Andrew, maybe you can help with this. I was changing the new style Centaur 10 speed levers from one bike to another and the right lever wouldn't work properly. I unscrewed that cap that covers the spring and discovered that s strand of the shift wire had broken and caught up in the mechanism. I cleared that out and is appeared to be OK but reassembled it doesn't work quite right. Is there some special position that the spring cover has to be in to allow it to shift properly? Though I haven't reassembled the rear derailleur on it, pulling the wire seems to cause it to skip over several gears.

On 9/19/2021 9:52 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
> Andrew, maybe you can help with this. I was changing the new style Centaur 10 speed levers from one bike to another and the right lever wouldn't work properly. I unscrewed that cap that covers the spring and discovered that s strand of the shift wire had broken and caught up in the mechanism. I cleared that out and is appeared to be OK but reassembled it doesn't work quite right. Is there some special position that the spring cover has to be in to allow it to shift properly? Though I haven't reassembled the rear derailleur on it, pulling the wire seems to cause it to skip over several gears.
>

#1 problem is the return lever ( thumb lever) sticking. That
will lock up the mechanism, sometimes randomly.

Check that the rubber lever cover is in place (tabs in the
lever slots) and not impeding it. Then flip your bike over
and look at the pivot and spring for the thumb lever. See
rust? Oil it and work it a bit.

There could be other troubles such as more gear wire swarf
but that's the most likely cause. Care to expound on
"doesn't work properly" ?

--
Andrew Muzi
<www.yellowjersey.org/>
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Monday, September 20, 2021 at 5:36:06 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
> On 9/19/2021 9:52 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
> > Andrew, maybe you can help with this. I was changing the new style Centaur 10 speed levers from one bike to another and the right lever wouldn't work properly. I unscrewed that cap that covers the spring and discovered that s strand of the shift wire had broken and caught up in the mechanism. I cleared that out and is appeared to be OK but reassembled it doesn't work quite right. Is there some special position that the spring cover has to be in to allow it to shift properly? Though I haven't reassembled the rear derailleur on it, pulling the wire seems to cause it to skip over several gears.
> >
> #1 problem is the return lever ( thumb lever) sticking. That
> will lock up the mechanism, sometimes randomly.
>
> Check that the rubber lever cover is in place (tabs in the
> lever slots) and not impeding it. Then flip your bike over
> and look at the pivot and spring for the thumb lever. See
> rust? Oil it and work it a bit.
>
> There could be other troubles such as more gear wire swarf
> but that's the most likely cause. Care to expound on
> "doesn't work properly" ?

The problem may be non-existent but what it feels like when I put pressure on the cable is that is appears to be jumping down through the gears rather than moving just one at a time. I really didn't look at the back of the spring cover since I assume it just to be a cover. Also, since there was that strand of lose cable in there perhaps there was more and I might have to disassemble it completely. The lever is essentially brand new used only half a dozen times.

What I have learned is to NOT use the outside exit for the shift cable since it is much too sharp a bend. Always use the inside exit which has a mild bend and mount the cables under the handlebars most of which have a cup to hold both shift and brake cables in the same spot. This works very well. I can't even feel the cables even on the 1" aluminum bars that have a single or double slot only one of which I use. But I also use Campy cables which are smaller in diameter than the older cables.

On Monday, September 20, 2021 at 10:12:51 AM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
> On Monday, September 20, 2021 at 5:36:06 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
> > On 9/19/2021 9:52 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
> > > Andrew, maybe you can help with this. I was changing the new style Centaur 10 speed levers from one bike to another and the right lever wouldn't work properly. I unscrewed that cap that covers the spring and discovered that s strand of the shift wire had broken and caught up in the mechanism. I cleared that out and is appeared to be OK but reassembled it doesn't work quite right. Is there some special position that the spring cover has to be in to allow it to shift properly? Though I haven't reassembled the rear derailleur on it, pulling the wire seems to cause it to skip over several gears.
> > >
> > #1 problem is the return lever ( thumb lever) sticking. That
> > will lock up the mechanism, sometimes randomly.
> >
> > Check that the rubber lever cover is in place (tabs in the
> > lever slots) and not impeding it. Then flip your bike over
> > and look at the pivot and spring for the thumb lever. See
> > rust? Oil it and work it a bit.
> >
> > There could be other troubles such as more gear wire swarf
> > but that's the most likely cause. Care to expound on
> > "doesn't work properly" ?
> The problem may be non-existent but what it feels like when I put pressure on the cable is that is appears to be jumping down through the gears rather than moving just one at a time. I really didn't look at the back of the spring cover since I assume it just to be a cover. Also, since there was that strand of lose cable in there perhaps there was more and I might have to disassemble it completely. The lever is essentially brand new used only half a dozen times.
>
> What I have learned is to NOT use the outside exit for the shift cable since it is much too sharp a bend. Always use the inside exit which has a mild bend and mount the cables under the handlebars most of which have a cup to hold both shift and brake cables in the same spot. This works very well. I can't even feel the cables even on the 1" aluminum bars that have a single or double slot only one of which I use. But I also use Campy cables which are smaller in diameter than the older cables.
Now this has to be the weirdest "fix" that I've done yet.

