I found some used silver shifters along my route, I believe in Bike Newport. A pretty sweet Bike shop on the Oregon coast and pretty much a “Must Visit” spot for touring cyclists on the Coast. Of course the fellers were sweet and after mussing around, I found that they had a pair of used Silver Shifters. I got a good deal on them and since the plastic bits on my Shimano Shifters were disintegrating, I figured it might be a viable replacement.
Changing the shifters was a piece of cake and I really enjoyed the ratchet mechanism and ‘feel’ of the shifters. I suppose the longer levers were probably the biggest draw, making shifting very gentle. However, after a year or so on the road, there were a few issues and I had hard time finding materials online for disassembly (actually a piece of cake). There was a particularly sticky (pun intended) issue when the cable head got stuck in the housing the the gear cable got frayed. I couldn’t get it out, I replaced them with the disintegrating Shimano shifters, I managed to ride for 3 or so months on them. Eventually, I found a really friendly workshop in Tumbaco, Ecuador, who helped to drill thro the Cable head and made the shifters usable again.
The shifter seemed to be jammed due to rust and since there were no decent disassembly instructions online, I was having a bit of a tough time trying to figure out how to make the shifter unstuck. The only little video on the internals was from Rivendell bike, but it seems like the ratchet mechanism was mounted in reverse (in the video) or probably was a different design and I had a bit of fun figuring out how to put things back together
In reality, its pretty simple design and one has to be careful about 2 really small parts inside. One of them being a really tiny spring “E”, probably easy to replace and the ratchet “F” which would be impossible to find anywhere, so take care while taking things apart and putting them back together.
My major problem was that the mount “C” had gotten stuck to the movable shifter lever “A” and it took me a while and disassembly of my other shifter to figure that it was actually stuck. I had to knock it out with a rubber mallet. After cleaning every single piece with alcohol and lubing them with a thin coating of grease on every contact surface, I assembled them and everything worked like a charm.
In case someone else is in my shoes, I have included some pictures of the disassembled shifters and partial assemblies. Hope it helps.
- Disassembled view. Labeled as per sequence to be stacked.
- Shift Lever “A” With the mount installed. First the metal washer “B” and the mount “C”.
- Add the Plastic Washer “D”. The Spring “E” and ratchet “F” need to be installed next. Notice the direction the ratchet is installed.
- Instal the gear “G”. Notice depending on the lever, install it the correct side up. Easy to do with the Gear having L and R stamped on it. Right side lever has the R facing up. Finally install the cover “H”.
December 9, 2016 at 10:49 pm
Glad I found this site. I just had a Dia Compe ENE shifter fall apart while working on my bike.
December 10, 2016 at 10:02 am
Hope you managed to put things back on again without much trouble!
March 14, 2017 at 3:56 am
hello Nat,
Wow, thank you for the disassembly photos and guide — this has been invaluable for my research on the Dia Compe / Rivendell Silver shifters!
I intend to modify these but have hesitated because I had no idea how the ratcheting mechanism functioned… I do now thanks to your page.
I have got an enquiry though… from examples I’ve seen, the cover `H’ is affixed by the post that interfaces through the small diameter hole in the cover which appears to be peened on.
How did you: (a) remove the cover without bending it out-of-shape, and (b) reinstall / re-secure the cover in place?
Your insight would be greatly appreciated!
Bobert
March 17, 2017 at 6:18 pm
Hola Bob!
The Cover “H” is just a snap fit. It’s just a casing to keep all the innards intact and in my case was snapped without much of a tight fit. If it is stuck on yours, try apply some wd-40 or alcohol to clean up and then pry it open. Of course, try to do it gently and not rip it apart :-p
I believe the grey washers (Rivendell sells UV resistant black ones these days) that you use while mounting the shifters helps to keep this in place.
In My case, the washers are worn out and do not keep the entire shifter setup, securely, in its place. So after a few years of using with broken washer, I had to use some duck tape to keep the item ‘H’ secured to the lever and it all works smoothly now! Hope this helps!!
April 13, 2017 at 10:36 pm
Hi Nat,
Thank you very much for your reply and answer to my enquiry!
Happy travels,
Bobert