Shimano Ultegra - good but not made for UK winters!

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Globalti

Legendary Member
I've been using the Roubaix all through winter and am especially fussy about washing it down after riding on salted roads. Probably too fussy because last Wednesday my derailleur cage siezed and wouldn't swivel. Stripped it all down today and found that water had got into the body around the cage swivel, rusting the spring and causing the small steel axle to rust and sieze. There was no sign of any grease.

Clearly Shimano components are built for use in California and Spain and not in a UK winter.

The rear brake is in the same manky about-to-sieze condition so I need to strip it right down. Can anybody point me to some instructions online? It looks a bit of a job.
 
should be on here

http://si.shimano.com/#
 
I've been using the Roubaix all through winter and am especially fussy about washing it down after riding on salted roads. Probably too fussy because last Wednesday my derailleur cage siezed and wouldn't swivel. Stripped it all down today and found that water had got into the body around the cage swivel, rusting the spring and causing the small steel axle to rust and sieze. There was no sign of any grease.

Clearly Shimano components are built for use in California and Spain and not in a UK winter.

The rear brake is in the same manky about-to-sieze condition so I need to strip it right down. Can anybody point me to some instructions online? It looks a bit of a job.
It is actually quite a straightforward job, if memory serves me right [I stripped one down 2 weeks ago] there are only 3 major bits plus the spring and an alum key nut, just remember the correct order, I did the whole thing in less than 20 mins without taking note of the order of things, that puzzled me for a few minutes.
In order:
Release cable
Undo bridge bolt
Pull brake callipers away from bridge
Undo alum key bolt
Pull callipers apart and release spring with flat bladed screwdriver.
Clean and reassemble

I will bet someone has described it better on YouTube :smile:.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Worth squirting GT85 at mech pivots on a regular basis in winter. I assume you've got the mech working again. Same with brake pivots. I find the QR lever on the front brake of my commuter gets stiff with the salt - GT85 sorts it.
 

Citius

Guest
GT is perfectly adequate as a lube if used regularly. The range of movement those pivots have, you don't need anything more specialist than that. The pivot pins are steel, so if all you ever do is wash them without dropping some (any) lube in there afterwards, no wonder they are scrap.
 

Citius

Guest
It has the shear handling abilities of tap water, and Is so runny that you don't get a useful amount staying where it's needed.

I think you're misunderstanding how much work any lube has to do on a mech pivot. (the answer is 'not much')
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
GT85 is for mech and brake pivots and for general cleaning of gear parts. It's not a chain lube. GT85 is not WD40.

Jocky wheels are different, and I put finish line ceramic grease on my Shimano ceramic bushes (still going fine after 25 years !!!!)
 

Citius

Guest
Just spray the whole friggin lot with GT, WD or any other similar 'maintenance spray' that comes to hand - even Rock Oil Maintenance Spray, which is, ironically, almost identical in purpose and make up to any other aforementioned maintenance spray. I even lube chains with it.
 
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