Bar End Shifter Woes

[Brady Smith]

I was out riding with the kid today when my rear derailleur abruptly dropped all the way to the bottom cog. I stopped, undid the corresponding bar end shifter (a Gran Compe EnE from Velo Orange), wiped some gunk off and put it back together. It worked for a little while but soon gave out again and I wound up holding the shifter in place to make it up the climbs on the way home. After taking it apart, cleaning everything, and reassembling the shifter, the ratchet mechanism inside the shifter simply won't engage (I've made the bike usable in the meantime by adding a rubber washer to the assembly, which I did once before when it turned out I had a defective Riv Silver shifter on another bike). The shifter was pretty gunked up with sweat before this happened. A couple questions:

1. Is it possible that sweat got into the ratchet mechanism and caused it to fail? Seems unlikely, but I am a notoriously sweaty guy.

2. The cable attached to this shifter was not that old (6 months?) but on the verge of being corroded into the lever. A moot point, since it seems like I'll need to replace the whole shifter, but how do fellow bar-end users prevent sweat from ruining these things? Should I be greasing the cable end to keep it from corroding into the shifter? Is there a type of lube that works best to get sweat out of the washer assembly?

Any advice is appreciated. In the grand scheme of things, a bar end shifter is far cheaper and easier to replace than an STI lever, but it seems like I'm harder on these things than I should be.

-Brady

[franklyn]

Hi, Brady,

I do put lubes on the cables when I install them new. For the specific problem you described, One thing you could do is to put some beeswax on the cable end (the knob) and then pull the cable snug.

I do have some spare shifters, will PM you to see if you would like to buy them.

Franklyn

[Brady Smith]

Beeswax—great idea!

[Mark Roland]

I wonder if it is partly the inferior quality of metal used in the small bits these days that make products like this more susceptible to this kind of damage. I've never had a problem like this with Sun Tour or Shimano bar ends. That could also be due to design difference, but I thought the GC EnE was a copy of the ST.

[Brady Smith]

I wouldn’t be surprised. As far as I can tell the original Riv silver shifter and the Gran Compes are identical—probably made in the same factory—and they seem to have failed in the exact same way.

[Ginz]

I ruined a Silver shifter by removing it while the cable was still on. I got away with it a few times but eventually the cover of a ratchet mechanism bent and it was toast. If I have to remove one I now always unbolt the cable clamp at the derailleur.

[Brady Smith]

Well, I figured it out. Took a Dremel to the failed shifter this morning and, as you can see, it's ugly. I guess these things aren't sealed at all. Any idea if the Dura Ace ones might fare better? Or should I explore creative mounting solutions to keep shifters out of the way of sweat?