90s Shimano 105 shifter has stopped shifting, in need of advice

Hi all,

I have a Ribble road bike from what I imagine would be the early 90s. Recently the right hand shifter has stopped working, it doesn’t change gears and doesn’t snap back after attempting to shift gears.

I’ve emailed a local bike shop who sadly hasn’t bothered to reply to me so spoke, via email, with a local guy that repairs bikes (local being in Norfolk). He said he hasn’t worked on this group set before and obviously hasn’t actually seen the bike either but he seems to believe the shifter has ‘worn out’. He seems to the think the only option is replacing the shifter for a working one. Does this sound likely to anyone else? Seeing as he hasn’t worked on this group set before do you think it’s worth looking elsewhere?

Any thoughts on what the issue may be and what the probable solution would be would be great!

Thanks guys

Have you tried pressing both down and up shift at the same time if it's a model with a thumb lever? Sometimes it jams inside on the older shifters and doing that with a big of finesse should get it working again.

It’s probably the grease gumming up the pawls.

They tend to do this at 20+ years.

Usually you push the shifter and it springs back with no gear shifting. You tend to find this more in cold weather or not having been used for a period of time.

I would say this is your problem but you say it doesn’t snap back.

Does it feel like the spring has gone and the lever is floppy or is there resistance there that stopping it snapping back?

Hose the fuck out of the shifter with GT-85 or some other grease-shifting kinda spray and see if it improves. Also - you sure cable hasn't snapped in the shifter? That's where they usually break. Have a look for frayed wires.

The older 105 shifters has a tendency for the cable to fray inside the shifter

pull back the hood to check

Cheers for the tips guys! I'll give these things a go and see if anything works!

If not, can anyone recommend someone in London that specialises in older bikes and would fix the existing shifter rather than telling me to replace it like everyone else has aha.

Shimano don’t make spares for there Shifters so if somethings broken inside there’s not much to be done.

Use a spray degreaser, flush it out with that then flush it with a spray lube and see what happens

Can you post exact shifter model please? I am going to assume older 105. Do what Roadwarrior says then report back

I’m not with the bike at the moment and won’t be for a few weeks so can’t check at the moment. But I’d say early 90s. Will give it a go when I can and see how it fairs.

Cheers