How should I deal with the broken Tiagra shifter on my road bike?
June 20, 2020 3:15 PM
The rear shift cable snapped on my 2013 Trek 1.5 road bike recently. Replacing the shift cable is generally an easy repair, but I managed to get it jammed into the shift lever. While trying to make this work, I broke off the gear indicator lever. My first thought was just to replace the shift lever, but that’s proved more difficult than I expected. I had been planning on replacing this bike with a higher-quality road bike soon, but I would strongly prefer to keep this one going through this year.
My bike has Tiagra 10-speed 4600 components, which are long discontinued. Fortunately, Shimano components are generally compatible across series, except that Tiagra 4600 and 4700 are not compatible, because they use different cable-pull ratios. But I still have a few options, and I feel lost among them:
1. Just take bike into my local shop, because someone who knows what they’re doing could take apart the shifter and just fix it. The drawback to this is that if they can’t fix this part, I’m paying for both the replacement part(s) and labor. More importantly, because of the huge demand for biking and keeping their staff safe during COVID, there are long delays in service.
2. Buy a replacement (used or new) Tiagra 4600 shifter on EBay or Aliexpress.
Drawback: used equipment likely has more wear and tear. Shipping from China is slow and leaves my bike out of commission. Pro: the easiest and most straightforward fix.
3. Buy a replacement compatible 3rd party Microshift R10 shifter. Pro: inexpensive, arrives quickly, least work. Cons: the few reviews I’ve seen indicate that the Microshift gear isn’t quite up to the same quality as the Shimano gear.
4. Buy a set of 105 5700 shifters. More work to install (because they route the shift cable under the bar tape, I’d definitely want to replace both at once.) Doesn’t require replacing any other mechanical equipment, because they’re compatible with the rest of the equipment on not bike, but is not cheap (the best I seem to find are around $200 for a pair).
5. Buy Tiagra 4700 shifters and derailleurs. These seem to be discontinued at most bike shops and I’d have to go to Aliexpress to get cheaply (and wait). If I’m investing in this bike, this at least refreshes some components at around the same price as just the 10-speed 105 shifters.
6. Invest significant money into this bike and get new wheels and an 11-speed 105 7000 groupset. This has the advantage of actually improving my bike at more cost. Is it worth investing this much money into an unremarkable 7-year old aluminum bike or am I better off doing a cheap fix and saving up my money to just invest in a new bike?
7. Just buy a new bike and sell this one as-is. If I’m throwing money at the problem, why not throw the most money at it? Biggest downside: I don’t have a beater bike to use for commuting and on the trainer.
My bike has Tiagra 10-speed 4600 components, which are long discontinued. Fortunately, Shimano components are generally compatible across series, except that Tiagra 4600 and 4700 are not compatible, because they use different cable-pull ratios. But I still have a few options, and I feel lost among them:
1. Just take bike into my local shop, because someone who knows what they’re doing could take apart the shifter and just fix it. The drawback to this is that if they can’t fix this part, I’m paying for both the replacement part(s) and labor. More importantly, because of the huge demand for biking and keeping their staff safe during COVID, there are long delays in service.
2. Buy a replacement (used or new) Tiagra 4600 shifter on EBay or Aliexpress.
Drawback: used equipment likely has more wear and tear. Shipping from China is slow and leaves my bike out of commission. Pro: the easiest and most straightforward fix.
3. Buy a replacement compatible 3rd party Microshift R10 shifter. Pro: inexpensive, arrives quickly, least work. Cons: the few reviews I’ve seen indicate that the Microshift gear isn’t quite up to the same quality as the Shimano gear.
4. Buy a set of 105 5700 shifters. More work to install (because they route the shift cable under the bar tape, I’d definitely want to replace both at once.) Doesn’t require replacing any other mechanical equipment, because they’re compatible with the rest of the equipment on not bike, but is not cheap (the best I seem to find are around $200 for a pair).
5. Buy Tiagra 4700 shifters and derailleurs. These seem to be discontinued at most bike shops and I’d have to go to Aliexpress to get cheaply (and wait). If I’m investing in this bike, this at least refreshes some components at around the same price as just the 10-speed 105 shifters.
