Silver2 bar shifter issue

[Jonathan Carmack]

Hey all,

I know they say these shifters don’t need maintenance, and that may be true, but caveat with saying a ride sort of hard.  But at any rate, my right shifter isn’t ratcheting any more, I’ve put about 600 miles on my new Atlantis, so I can’t imagine it’s corrosion.  But honestly it’s rained almost every day here in DC this entire summer so it’s possible it *is* corrosion.  Has anyone had issues with this, and I guess had any luck with opening it up and seeing what’s going on?  Or maybe try hitting it with WD40 (my gut screams no).  Anyway, happy riding to all and all ships at sea.

- Jon Carmack 

[Michael Connors]

There was a thread on this issue last year. If I remember correctly, some people had luck using WD40 to clean-out gunk. Attached is a video of Eric repairing some worn-out shifters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g67pjAPYZk

[Brady Smith]

As Michael said, blast it with some WD-40 and see what happens. I had this issue a few times when living in NJ and riding in the heat and humidity all summer--sweat would accumulate and gunk up the spring/tooth interface inside the shifter. I did once manage to open a Silver2 up and clean it out directly, but it's delicate work, given how easy it is to lose the spring. A cleaned/reassembled shifter is still doing downtube duty on my Roadini. 

[Jonathan Carmack]

No dice on WD40.  Took the plate off and sure enough, and I’m not even kidding here, a piece of oatmeal or some type of fibrous material was jammed into the pawl.  Shifts like new now.  Will say tho the ratchet is a genius design and it’s amazing I could fix this in like 30 minutes.  

On Sat, Jul 26, 2025 at 4:52 PM Jonathan Carmack <jonca...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks all, I’ll try the WD40. It’s also feasible that it’s a combination of gunk inside the shifter and the screw itself losing some tension from all the heat.  So I’ll put some more beeswax in there.

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[Jonathan Carmack]

Thanks all, I’ll try the WD40. It’s also feasible that it’s a combination of gunk inside the shifter and the screw itself losing some tension from all the heat.  So I’ll put some more beeswax in there.

On Sat, Jul 26, 2025 at 4:50 PM Brady Smith <bradys...@gmail.com> wrote:

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