Campagnolo Ergo Levers not working

[Newman8]

I have Campag Veloce 10 spd ergo shifters: On the left hand (front mech) unit - the gear change levers - both finger (up-shift) & thumb (down-shift) appear to have completely disengaged from the changing mechanism. They have no resistance when you move them & don't connect with or move anything. To the best of my knowledge, nothing has snapped off or fallen out from the inside.

I've found a couple of youtube videos for dismantling & rebuilding the whole unit - looks a bit complicated, but do-able. Anyone tried this with any success, or got any other easier solutions?

Dartmoor Classic at weekend, so timing pretty bad! Can't afford new levers this week & haven't got time to wait for spare parts to arrive in post anyway, but do have a couple of hours spare tomorrow morning to attempt a repair/service.

Thanks for any advice...

 

[Sharky]

If all else fails, just remove the front changer mech completely and opt for either the big or small ring for the ride. Carry a small screwdriver with you and you can do a manual change when terrain changes significantly. Will be like the old "clanger" days - one of my early bikes had a contraption on the seat tube to make a gear change.
Without a front mech, some of the "cross chaining" issues disappear and you might find the range you can get with just a single ring, will get you through the ride.

Good luck with the ride.

 

[Newman8]

Thanks - I'd thought of that! It's a pretty hilly day though - ups & downs in excess of 20% & around 1600m of climbing, (the sort of course where you go through all your gears - a lot), but if it comes down to that, I'll make do.

 

[Poacher]

God's way of telling you to revert to downtube shifters.

 

[Ajax Bay]

Best of luck trying to mend the ergo.

opt for either the big or small ring for the ride

Anyone would think you ride in Kent. Come and ride on Dartmoor sometime.
Yes, as a work around, @Poacher has suggested the way, maybe, just maybe. Find a friction/index downtube shifter (band on - will be problem if your down tube is oversized, which it probably is) and just use the left hand lever for the weekend. Alternative find a bar end shifter and fit.
Final option is to recognise that any shifter will work on an FD (some with more trim capability than others) so you could use a Shimano anything or even an MTB thumb job, mounted on the top of the bar or wherever. In fact (as I type) that final suggestion would be my first call: even steal one off a child's bike (as in borrow!).
Problem on Dartmoor is frequently you're hammering down a hill, over a bridge, and then straight into a 1:7 or steeper.

 

[Sharky]

Best of luck trying to mend the ergo.

Anyone would think you ride in Kent. Come and ride on Dartmoor sometime.
.

Kent is hillier than you might envisage, especially if you live on the North Downs. But I must admit Devon has some hills. Had a holiday there a few months ago and went to Babbacome (Oddicombe Beach). The sign on the road climbing back up to the top road was 30% and even the cars were having problems. Glad to say my bike was still in Kent.

 

[Espresso vecchio]

Mine did something similar 2 months ago. I took the front mech off, looked at the Campag videos (very helpful), took it apart, could see easily what had broken. I founds the parts diagram on the web, and ordered a new bit by phone from Mercian Cycles in Derby (Jeff was VERY helpful). Not difficult to reassemble as the videos were so good.
Another reason to have Campag...you can't replace little parts on Shimano!

 

[Newman8]

Good replies, thanks. Might be able to borrow a Shimano bar-top-thumb shifter. Could be a safer bet than risking not being able to get Ergo back together! Downtube is teardrop, so band-on not so easy.

 

[Newman8]

Mine did something similar 2 months ago. I took the front mech off, looked at the Campag videos (very helpful), took it apart, could see easily what had broken. I founds the parts diagram on the web, and ordered a new bit by phone from Mercian Cycles in Derby (Jeff was VERY helpful). Not difficult to reassemble as the videos were so good.
Another reason to have Campag...you can't replace little parts on Shimano!

Haven't got time (in the short term anyway) to get new spare parts through post - maybe a clean-up & re-assemble would do the trick, or could fix spare part next week or so....

 

[fossyant]

I ended up with a thumb shifter after an 'early' STI failed when we were away MTB'ing in the early 90's. The quick trip to Bangor saved the weekend, and I am pleased to say, the replacement STI has worked for 25 years.

 

[Graeme_FK]

I'm guessing that you probably have a set of Veloce UltraShift levers - these were made 2009/2010 and are the current shape and have basically the same mechanism as Super Record, Record and Chorus.

We';ve not seen the problem you describe occur, as described, in other versions of the ErgoPower lever.