6. Invest significant money into this bike and get new wheels and an 11-speed 105 7000 groupset. This has the advantage of actually improving my bike at more cost. Is it worth investing this much money into an unremarkable 7-year old aluminum bike or am I better off doing a cheap fix and saving up my money to just invest in a new bike?
7. Just buy a new bike and sell this one as-is. If I’m throwing money at the problem, why not throw the most money at it? Biggest downside: I don’t have a beater bike to use for commuting and on the trainer.
If it were my bike, I'd just get any compatible shifter you can get quickly and ride it until ready to replace it.
It sounds like you have all the knowledge and skills to do it yourself, so you could order a part, do the job in an afternoon, and be back on the bike. It's the cheapest, easiest, and fastest option and the only downside is maybe living with some subpar shifting on a bike you're looking to replace anyway. If you then decided to keep the bike and upgrade the drivetrain or buy a new bike, having a currently functional one would probably allow you to recoup the cost of the shifter anyway just by being able to wait around for the good sales instead of needing to get something right away.
posted by Dr.Enormous at 5:27 PM on June 20, 2020
It sounds like you have all the knowledge and skills to do it yourself, so you could order a part, do the job in an afternoon, and be back on the bike. It's the cheapest, easiest, and fastest option and the only downside is maybe living with some subpar shifting on a bike you're looking to replace anyway. If you then decided to keep the bike and upgrade the drivetrain or buy a new bike, having a currently functional one would probably allow you to recoup the cost of the shifter anyway just by being able to wait around for the good sales instead of needing to get something right away.
posted by Dr.Enormous at 5:27 PM on June 20, 2020
I vote #4. The rerouted cables will look nice, it’ll be cost effective, and a good rig to sell when the time comes.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 7:23 PM on June 20, 2020
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 7:23 PM on June 20, 2020
I forgot to mention option 0: fiddle with the existing shifter more to successfully flush out the detritus and get it working again. Which I did successfully and have a working bike again!
Instead of jumping straight to ways to spend money to solve the problem, I should have spent more time working on a method for removing a broken shift cable stuck in a shifter. Once I managed to get it unjammed, it works again.
So I might throw some resources into this bike so that it rides better but at least I have no urgency now to get it back on the road (and can just go buy a gravel bike or something)
posted by andrewraff at 4:53 PM on June 21, 2020
Instead of jumping straight to ways to spend money to solve the problem, I should have spent more time working on a method for removing a broken shift cable stuck in a shifter. Once I managed to get it unjammed, it works again.
So I might throw some resources into this bike so that it rides better but at least I have no urgency now to get it back on the road (and can just go buy a gravel bike or something)
posted by andrewraff at 4:53 PM on June 21, 2020
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There's nothing making an unremarkable 7-year old aluminum bike any less good than it was when you got it, except the condition of its parts. So if price is an issue, I'd recommend you go with a fresh 4700 groupset (shifters and derailleurs; do fresh cables, housing, and chain while you're at it if you don't make a habit of replacing those) - if you're considering saving up for a new bike at some point, I don't think there's too much benefit to be found (either right now or in terms of resale value) of spending money on new wheels so that you can get an 11-speed groupset.
Tiagra 4700 is a fairly nice bit of kit that borrows a lot from more expensive 11-speed groups in Shimano's lineup (I'm an "elite-ish" racer and I while I happily spend the money on nicer parts, I wouldn't think twice about using 4700 in a pinch). It's nicer than 10-speed 105 stuff: though 105 is a tier above, the Tiagra 4700 came later, so benefitted from trickle down technology - more akin to 11-speed 105, just with one less cog. And you should be able to find it for fairly cheap.
If you spend the money on the 4700 parts and perhaps a shop to do a thorough overhaul (thorough cleaning, recabling, new chain, new bar tape), you're going to wind up with a bike that feels like it did the day you rolled it out of the store. I think that'll be a better way to spend your money than on any parts that are only 'better' on paper.
posted by entropone at 3:34 PM on June 20, 2020