Campagnolo Ergoshifter Rebuild. It Can Be Done...

           Modern road brake lever shifter units are not cheap; in fact they are downright spendy. Head towards the upper range of any given companies offerings and the prices start to look like zip codes. So when we have a bike come in for repair that has a broken shifter, there are going to be tears. If that shifter happens to say Campagnolo we may need a cardiac crash cart.

So it was recently when a beautiful Colnago, lugged frame and dripping with Campy, came in for a full overhaul. All was going well until l strung new cables and found a dead shifter. The call was made to the owner and, to his credit, EMT's did not have to be called.

Torn apart (note broken index spring at top of 3rd column from right)

The good thing about Campy, actually there are a lot of good things about Campy, is that the shifter units are completely re-buildable. Shimano and Sram units can have certain parts replaced with success but I have never been totally happy with delving in too deep with them and even ones that have been factory overhauled never feel the same as a new one. However with the Campy units the end result is sometimes better than new.

Pulling one of these bad boys apart though is not something for the faint of heart and I get beads of sweat forming on my brow when I release the first spring. But, so far anyway, with some patience and some good technical drawings that l have acquired over the years, I have had great success with them and a rebuild with some new springs is a lot cheaper than a new shifter.

Back In Business...

So, if you have a set of Italian gear changers that need a service just give me a call. Hell I will even give your Rolex a spring clean too...