# What's the best type of lube for shifters?



## SFTifoso (Aug 17, 2011)

I had my first fall, luckily it was on some freshly laid dirt, which was sort of good for me, but bad for my bike. My right shifter completely dug itself into the dirt, and now I have to clean it. I was thinking of going with dry/wax lubricant so it doesn't attract much dirt, but what do you recommend? Thanks.


----------



## bikerjohn64 (Feb 9, 2012)

What brand are they?
I know with campy; they use a white soft grease that looks like lithium. 
Have you opened it up yet? I would tend to stick with whatever OEM lube was in there.


----------



## SFTifoso (Aug 17, 2011)

They're shimano sora shifters. The stock lube is some sort of white grease, but I want something liquid since I'm gonna have to run it under the tap to get the dirt out. And I can't take the whole thing apart and grease all the little parts. I just removed the covers.


----------



## bikerjohn64 (Feb 9, 2012)

For cleaning lube or grease use Ronsonol's lighter fluid. Great for cleaning grease/lube and drys quick with no residue. It's also used a lot in the electronic industry for cleaning. Use a pressure blower to blow out the soil from the shifter too. 

Just don't smoke while you do the job ;-))

There is a type of lithium grease that comes in an aerosol can with a straw attachment that might suit your need.


----------



## esldude (Jan 3, 2009)

A few weeks back when using a chain whip I envisioned a better, simpler, cleaner way to get the job done. What I had in mind was almost exactly the Stein Hyper handle. Glad somebody makes one and glad you posted it here.


----------



## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Clean and lube*



SFTifoso said:


> I had my first fall, luckily it was on some freshly laid dirt, which was sort of good for me, but bad for my bike. My right shifter completely dug itself into the dirt, and now I have to clean it. I was thinking of going with dry/wax lubricant so it doesn't attract much dirt, but what do you recommend? Thanks.


The easiest way to clean a Shimano shifter is to inject it with spray WD-40 while working the lever up and down through all the gears. Let the gunk and dirt just drip out of the shifter. You can follow this up with a wet lube like TriFlow and you can push some lightweight fresh grease in the shifter with your finger. The grease will last longer than the wet lube. There are some large flat sliding surfaces in the mechanism and for that I think a dry lube would be a poor choice. The worst choice would be a wax lube because the mechanism cannot tolerate anything solid getting into it and gumming it up. I've not heard of anyone using a dry lube on shifters and people generally don't have significant problems with the grease that is supplied from the factory. When things do gum up you just use the WD-40 flush that is "standard practice" for integrated brake/shift levers.


----------



## Jesse D Smith (Jun 11, 2005)

Dumonde Tech liquid grease. You can drip it in exactly where you want it. Hit it with a light blast from an air compressor with a blower head to force it in deeper.


----------



## Sablotny (Aug 15, 2002)

I do a "flush" deal like Kerry above, but use silicone lubricant spray. The carrier dissolves various gunks on the ratchet surfaces, which drip out below, then evaporates and leaves very little behind. In my experience, the shifting mechanisms of aging Shimano STI do not like to be stuffed with white lithium grease, or anything else thick or viscous.


----------



## RideAllDAy (4 mo ago)

Sablotny said:


> I do a "flush" deal like Kerry above, but use silicone lubricant spray. The carrier dissolves various gunks on the ratchet surfaces, which drip out below, then evaporates and leaves very little behind. In my experience, the shifting mechanisms of aging Shimano STI do not like to be stuffed with white lithium grease, or anything else thick or viscous.


I'm glad that I read this. I bought a used bike with 105 5500 shifters. I"m not sure how dirty they are, but they rattle badly. I was thinking about stuffing them with grease in hopes to silence some noise. I was doubtful that the grease would work, but it sounds like I would have created more problems.


----------



## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

RideAllDAy said:


> I'm glad that I read this. I bought a used bike with 105 5500 shifters. I"m not sure how dirty they are, but they rattle badly. I was thinking about stuffing them with grease in hopes to silence some noise. I was doubtful that the grease would work, but it sounds like I would have created more problems.


Shifters rattle? Do they rattle from motion of the bike or when you shift or brake? Either way, sounds like something unrelated to lubing or cleaning. 

Of all the responses this thread, @Kerry Irons is the only one I would trust.


----------



## RideAllDAy (4 mo ago)

Lombard said:


> Shifters rattle? Do they rattle from motion of the bike or when you shift or brake? Either way, sounds like something unrelated to lubing or cleaning.
> 
> Of all the responses this thread, @Kerry Irons is the only one I would trust.


Hey, thanks for your message. They (old ST-5500, 105's) rattle from motion from the bike on the road. I didn't think that they needed lubing, but was thinking that grease might dampen some of the noise. From what I've read, any kind of thick grease in there is asking for trouble.

I suspect that there are 3 or 4 rattle points between the left and right controllers. I think I fixed one today. There was a phillips screw keeping the right side two shift levers snug together. I could actually turn that 1/2 turn tighter. The short and long lever were hitting each other on small bumps. I'm surprised it didn't fall out. I probably need to remove it, and use some locktite. Also, one top cap rattles a bit. I'm not sure how to pop that off to see if I can fix it. But maybe I'll just put a little silicone gasket sealer around the edges. I need to road test it later, but I'm certain there will still be at least two other rattle points. Other than the noise, it shifts good, and doesn't seem to be binding.

I bought the bike used three months ago, and should probably clean 'em anyway while I have the bar tape off, etc. I'm on board with the wd-40 / tri-flow. But I'm thinking, maybe, that something like white lightning degreaser would be better to clean it. Also, I'd blow air in there. That way, there won't be as much residue, and I'll have just tri-flow coating everything. (Btw, I love Tri-flow, it smells like Hawaiian Tropics suntan oil.) 

It could really use some new hoods, too. I'm realizing that I'll never find those, and a pair sold for almost $90 on ebay recently! I'm not into investing much into this bike. It's supposed to get me by until I get a new one, maybe.


----------

