button to press or depress to change the direction of the ratchet to allow movement in one direction and allow grip or non-movement in another.  The Silvers do not move under hard pedaling (like traditional friction shifters) which is their benefit, but allow easy gear changes in either direction.  I want to take one apart, but don't want to destroy it.  Can some one explain or send a diagram?  Off list replies are fine.

The shifters are truly magical.

Best,

Jay

Demarest, NJ

[lungimsam]

I have Shimano's, not Silvers.

 

But: 

Here is an installation video from Rivendell that might help:

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9P4Xu5tr2Q

 

Just a few thoughts based dealing with my Shimano's that may or may not apply to Silvers. If these don't apply to Silvers - sorry. Just wanted to back up the truck on what I know about bar ends:

 

1. Remember the orientation of the levers, washers, adapters, etc. as you remove them.

For my Shimano 10-speed levers, they have to be oriented a certain way when mounting and have the SIS/friction selector oriented a certain way, to the best of my recollection. The adapter for the lever/pod connection has to be oriented a certain way on mine as well, I think.

 

2. If you are not going to detach the shifter cable from your rear derailer, you might want to think about shifting your levers into the downmost position possible (pointing to ground) before removing the lever so you can remember which position (gear) it was in for remounting.

Just a thought. I am not a mechanic. Maybe someone more in the know can chime in.

 

Here is a page telling how to remove and reinstall shimano bar ends.

http://www.tamiasoutside.com/2008/08/24/barcons/

 

Hope this helps in some way.

I love my bvar-ends, too.

 

 

[Joe Bernard]

The only thing I know about Power-Ratchets is that they mysteriously get you into the right gear in either direction every dang time, fluidly and silently. If indexing came first, Power-Ratchets would have been considered the equivalent of synchromesh being introduced to clunky post-war automobile manual transmissions.

 

Joe "snick-snick" Bernard

Vallejo, CA.

[Matt Beebe]

I've had mine apart when one of them failed after many miles.    They ratchet in one direction, using a spring and pawl on a toothed 'cog', and slide with friction in the other direction, like a normal friction shifter (whereas a ratcheting wrench does not slide).        On my old silvers that had worn out, it turned out the pawl, which is tiny, had worn to the point of not being able to grab the teeth anymore.    

I love these shifters though, and use them on the downtube usually, except on my mountain bike.

[Matt Beebe]

P.S.  In other words, the toothed cog is frictioned by the tightness of the mount screw, whereas the lever body is free-floating, and hence easy to move, but only in one direction-  when the pawl is not engaged/pushing the cog.

[Jay LePree]

Thanks Matt:

That makes sense.  It must be that the ratchet engages against the direction most likely to slip.

I appreciate your time.

Jay

[Rex Kerr]

I know that this may be considered heretical here, but I'm actually torn between preferring the Silver shifters vs. old Suntour shifters.  I think that the length is my primary objection, so I may somebody get around to modifying mine.  Somebody posted here some time ago that they'd cut and plasti dipped theirs, which I've been tempted to do...

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[William]

"Somebody posted here some time ago that they'd cut and plasti dipped theirs, which I've been tempted to do..."

Perhaps you are referring to a post I made.  Suntour and Silver downtube shifters are the same length.  Both of them are excellent downtube shifters and both of them, in my opinion, are pretty good as barcons, and both of them fit on the excellent barcon adapters that Riv sells.  Both of these shifters are a fair bit longer than shimano barcons.  What I posted about several months back was that I had purchased from Rivendell this product:

http://www.rivbike.com/product-p/sh5.htm

These are Silver shifters, but they have been made shorter and have a rubber tip.  The awesome internal ratchety-mechanism is the Silver Suntour-copy that we all love.  I thought these would make the perfect friction barcons, so I bought this $98 product, took the shifter part and mounted them as barcons on a bike.  The thumbie adapters I use as part of the bullmoose cockpit for my Bombadil.  I'm very happy with the experiment.  I imagine I could take the files to a set of Silvers or Suntours to repeat it, and maybe when I need a meditative winter project I might do that.  For those of us that don't have the time to burn, I've gotten more than my $98 worth out of the path I took.  

[Steve Palincsar]

On Mon, 2012-09-24 at 11:46 -0700, Rex Kerr wrote:
> I know that this may be considered heretical here, but I'm actually
> torn between preferring the Silver shifters vs. old Suntour shifters.

Silver shifters /are/ new "old Suntour shifters," specifically the
Suntour Sprint.