What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

ausrandoman
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What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby ausrandoman » Sun Aug 26, 2018 6:17 pm

I've experienced an Ultegra shift lever that just stopped working, no warning, no repair and heard similar stories from others.

Is there another make or model that lasts longer or can be inspected to see trouble coming? Sram? Campy? Shifter separate from brake lever?
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familyguy
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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby familyguy » Sun Aug 26, 2018 6:20 pm

Never had a 105, Force or Centaur lever fail me yet.

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Duck!
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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby Duck! » Sun Aug 26, 2018 7:19 pm

My 14-year-old 6600 Ultegra shifters are still working perfectly.
I had a thought, but it got run over as it crossed my mind.

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Tim
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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby Tim » Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:23 pm

Which Ultegra series was it that failed?

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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby craigg » Wed Aug 29, 2018 4:01 pm

What has failed about it? If it's the right one (rear derailleur) and has stopped shifting to the higher cogs then squirting the internals with a good dose of WD40 should fix it.

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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby rooftop » Wed Aug 29, 2018 4:19 pm


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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby jackthelad » Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:17 pm

My Gripshift is reliable, and my Sram/Avid brakes have been good too
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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby Duck! » Wed Aug 29, 2018 6:42 pm

Grip shifter isn't a shift/brake lever....
I had a thought, but it got run over as it crossed my mind.

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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby P!N20 » Wed Aug 29, 2018 9:56 pm

I'm stuck in the early 90's, but I believe Campy's levers (and most other components) have always been designed to allow disassembly, service and repair. I managed to put new g-springs in my 1st gen Ergopower levers, hopefully I'll get another 30 years out of them.

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Thoglette
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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby Thoglette » Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:07 pm

P!N20 wrote:.. hopefully I'll get another 30 years out of them.
do make sure to change your outers occasionally, I've managed to fatigue-fail the main shift lever due to stiff cables on one bike :oops: It sort of snuck up on me as I was only riding one bike and didn't notice how stiff the shifting had become until I hopped onto something else :oops: :oops:

Clue: if your inners are only lasting 1500km, it's time to change the outers!!
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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby Duck! » Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:59 pm

P!N20 wrote:I'm stuck in the early 90's, but I believe Campy's levers (and most other components) have always been designed to allow disassembly, service and repair. I managed to put new g-springs in my 1st gen Ergopower levers, hopefully I'll get another 30 years out of them.
Unfortunately their newer models are a lot less serviceable.
I had a thought, but it got run over as it crossed my mind.

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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby Thoglette » Thu Aug 30, 2018 5:14 pm

Duck! wrote:Unfortunately their newer models are a lot less serviceable.
That's a shame. I've all three generations at home and the newest ones are the nicest to use.
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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby jackthelad » Thu Aug 30, 2018 5:53 pm

Duck! wrote:Grip shifter isn't a shift/brake lever....
But he didnt ask about Brifters, he said brake/ shifters, which are independent, i personally have touring shifters on my RD bike due to Cerebral Palsy, use a Brifter on front, indexed shifter for rear , barend shifter
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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby Duck! » Thu Aug 30, 2018 6:46 pm

He said Ultegra brake/shift lever. Brifter by any other name. And given there is no other type of Ultegra shifter......
I had a thought, but it got run over as it crossed my mind.

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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby Mulger bill » Sat Sep 01, 2018 8:09 pm

Tiagra 4500 on my 10yo commuter still going strong
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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby wqlava1 » Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:08 pm

Duck! wrote:He said Ultegra brake/shift lever. Brifter by any other name. And given there is no other type of Ultegra shifter......
Well, there was the 6400 Ultegra 8 speed downtube shifter in 1994, that they sold at the same time as 6400 Ultegra brifters. I had some on a Cadex.

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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby Duck! » Fri Dec 14, 2018 11:49 pm

6400 wasn't badged as Ultegra, it was still known as 600 at that stage, although the Ultegra name did start phasing in late during the 6400 run.
I had a thought, but it got run over as it crossed my mind.

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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby wqlava1 » Sat Dec 15, 2018 12:12 am

Duck! wrote:6400 wasn't badged as Ultegra, it was still known as 600 at that stage, although the Ultegra name did start phasing in late during the 6400 run.
Yes although this quote from 1991 Shimano documentation on Velobase (and despite their vetting of contributors it is possible to find errors in the database) shows earlier use of "Ultegra" as a name for the groupset than I'd thought. I should have said 600 Ultegra not 6400 in the previous post. It looks like Shimano sold the 6400 series as 600 Ultegra in their doco and promotional stuff but only painted 600 onto the actual components, and swapped to putting Ultegra on with the 6500 groupset.
http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx? ... d&Enum=104

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Duck!
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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby Duck! » Sat Dec 15, 2018 9:31 am

Yup, I've got a Shimano dealer tech handbook from around '96 (pretty much the last year of 6400), and it refers throughout the relevant section to "600 Ultegra" although the components are only branded as 600.
I had a thought, but it got run over as it crossed my mind.

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Re: What is the most durable. reliable brake / shift lever?

Postby Jash Rider » Sun Jan 06, 2019 6:38 am

Almost 10 years out of my Tiagra brifters. Snapped a cable due to wear, but never missed a change. I do around 120km a week on it. My legs only work in a very narrow cadence band due to knee injury, so the shifters get a lot of work.

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