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Tech SRAM Apex on Trek 2.1

1. When we tell you to hold the cable, you are holding the thin metal inner cable, right? And not the outer cable?
2. Look at this picture. Is your cable seated like it is in this picture?

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3. When you click the shifter up and down, with the cable pulled tight with your hand, does it feel seated in the shifter, or is there a mushiness / soft-weird feeling when you shift?
 
So it seems there's nothing wrong with the cable.

I think either (1) a bit of grit - could be rust - has got into the ratchet mechanism and is preventing it from working properly, in which case it might be possible to blow it out or otherwise shift it, or (2) something has broken off or worn out inside the mechanism, in which case you will need to replace it. That happens sometimes.

A new or used replacement lever should solve your problem without much further ado. It certainly shouldn't set you back "24000 yen plus taxes."

If you want to get creative before going down that route, you can remove the lever from the bike and start getting medieval on its Assos, remove bits, inspect, clean with alcohol and a Q-tip, lubricate, try again. The worst that can happen is that you'll trash the lever. But it already seems trashed. And there's an outside chance you might find the problem and make it work again.
 
@Half-Fast Mike I think you are jumping the gun a bit here. We don't know all the details, and have not concluded for a fact what is wrong.

Let's work that out before telling the guy his shifter is definitely buggered. It very well might be, but we need to be 100% on that first.

Thanks,

Dad.
 
@TCC: Yes, I hold the inner cable and it is firmly seated in the shifter.

@Half-Fast Mike: I also think there might be something in the mechanism, the cable had some small black pieces on it the first time i pulled it out and also the big outer screw looks kind of rusty.
 
I think you need to now unwind your handle bar tape, remove any tape holding the cables to the bars and remove the outer housing. Keep the inner cable still attached. TRy shifting again. I think there is perhaps some crud in the works and it still wont shift. Have you bought a new inner cable yet? You will need one anywho so you should. See how that goes but I would after all that revove the shifter and try @Half-Fast Mike idea of blowing or shaking followed by spraying. You can probably get a gas station to blow high pressure air in there. Good luck. Try the shifter after shaking, again after blowing and again after spraying.
 
I had an 8sp XT MTB shifter that stopped working reliably.
I was going to replace it, but finding 8sp bits of an XT level was impossible at that point. (Mega9 had been out a while).
I took it to a friends place and he used a degreaser spray of some sort and shifted up and down several dozen times.
I used those shifters for 2 more years on that bike and eventually sold the bike to a friend who is still riding it trouble free.

The original grease/goop shimano had used had turned into a gel and was getting into the ratchet mechanism and preventing the shifter from catching.
My buddy taking the time to clean it and work all the crap out made it work better than it had in years.

I am not saying this is your issue - however there is hope it just some debris in the ratchet that is preventing the catch allowing you to go to the next gear.

So the idea of blowing out the shifter very well could cure its ill.
 
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My Force SRAM shifter has a removable panel on the inner side, held on by a few screws. If the Apex has the same, you could try opening it carefully (don't lose the screws) for a quick check inside for any obvious problems.
 
So, I removed the brifter and I think I might have figured out what went wrong:

1) The brifter was really clogged with some stuff inside (see the first picture)

2) I think the metal head of the shifting cable wasn't sitting where it was supposed to, so it probably slipped out.. It didn't really sit in the pocket you can see on the second picture. Now I try to make it firmly sit in there. how deep is it supposed to sit?

Any more suggestions?

IMG_2385.jpg

IMG_2386.jpg
 
The plastic part of the shifter shown in the first image should be removable by unscrewing the two screws shown, plus one more underneath the rubber hood.

Best to remove the rubber hood completely before doing this, and don't lose the screws. This will give you a better look inside.

It might not be removable, but my SRAM Force shifter has one, and your's looks the same.
 
You can very gently pull the hood off, back to front by gently stretching the rubber. If you do rip it replacements are readily available. Helps to do it on a warm day so you are in luck.

You have bought a new cable already right? Click the shifter down and pull the cable out completely by pushing it through.

Then you should go and buy some parts cleaner aerosol can and spray the heck out of that shifter. Man it looks nasty in there.
 
Thanks a lot guys and sorry for the long time I didn't reply. Was pretty busy this month. But I finally got to finish what you told me and so far, the bike works great. Apart from all the dirt I cleared out of the brifter, the problem apparently was that the head of the gear cable went out of the socket in the brifter where it is supposed to sit it. So I cleaned everything out and installed a new cable and everything is fine now. The only problem that might remain is that the cable goes out again the next time I remove the rear wheel. I thought that shouldn't happen normally, but with my brifter the head seems to not sit too firmly in the socket, ie it seems it goes out with just a little push, so I am shifting down slowly atm.


In any case. Thanks a bunch! I would have never made that without you and I definitely learned quite a bit about bikes :)

どうもありがとうございました
 
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