If that's right, and what I suspect might have happened is what *has* happened, there is a get-out-of- jail fix.

What I think may have happened is that for whatever reason, you've lost (probably over a period of time) a lot of cable tension, such that all 7 clicks (rather than just the first 4, as designed), are used in going from the small ring to the big. I suspect that you may have lost so much cable tension that in order to get to the big ring, the upshift lever has been forced, so that the drive ring inside the lever has been forced past a plastic stop inside the lever body. This puts the downshift ratchet beyond the ability of the drive pawl on the thumb lever to reach it & puts the upshift lever drive pawl into aposition where it also "skates" over the surface of the upshift drive ring.

You can tell of this is the case by peeling the rubber hood back and looking at the area just under the thumb lever - you should be able to see smooth surface that terminates in a set of fine teeth. Normally those fine teeth can be engaged by the tip of the thumb lever.

If all of that is the case, the get-out-of-jail-fix is to grasp the downtube section of the inner cable and pull it sharply "down" to force the lever mechanism backwards. This will re-engage the ratchets ad allow you to return the lever to the position it should be in, once the small ring - you can then look at the reason that you have been losing cable tension & fix that, retension the FD cable and the lever will work.

Long term, to avoid recurrence of the problem, there are some permanent fixes we can apply (as once this has happened once, it makes it far more likely it'll happen again).

HTH
Graeme

 

[Newman8]

I'm guessing that you probably have a set of Veloce UltraShift levers - these were made 2009/2010 and are the current shape and have basically the same mechanism as Super Record, Record and Chorus.

We';ve not seen the problem you describe occur, as described, in other versions of the ErgoPower lever.

If that's right, and what I suspect might have happened is what *has* happened, there is a get-out-of- jail fix.

What I think may have happened is that for whatever reason, you've lost (probably over a period of time) a lot of cable tension, such that all 7 clicks (rather than just the first 4, as designed), are used in going from the small ring to the big. I suspect that you may have lost so much cable tension that in order to get to the big ring, the upshift lever has been forced, so that the drive ring inside the lever has been forced past a plastic stop inside the lever body. This puts the downshift ratchet beyond the ability of the drive pawl on the thumb lever to reach it & puts the upshift lever drive pawl into aposition where it also "skates" over the surface of the upshift drive ring.

You can tell of this is the case by peeling the rubber hood back and looking at the area just under the thumb lever - you should be able to see smooth surface that terminates in a set of fine teeth. Normally those fine teeth can be engaged by the tip of the thumb lever.

If all of that is the case, the get-out-of-jail-fix is to grasp the downtube section of the inner cable and pull it sharply "down" to force the lever mechanism backwards. This will re-engage the ratchets ad allow you to return the lever to the position it should be in, once the small ring - you can then look at the reason that you have been losing cable tension & fix that, retension the FD cable and the lever will work.

Long term, to avoid recurrence of the problem, there are some permanent fixes we can apply (as once this has happened once, it makes it far more likely it'll happen again).

HTH
Graeme

Will update tomorrow to let you know if this works....

 

[Newman8]

Update:

Yanking the cable down proved no use - there was a click from the lever first try, but only a half hearted one & not after that. Even though the lever did not resemble the one in my videos, I took it partially apart & found a holding washer, then a flat spring & then a small plastic barrel which appeared to have the rear side sheared off flat, but unevenly giving the appearance it shouldn't be that way.

So didn't pursue this any further - put lever back together, fixed back on bars, taped loose cable to frame, removed front mech completely (as per earlier post) & keeping on little front ring (so will have 36F & 29-11R) & plan to stop & manually switch to big ring for approx last 30km which is relatively flat.

Will fix or replace at leisure some time soon...

Thanks all...

 

[Newman8]

The problem didn't particularly hamper my ride:
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1230110125

Keeping on the small ring worked ok for roughly the first 70km - lost some ground on only a few short sections & had to put a little extra work in to catch back up.
The big ring for the last 30-odd km proved more problematic - covered most of the faster ground this way - but the chain came off three times before I settled back on the small ring. Not a good feeling to keep getting off & stop the legs moving when you're totally drained!

 

[Graeme_FK]

D'you want to send the lever to us for a quick look, Newman8?

If so, please message me either here or find Velotech Cycling Ltd on Facebook (assuming you are a member) and PM me there ...

If you kept losing the chain off the outer ring, I'd also look at chain / chainring wear. The worse the wear is, the more this happens, especially in the big-to-big combinations.