Shifter is a 9 speed SRAM X7, maybe 4-5 years old. Riding along today, tried to change down and the lever had no resistance and didn’t change. Instead it went all the way past the upshift lever, in fact it can rotate fully. At first I thought the cable had snapped, but no, it still had tension. Oddly I can still shift up, using the other lever, but I can’t change down again. The downshift lever isn’t spinning freely, but it can do at least 1.5 full revolutions without anything happening.

I understand that once disassembled, these can be a nightmare to reassemble, so I haven’t opened it up yet. Anyone any ideas what the fault might be, and if it is fixable or will I need a replacement shifter?

In my experience you’ll have more luck herding cats than reassembling that. Save yourself the time, order a new one and crack open a beer.

Sram shifters are enormously simple inside (which is why they break).

Despite this, it is nigh on impossible to get them to work again. Sorry.

If it’s like my X9s then make sure the hex bolt (4 or 5mm?) in the bottom of the shifter is done up. If it just spins then hold the bit of metal in the centre of the top of the shifter pod while tightening the hex bolt.

Good call, Bails! 🙂 (almost… 😉 ) I’ve got some X-9s on another bike and the X7s are slightly different in that the top of the shifter pod is a one piece plastic affair. Tightening the hex bolt a little has meant that I can actually change down now, but I can’t tighten the bolt beyond a certain level – it just spins. Also, although I can change down, the lever is clipping the upshift lever, so it really looks like something has gone inside and its not pivoting in the correct plane. But at least I can use it until replacement which I’ll order later arrives. Then I might take it apart to understand what failed