SL-M3000-L Acera 3-gear, disassembled, only shifting twice
August 28, 2018 5:20 PM Subscribe
Learning to do my own bike maintenance, I accidentally took apart my front shifter in order to change the shifter cable (this turns out to be completely unnecessary -- lesson learned). The problem is that now it only shifts once up or down -- but it's a three-gear shifter.
I have the manual (page 19). I'm guessing my problem is step 3 -- "Install the indicator unit by first engaging the catch" -- except per the diagram this particular model doesn't HAVE anything identified as a catch. It won't do two shifts even with the indicator off, so I'm really unsure what's going on. The rear shifter works fine but I don't want to take it apart to try and figure this out. Assume I don't have a bike shop I trust to take this to and ask about it (thus me doing it myself).
I have the manual (page 19). I'm guessing my problem is step 3 -- "Install the indicator unit by first engaging the catch" -- except per the diagram this particular model doesn't HAVE anything identified as a catch. It won't do two shifts even with the indicator off, so I'm really unsure what's going on. The rear shifter works fine but I don't want to take it apart to try and figure this out. Assume I don't have a bike shop I trust to take this to and ask about it (thus me doing it myself).
Response by poster: Yeah, that was the ticket. I just hadn't tried it back assembled with the dumb cable out. Thank you!
posted by curious nu at 7:27 AM on September 2, 2018
posted by curious nu at 7:27 AM on September 2, 2018
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If so, the the cable stop may be somewhat out of place, jamming the mechanism. Perhaps you've used a brake cable instead of a shifter cable, and the cable stop is too large for the mechanism or something along those lines.
If not, sometimes tension from the cable is required to pull the mechanism into one of the positions? Try temporarily installing the cable and putting some tension on it while you shift the mechanism through its entire range.
Otherwise, what often causes me to replace shifter cables is the cable has broken off at the shifter end. The result of this is various strands of the cable caught inside the shifter mechanism in various unpleasant ways. This stops the shifter from moving as it should, and finding/removing all of these strands is usually necessary to get the shifter working properly again.
It looks like you can get a replacement from Amazon for $17. That is what I did the first time I took a similar unit apart--thinking, like you, that is what was required for changing the cable. A new unit turned out to be the simplest/easiest/cheapest way to unscrew-up what I screwed up during disassembly.
posted by flug at 10:11 PM on August 28, 2018 [1 favorite]