Shimano bar end levers.

[eclipse]

I fitted these to an old Flying Scot of mine some time ago, and although I find them much more convenient than down tube shifters, on my first real tour in Andalucia in January, I suffered a few problems;
On the lumpy roads down there, one of the bolts holding the shifter for the front mech rattled its way out and went AWOL.
On the shifter for the rear mech, some of the teeth which control the indexing broke off, leaving me with friction only control.
Questions are....
Is this common and should I look for an alternative?
Where (can) can I get shimano spares?? LBS says the individual parts are unobtainable seperately.
Am I doing something wrong??
I went for bar end shifters for simplicity, and therefore in my eyes reliability which seemed a good rationale at the time!
Cheers John

[yakdiver]

I think you have just been unlucky, I've had them on my bike for over 5 years now and have covered more than 20.000 miles without any problems

[Si]

I had them on my bike that I used off road, on bumpy tracks. Never had a problem, so I too, think that you were unlucky.

[hamster]

I've one pair that have now done 15 years of faultless service. They have the same internals as thumbshifters, and I have one pair that have gone for over 20 with no problems.

There are no teeth inside, the indexing works on a series of dimples which engage a sprung ball bearing. If you have lubed them a lot, it may just be muck inside the dimples. You can find that if you refit them incorrectly, you get 3 or so clicks of indexing and then none for the rest of the sweep of the lever. Remove it and check that you have got to the last click for the lever in the down position. It's very easy to fit the lever 90 degrees out. As for the screw coming out, may I gently suggest pilot error in not doing it up tightly?

[eclipse]

Pilot error? Pilot error? oh youre a hard man Hamster... but that probably has a lot to do with it....

[irc]

Another satisfied customer here. Circa 10 years use. Flawless.

[hamster]

Pilot error? Pilot error? oh youre a hard man Hamster... but that probably has a lot to do with it....

Not as bad as me overtightening the release screw of my SPD pedals so I that couldn't get my feet out...

[djnotts]

Some spares are available, but I forget the name of the "best" stockist. If you can find a part no. from Shimano Tech Site exploded drawings and google that you might find them! Well, it worked for me.

[byegad]

Yet another fan. Great redundancy in that they'll work in friction mode. I've yet to need this except when a cable frayed and friction mode allowed me to get home before it parted.

[CJ]

Pilot error? Pilot error? oh youre a hard man Hamster... but that probably has a lot to do with it....

Don't feel too bad about it. I had the left lever come loose once, like you it was on a foreign tour - the first day out in fact. I reckoned my bike must have been carried in a particularly vibration-prone section of the 'plane's cargo hold, or jiggled a lot on the Malaga airport baggage conveyor. Maybe the same thing happened to yours?

I also don't mind admitting to the mistake of assembling the right-hand lever 90 degrees out the one time. Fortunatelly I identified each fault soon enough not to loose either the bolt or the indexing option.