Bicycle Tutor

So I let my brother in law borrow my bike (very hard to do since im a college kid and my bike is worth as much as my car) and needless to say it came back to me and the front derailleur wasn't shifting... I tried to pull on the cable manually to act as the derailleur force but ratchet at all. I tried to remove the cable from the shifter itself and I believe its stuck in the gear where the shifter head wont release from it either. so... A.) can shimano sti shifters be taken apart to be put back together? B.) did I screw up by letting my brother in law borrow my bike because now ill need to purchase new (really expensive) shifters? C.) if Needed to buy new should I just go campy? I like stuff that lasts...

update.. I decided to not care and take apart my shifter... he broke what keeps the ratchet from moving back after you shift. can do no repair here.. metal is broken. thanks for the looks.

Check the explosive views at
http://cycle.shimano-eu.com/publish/content/global_cycle/en/nl/index/components/road/105_5700.html
or at
https://www.paul-lange.de/service/Support/Shimano/STRapidfire-Schaltbremshebel.php
to find out the part number. Then try to find the replacement part somewhere. They are expensive for such small things, but warehousing of small parts that are not often requested is expensive, so I can sort of understand it...
Good luck!

(Mar 12, 2013 08:58 PM)Everett Wrote:  So I let my brother in law borrow my bike (very hard to do since im a college kid and my bike is worth as much as my car) and needless to say it came back to me and the front derailleur wasn't shifting... I tried to pull on the cable manually to act as the derailleur force but ratchet at all. I tried to remove the cable from the shifter itself and I believe its stuck in the gear where the shifter head wont release from it either. so... A.) can shimano sti shifters be taken apart to be put back together? B.) did I screw up by letting my brother in law borrow my bike because now ill need to purchase new (really expensive) shifters? C.) if Needed to buy new should I just go campy? I like stuff that lasts...

Even though I'm a bit late in replying to you.. this might solve your problem or not.. or you already solved it.. but it's good info for others to know either way..

And If your bike fits in my description, it's more likely it's not your brother in law's fault.

If you bike is fairly recently bike a 2008/2009 model and you have Shimano 105 shifters ST-5600 series.. and if you have a double crankset.

You might be in luck or not in luck depending on where you got the bike from.. If you got it at performance bikes you might be able to do something about it.

Anyway, back to my point there's a known issue with 2008/2009 shimano 105 shifters on the left shifter ratcheting system breaks over time when you shift enough time.. If you noticed the shifter was originally designed for either use double crankset or triple crankset. Shimano made a design flaw with that particular model of shifter where when the shifter is installed on a double crankset the ratcheting system breaks. On a triple crankset it's fine and has no issues.

If your left shifter just says shimano 105 (and is ST-5600 model) yeah you have the flawed left shifter that breaks very often. As far as I know shimano will replace those shifters under warranty which is within two years of when you bought the bike. If your left shifter says Shimano 105 Douple or Triple on the top than it's the more recent revision that fixes that issue.

The main reason why I know about this issue is that One of my friends got a Fuji Team 2009 bike and I also got the Fuji CCR2 2009 which has those left shifter issues with ST-5600 model. Initially, my friends shifter broke, and mine did not, I insisted Performance Bikes to get the shifter replaced by shimano (even before it broke) and so they got the part ordered.. and while I waited and rode my bike it eventually broke.

Since you took apart the shifter... I'm not sure if shimano will now warranty the item... but you can try to complain and give them hell about it since it was a known problem.

hope this helps