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Replacing shifters on a mountain bike.

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  • Replacing shifters on a mountain bike.

    It's been a while that my mountain bike shifters have been a bit tricky to get the chain onto the bigger gears. I would have to flip it a few times to get it to catch before it would shift. Going to smaller gears hasn't been a problem.

    I've just lived with it until that bike had a flat and I had to switch to my older Specialized Hard Rock, which had a new set of shifters installed a couple of years ago. That one shifts precisely every time, up or down.

    So I decided to give in and replace the shifters to fix the issue. It currently has Shimano Deore XT shifter/brake units. I decided to go visit the local bike shops and see how much it was going to cost me. I would install them myself. The first place I visited had some Shimano shifters for $65, but I would have to buy separate brake levers for $25. The second bike shop (which I had never visited before) said that they could order something for about $40 that would work.

    Since I'm a member at REI, I decided to check there too. After the tech looked at the bike for a couple of minutes, he informed me that they could service the shifters - clean and lubricate - for $13 each. That's all I really need done, so I signed up and will drop the bike off there in a couple of days to have it done.

    So now I'm trying to figure out why the other bike shops couldn't have offered to do something similar. I think I'll be sticking with REI as my go-to bike shop from here on.

  • #2
    How did you ask the question? Did you just ask for the price of new shifters? The bike shops probably figured you knew what you wanted and didn't want to argue about wants vs needs. If you become a regular visitor of a bike shop, the mechanics get to know you and know whether to make suggestions or just go with what you say you want.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by mtnbiker View Post
      How did you ask the question? Did you just ask for the price of new shifters? The bike shops probably figured you knew what you wanted and didn't want to argue about wants vs needs. If you become a regular visitor of a bike shop, the mechanics get to know you and know whether to make suggestions or just go with what you say you want.
      This is a very good point. WHat you ask for makes a big difference and finding a shop you like and sticking with them over time can be a very useful thing.
      PLesa excuse the tpyos.

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      • #4
        I said basically the same thing at all three shops. I'm pretty sure that I explained that they didn't want to shift in the one direction anymore.

        I don't buy very much bicycle stuff, so I'm not likely to become enough of a regular visitor for them to know me. I don't even get that way at the motorcycle shops, which I spend more time at. Once I get the shifters fixed, I'll likely have no reason to visit a bike shop for a year or two. I visited the first one I mentioned six months ago to get a headlight and tail light. I bought a couple of new tires from REI recently. The next thing I'll likely need for a bicycle will be brake pads but that is a long way off.

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