Rapid Fire Shifters, servicing ? plus mtb fork replacement

[maltloaf]

Hi,

Does anyone have any service information for shimano rapid fire shifters ?

I'm generally a road biker but I've dusted off my old GT Timberline mtb to use for my short commute rather than driving.

It's in remarkable nick considering I last used it properly around ten years ago and on a seaside beach !

This is apart from the rapid fire shifters which don't always catch when changing to a bigger cog. They always downshift ok but regularly don't catch the ratchet going up.

I have liberally sprayed with gt85 and it's made them a bit better but not solved the problem.

What can I do about this? For info I think they are altus ones and are 7 speed rear, 3 ring front.

Secondly, I'd like to replace the bargain basement rock shox with a rigid fork, but I have no idea what to buy. Any ideas gratefully received.

Thanks,

Malty

 

[Salty seadog]

Hi Malty, had exactly this problem recently, it seems to be where the grease has hardened up in the gear shifters, spray out the shifters with WD40 to dissolve the old grease making sure to toggle the shifters up and down to work it in, maybe repeat a couple of times. Then once they've been given a work out and the solvent from the WD40 has evaporated simply lube the shifters and work the lube through the unit by shifting up and down a few times.

Simple and should work.

Ssd

 

[maltloaf]

Thank you for that, after your post I re sprayed them and gave the solvent time to soak in and I'm getting every gear now. Happy days.

 

[Salty seadog]

your welcome,

 

[wheeliebin]

Wrt to the fork question, I've been thinking about replacing my fork will probably get the kinesis maxlight xlt, which has the geometry to replace a suspension fork.

 

[maltloaf]

Looks a nice fork. I'd need something with v brake mounts though. Planet x do one for about £60 but there are so many unknowns for me. I don't even know about headset compatibility etc.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Looks a nice fork. I'd need something with v brake mounts though. Planet x do one for about £60 but there are so many unknowns for me. I don't even know about headset compatibility etc.

Does this look like your bike? Same forks? To be sure you can post some photos and make some measurements (e.g. the diameter of the forks' steerer tube).

Generally to maintain steering characteristic at the very least you want to maintain the axle to crown distance of the existing forks, which should be assessed with sag (e.g. axle to crown race distance without sag minus c20% of the forks' range of travel).

Incidentally I am not sure why you want to replace the forks, but if you have those RS Indy they are not heavy. You would be lucky to save 400g if you replace it with those CrMo ones from PX.

 

[maltloaf]

I want to replace it as I hate that bouncing along feeling I get whilst riding it, although weight was a factor too.

I haven't asked about changing my granny ring. Is that related somehow ? Although I can't see how lol

I'll take some pics when I next go to the garage. The specs of the bike you linked to are similar ish

Thanks for the replies

Kevin

 

[Blue Hills]

Ah the wonders of good old basic shimano stuff.

I had a similar issue - removed a very small screw (and remarcably didn't lose it) squirted a lot of gt85 at the exposed ratchet system, and all sorted.

A lot of ****t talked about bikes - Shimano in my experience is very good and Altus/Alivio is often fine.

 

[maltloaf]

The forks are Rock Shox Jett. I seem to remember at the time they were proper bottom of the range things. They are ok I suppose, but I wouldn't have them by choice. Apologies for the rubbish pics, the lens must have had a smear on it or something !