My Shimano Sora r3000 shifters suddenly will get “floppy†and not do anything. Pushing the “small†lever on either side results in no action. I googled solutions, and there seemed to be some people saying to spray with wd40 then lube, and that did seem to help a little bit, but it didn’t fix it. What’s going on?
Also, the cables have tension, are indexed well, and the big levers still work.
Flushing the shifters sometimes works, you really have to soak them well overnight. Spray WD-40 in any open space you can. It may or may not help, road shifters don’t seem to have much grease in them from the factory to get gummed up over time, that is a more common problem with trigger type MTB shifters. It sounds like your cable housings and probably cables need to be replaced. When you pull the larger lever you are adding tension to the cable, pulling it through the housing. When you use the small lever you are basically releasing tension and if the cable is not sliding easily with little friction through the housing shifting is affected.
How long since you last replaced the cable?
Some of the Shimano STI (including my current 5800 and previous 6700) are notorious for “sawing” through the cable due to the way the cable routes into the shifting barrel within the shifter body.
Last time I had an issue the shifting starting playing up 10 minutes into a ride and the cable snapped 15 minutes later.
Have a look at the cable head (inside the shifter) - sometimes you will see some of the cable threads already broken off and will start to jam the shifter even before the cable snaps all the way through.
I would replace the cable first to see if that helps.
This is not my bike but an example of what happens
That is the first thing I thought of as well.
How long since you last replaced the cable?
Some of the Shimano STI (including my current 5800 and previous 6700) are notorious for “sawing” through the cable due to the way the cable routes into the shifting barrel within the shifter body.
Last time I had an issue the shifting starting playing up 10 minutes into a ride and the cable snapped 15 minutes later.
Have a look at the cable head (inside the shifter) - sometimes you will see some of the cable threads already broken off and will start to jam the shifter even before the cable snaps all the way through.
I would replace the cable first to see if that helps.
This is not my bike but an example of what happens
Last summer, I was riding along with a friend who was doing an Everesting attempt (he finished it in about 18 hours). After a couple of intervals with me, his shifter cable snapped. He couldn’t get it out of the shifter, so someone took it to a local bike shop that was open to get it fixed. Meanwhile, I lent him my bike to continue his attempt. Two intervals later, mine snapped as well. Luckily, his bike came back fixed and he continued on. Both bikes had this issue.
How long since you last replaced the cable?
Some of the Shimano STI (including my current 5800 and previous 6700) are notorious for “sawing” through the cable due to the way the cable routes into the shifting barrel within the shifter body.
Last time I had an issue the shifting starting playing up 10 minutes into a ride and the cable snapped 15 minutes later.
Have a look at the cable head (inside the shifter) - sometimes you will see some of the cable threads already broken off and will start to jam the shifter even before the cable snaps all the way through.
I would replace the cable first to see if that helps.
This is not my bike but an example of what happens
All brand new stuff, I replaced the old last gen tiagra with new gen Sora, so still 9sp. Once it catches once, then it shifts fine, almost like it needs warming up. I sprayed degreaser and that helped, I’ll try soaking them, but I would like to know if something is broken, or if factory grease has gummed things up.