Comments on: How To Recondition RapidFire Plus Shifters

By: wogga

wogga — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:06:05 +0000

Thanks for intro to the repair of these little things. After finding only one other site that made repair seem quite awful I watched your video and then began the careful dis-assembly of my Shimano Alivio shifter. WD40 helps to degunk and yes folks should have some spray grease on hand too. I would say that most of the issues with those such as the alivio can be solved by removing the core unit from the housing. In my case I found (after 30 min of careful observation) that the core parts fit into the metal housing in a specific way – there are two little bumps. Mine wasn’t in correctly. Amazingly, after adjusting that and reassembling a very clean unit, it clicks up and down happily now, where before it would only go from 1 towards 7.

By: Buddhahead Steve

Buddhahead Steve — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 20:29:05 +0000

I volunteer at a self help bike shop in NorthEast LA. We see a tons of these older click shifters. What I have found is that the most common problem is that the paws inside freeze up. Sometimes a good penetrate will losses them up, but more often opening the shifter up, finding the actual paw, and manipulating it with a small screw driver gets it working again. Just be gentle, most of these are old and the plastic is brittle. Once they’re working again, lube, and lube every few months… I like T-9 the best. Light, flows well, doesn’t attract dirt, doesn’t gum up, prevents rust.

By: jody

jody — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:08:15 +0000

Thanks for this vid, I’ve been contemplating taking my lever apart as my right side trigger shift indicator (sram x-7) recently stopped working. Now I don’t feel as paranoid to open it up! Should that be an easy fix? It shifts fine, just doesn’t show me what gear it’s in.

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:41:04 +0000

@Tony: I would add music if I understood the copyright issues better… it would be funny sometimes for sure!

@Bryan: Thanks… your site is looking fantastic too!

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:56:16 +0000

Alex, great tutorial. That last section on reconditioning was the fastest recondition I’ve ever seen! Too cool.

I’ll also say that every time I visit your site I’m more impressed. Great job man.

By: Tony Bullard

Tony Bullard — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:19:50 +0000

That rebuild portion could have used some Benny Hill music.