# Ultegra shifters sticking



## red earth (Jul 26, 2009)

Has anyone had any problems with their rear Ultegra shifter sticking? It'll shift fine from the small to bigger gears, but I have to hold onto the brake lever inorder for it to shift to the smaller gears. Any ideas? It worked fine till yesterday.


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## frdfandc (Nov 27, 2007)

Put the bike into the smallest gear in the back. Get some degreaser - I like White Lightning Citrus - and spray into the shifter where the cable is. Dry it out. Then apply some lube - Teflon, Tri-flow, ect.

The Chiwan grease that they use is starting to gum up.


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## Wheelman55 (Jul 10, 2009)

I was hanging out near the Shimano neutral service truck at a race this summer. One of the women racers had trouble with her SRAM RD shifting really hard. It turned out to be gummed up bottom of her bottom bracket from dripping energy drink from her water bottle. The Shimano mechanic cleaned up the gum then used some Shimano SP 41 grease on the cables. Worked like new after that. I asked the mech about the grease afterwords and he said that it really does wonders.


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## rjranalli (Jul 30, 2009)

I am having the same issue with my Ultegra shifters. I do not believe the the root cause resides in the rear derailleur, but in the shifter. Does anyone know the proper way to clean the shifter level, can it be opened to service , or do youjust spray WD-40 into it for a while.


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## PSC (Mar 10, 2004)

Do what frdfandc says to do. I undo the brake relaeses levere so I can really get the Clean Streak into the internals of the shifters. After that I use a couple shots of WD-40,would use Triflow, but I don't have any stuff like that in aerosol. Do this a couple times a year and your shifters will work fine. I have well over 20k on my 9spd shifters. I also have a friend who is convinced his shifter gave out due to sports drinks in the BB area binding up his cable.


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