Broken Campy Centaur Egro Shifter

[Wallace]

Ok, so in 2009 I buy myself a nice cross/commuter bike, a Ridley Crossbow with the alloy Centaur gruppo. Ride it hard (and maintain it) without any problems for four years. Then last week I'm riding up a steep hill on my commute home, shift onto small chainring, biggest rear sprocket, get to the top of the hill and push down the thumb-tab on the right shifter and... nothing. It goes up and down smoothly without shifting at all. So I bring it to my LBS (a great place, by the way, with truly expert mechanics--nothing I have to say is in anyway a criticism of these guys) who check it out and say yeah, the indexing is stripped/broken, we'll fix it. It turns out that this is practically impossible. First of all, the guy at Campy USA says, when the problem is described to him, "that can't happen." Apparently, Campy Ergo indexing can't strip out. Tell that to my bike. Then it turns out that some pieces are missing (two springs and two small ball bearings) that a) can't have just fallen out of the lever (did I mention that the shifters worked great for four years of heavy use and broke under completely ordinary, light usage) and b) you can't just buy replacement parts for 2009 Centaur: you have to buy the whole shifter body, if you can get one--which is by no means certain. What happened to the whole "Shimano wears out, Campy wears in" thing?

Anyway, I'm just curious if this "That can't happen" thing the guy from Campy USA swears to is something anyone here has encountered before--any experiences with Ergo shifters stripping out, causes and solutions? I've ridden nothing but Campy since 1987 (yes: I'm old, and I'm slow. And I'm self-righteous too. So what?) without any problems, and this is a new kind of frustration for me. The whole "it's broken so buy another newer one" mentality is exactly what I don't expect from Campagnolo. The next thing you know everyone'll be saying that these new-fangled "clip less pedals" are actually a good idea, despite what Sean Kelly says about them.

 

[ElChingon]

Well if you want someone to do it right:

http://branfordbike.com/product/branford-bike-ergo-lever-rebuild-817.htm

If you want to do it yourself you can get any part from Brandford Bike as well. Any Q's e-mail them they will tell you want you need to know, no BS. I get all my Campy parts from them, they never have failed me.

 

[Wallace]

Well if you want someone to do it right:

http://branfordbike.com/product/branford-bike-ergo-lever-rebuild-817.htm

If you want to do it yourself you can get any part from Brandford Bike as well. Any Q's e-mail them they will tell you want you need to know, no BS. I get all my Campy parts from them, they never have failed me.

Thank you! That is absolutely tremendous. I live in Seattle so Brandford Bike is an easy trip for me.

Thanks again,
Wallace

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Ok, so in 2009 I buy myself a nice cross/commuter bike, a Ridley Crossbow with the alloy Centaur gruppo. Ride it hard (and maintain it) without any problems for four years. Then last week I'm riding up a steep hill on my commute home, shift onto small chainring, biggest rear sprocket, get to the top of the hill and push down the thumb-tab on the right shifter and... nothing. It goes up and down smoothly without shifting at all. So I bring it to my LBS (a great place, by the way, with truly expert mechanics--nothing I have to say is in anyway a criticism of these guys) who check it out and say yeah, the indexing is stripped/broken, we'll fix it. It turns out that this is practically impossible. First of all, the guy at Campy USA says, when the problem is described to him, "that can't happen." Apparently, Campy Ergo indexing can't strip out. Tell that to my bike. Then it turns out that some pieces are missing (two springs and two small ball bearings) that a) can't have just fallen out of the lever (did I mention that the shifters worked great for four years of heavy use and broke under completely ordinary, light usage) and b) you can't just buy replacement parts for 2009 Centaur: you have to buy the whole shifter body, if you can get one--which is by no means certain. What happened to the whole "Shimano wears out, Campy wears in" thing?

Anyway, I'm just curious if this "That can't happen" thing the guy from Campy USA swears to is something anyone here has encountered before--any experiences with Ergo shifters stripping out, causes and solutions? I've ridden nothing but Campy since 1987 (yes: I'm old, and I'm slow. And I'm self-righteous too. So what?) without any problems, and this is a new kind of frustration for me. The whole "it's broken so buy another newer one" mentality is exactly what I don't expect from Campagnolo. The next thing you know everyone'll be saying that these new-fangled "clip less pedals" are actually a good idea, despite what Sean Kelly says about them.

The 2 wee bolts in the front and back 'can' loosen and when that happens, the wee ball bearings and springs 'can' fall out.

The ball bearings are the same as the bearings in the sandwich bearings in brake calipers. NOT stripped or broken but I suspect the back bolt came loose.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Well if you want someone to do it right:

http://branfordbike.com/product/branford-bike-ergo-lever-rebuild-817.htm

If you want to do it yourself you can get any part from Brandford Bike as well. Any Q's e-mail them they will tell you want you need to know, no BS. I get all my Campy parts from them, they never have failed me.

Pretty but that's for 2008 and older ERGO. OP has a 2009 one.
Wow, $60 for labor...gotta raise my rates and $ for parts I guess.

 

[purcell]

I was going to suggest if the OP is in the US (which is now confirmed) that he contact Vecchio's in Boulder.

If I am not mistaken the big boss there will be familiar with the problem.

 

[Wallace]

So I spoke to someone at Brandford Bikes and he told me that you can only buy small individual parts for 2008 and older ergo shifters. From 2009 up you have to buy the whole body for $135. So that's what it's going to cost me, plus labor, to fix the shifter. Seeing as how you can find a new pair of alloy Centaur 10 speed shifters for around $190, this is not a happy solution.

 

[ElChingon]

So I spoke to someone at Brandford Bikes and he told me that you can only buy small individual parts for 2008 and older ergo shifters. From 2009 up you have to buy the whole body for $135. So that's what it's going to cost me, plus labor, to fix the shifter. Seeing as how you can find a new pair of alloy Centaur 10 speed shifters for around $190, this is not a happy solution.

That's odd, I know I bought some 2010 parts from them, humm... maybe they had some spares from another build they had?

 

[Wallace]

That's odd, I know I bought some 2010 parts from them, humm... maybe they had some spares from another build they had?

I thought of that and asked if they might have some parts lying around from a previous repair job and the guy said no.

 

[Fiemme]

If BustedKnuckle is correct and all that is lost is the bearings and spring, purchase these and repair it yourself. (pull them out of the left lever to check sizes)
Or the part number for the replacement parts is EC-CE110 according to the 2009 Campagnolo Spare Parts catalogue. Try contacting Campagnolo direct, they maybe able to give you a supplier.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

If BustedKnuckle is correct and all that is lost is the bearings and spring, purchase these and repair it yourself. (pull them out of the left lever to check sizes)
Or the part number for the replacement parts is EC-CE110 according to the 2009 Campagnolo Spare Parts catalogue. Try contacting Campagnolo direct, they maybe able to give you a supplier.

Unfortunately, that part is gone. Assemblies only.