Because I had the idea that there must be too much spring tension in the lever causing the jumping shifts I removed the spring cover and spring inside the right lever. I then installed the spring back in carefully with minimum spring tension. With my eyes this required me to go out into bright sunlight so that I could see the tiny hole into which the outside of the spring is inserted. And then you had to manually rotate the spring inner lock until it dropped into the spring catch on the ratchet axle. Then I carefully replaced the spring cover since it you weren't careful replacing it, it sounded as if you could "wind up" the spring pressure which was undoubtedly what was occurring.

Reassembling it onto the bar, it worked well with enough the rear derailleur spring tension pulling the gears down one at a time and just enough spring tension in the lever to shift the smaller cogs.

The chain was jumping in the same spot every revolution in the 11 so I pulled off the rear wheel to discover that instead of a 11 tooth lock ring it had a 12 tooth lock ring. Putting on the proper lock ring stopped that jumping though it didn't see to interfere with shifting - it just made that noise. All of this then showed a problem with the front derailleur which I will work on after I returned from today's ride. The Centaur left (front derailleur) lever really sucks. It has supposedly three positions but it goes from 3 (big ring) to 1 and you have to shift up one position. On the newer Centaur 10 speed levers this shifted 3-2-1 1-2-3 So I'll have to look into this. I wonder if this is a spring tension problem too. I never touched that lever's innards.

On Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at 8:27:31 AM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
> On Monday, September 20, 2021 at 10:12:51 AM UTC-7, Tom Kunich wrote:
> > On Monday, September 20, 2021 at 5:36:06 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
> > > On 9/19/2021 9:52 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
> > > > Andrew, maybe you can help with this. I was changing the new style Centaur 10 speed levers from one bike to another and the right lever wouldn't work properly. I unscrewed that cap that covers the spring and discovered that s strand of the shift wire had broken and caught up in the mechanism.. I cleared that out and is appeared to be OK but reassembled it doesn't work quite right. Is there some special position that the spring cover has to be in to allow it to shift properly? Though I haven't reassembled the rear derailleur on it, pulling the wire seems to cause it to skip over several gears.
> > > >
> > > #1 problem is the return lever ( thumb lever) sticking. That
> > > will lock up the mechanism, sometimes randomly.
> > >
> > > Check that the rubber lever cover is in place (tabs in the
> > > lever slots) and not impeding it. Then flip your bike over
> > > and look at the pivot and spring for the thumb lever. See
> > > rust? Oil it and work it a bit.
> > >
> > > There could be other troubles such as more gear wire swarf
> > > but that's the most likely cause. Care to expound on
> > > "doesn't work properly" ?
> > The problem may be non-existent but what it feels like when I put pressure on the cable is that is appears to be jumping down through the gears rather than moving just one at a time. I really didn't look at the back of the spring cover since I assume it just to be a cover. Also, since there was that strand of lose cable in there perhaps there was more and I might have to disassemble it completely. The lever is essentially brand new used only half a dozen times.
> >
> > What I have learned is to NOT use the outside exit for the shift cable since it is much too sharp a bend. Always use the inside exit which has a mild bend and mount the cables under the handlebars most of which have a cup to hold both shift and brake cables in the same spot. This works very well.. I can't even feel the cables even on the 1" aluminum bars that have a single or double slot only one of which I use. But I also use Campy cables which are smaller in diameter than the older cables.
> Now this has to be the weirdest "fix" that I've done yet.
>
> Because I had the idea that there must be too much spring tension in the lever causing the jumping shifts I removed the spring cover and spring inside the right lever. I then installed the spring back in carefully with minimum spring tension. With my eyes this required me to go out into bright sunlight so that I could see the tiny hole into which the outside of the spring is inserted. And then you had to manually rotate the spring inner lock until it dropped into the spring catch on the ratchet axle. Then I carefully replaced the spring cover since it you weren't careful replacing it, it sounded as if you could "wind up" the spring pressure which was undoubtedly what was occurring.
>
> Reassembling it onto the bar, it worked well with enough the rear derailleur spring tension pulling the gears down one at a time and just enough spring tension in the lever to shift the smaller cogs.
>
> The chain was jumping in the same spot every revolution in the 11 so I pulled off the rear wheel to discover that instead of a 11 tooth lock ring it had a 12 tooth lock ring. Putting on the proper lock ring stopped that jumping though it didn't see to interfere with shifting - it just made that noise. All of this then showed a problem with the front derailleur which I will work on after I returned from today's ride. The Centaur left (front derailleur) lever really sucks. It has supposedly three positions but it goes from 3 (big ring) to 1 and you have to shift up one position. On the newer Centaur 10 speed levers this shifted 3-2-1 1-2-3 So I'll have to look into this. I wonder if this is a spring tension problem too. I never touched that lever's innards.

I left on the ride too late, it was hot and my body ran out of food. I'll work on the front derailleur tomorrow. Moving the clamp on front derailleur is a pain in the ass since the clamp perfectly fits the seat tube and doesn't want to move easily.