Repairing Campagnolo 'Brifters'

[KneesUp]

I recently rediscovered, stored in a small cardboard box on top of a kitchen cupboard, a pair of Campagnolo brake lever/shifters I bought from here some time ago.

The right lever does not work - I've never attached it to a bike, and I can't quite remember what @redfalo said was wrong with them other than it was a shifting issue - but it seems like it will be fine going up the gears, but not going down. The release mechanism seems very weak: I've tried pumping it full of GT85 simply becuase I had some to hand (I'm sure it's been tried before!) so now I've concluded it needs new springs - as indeed I dimly recall being suggested when I bought them.

The issue I have is I know nothing of Campag really - I don't have any of it - I bought these as I understand that 10 speed Camapg shifters work very well with 8 speed Shimano stuff, which I do have. I'm getting very confused with Ergo shift and Power shift and Ergo power and all such business, and so I don't know what bits to buy.

The levers I have look like this:

and are labelled 0118905IC EP11IVLSXC 0001405069

I don't want to take it apart more often than I have to, or take it apart days before I put it back together, so I wondered if anyone can advise if these are the bits I (most likely) need.

http://www.hewittcycles.co.uk/compo...10149-campagnolo-ec-re137-right-index-spring-
http://www.hewittcycles.co.uk/compo...10146-campagnolo-ec-re209-right-hand-index-sp

Also any advice about taking it apart or putting it together much appreciated. It looks fiddly but fine, until you remember that some of the parts are springs, which tend to have a mind of their own!

 

[redfalo]

It's a well known issue with Campa - some spring weakens over time, and the indexing when shifting down (I think) disappears.

 

[KneesUp]

It's a well known issue with Campa - some spring weakens over time, and the indexing when shifting down (I think) disappears.

Hello sir! Hope you're well. I got that impression given the number of youtube tutorials and so on - but all the levers look the same to me so just want to make sure I'm getting the right parts. My box of bits is jammed full enough without finding room for springs I will never have a use for!

 

[chriscross1966]

If you hit up the download sites (Campy's own is pretty good, also read up at places like Velotech) then you should be able to get a printout of each years version of your bit... I rather suspect that any given groupname (barring Record) and speed-set will only have been in the range for a few years, and they tended to be "refreshed" visually a few times in that, but the internal mechanics won't change subtly.... if it looks the same on the Campy diagrams then likely it is the same. Make sure you reference against the right groupset, you have a Veloce lever so look at the Veloce diagrams, not the Record ones. That said I've fixed 8-speed Record brifters with bits off Avanti's before and they. have totally different internal layouts, but they do re-use some bits so it's not a bad idea to have a look at the other sets of the time to see if you can get the bits that way... if a set of NOS Mirages have the bits you need they will likely cost less than buying the spare parts...

 

[ColinJ]

I serviced my 10-speed Chorus shifter with the help of the video below. I watched it a few times and then stepped through the process, pausing the video at each stage. I found it fairly straightforward.

 

[KneesUp]

I couldn't find a video for my levers - I thinkl because the mechanism on the thumb lever is basically non-replaceable. It also turned out that the springs I ordered without having taken it apart (becuase I didn't want to take it apart and then have to leave it for a few days for fear of not remembering how to reassemble it) were the wrong ones - soon to appear in the Classifieds.

However, I did receive the correct spring in the post on Friday - it's the one that looks like a watch spring.

It tightens that spring as you shift - at first I put it in with tension even in it's least wound position, but that meant it totally unwound when you pressed the thumb lever. So I refitted it in a neutral position (which was a lot easier than fitting it coiled!) and it seems to work, in that I can go up a gear and down gear in increments of one, although I've not actually ridden it yet.