Sorry for the silly question but I have just looked at a Centaur equipped roadbike.

On the RH (rear) shifter when changing gear down the cassette from largest cog to smallest, should a shifter flick from one cog to the next or require a shift one way and then back to change ?

On the front it flicks?

Thanks

Richard

I have veloce levers which are very similar…not quite sure I understand the question, but to go down the cassette you just keep pressing the the small ‘mouse-ear’ lever with your thumb, and to change back up the cassette flick inwards with your finger, and it changes a few at a time depending how far you flick.

Is that what you mean? Similar function to mtb just vertical on the bar…

Yeah but on the front the mouse ear I flick once to change but on the rear I have to flick the ear and then pull it back to get a change?

Sounds odd to me, it should just click back, at least my Athena ones do.

It may be an “escape” shifter, depending on the model year, that enables you to shift across multiple cogs in one go.

Sounds like the shifter or cable run is sticking – if you click the “mouse ear” and release, it should pop back the rest position and the gear should shift. I’ve had 5 or 6 different campag shifters over the years and that has always been the case.

If you have to pull it back, something is wrong.

Yeah, the mouse ear is quite a stiff/positive click that rebounds instantly, so something wrong with cable run/routing. They are quite difficult to thread initially, and they have to be in the correct position when threading, otherwise they don’t work. Have done this myself and shifters just don’t work/levers floppy.

As has been said a fault somewhere. I have Centaur on two bikes and use is as described above. Just push mouse ear down or lever inwards.

Thanks all, I suspected the shifter was sticking i will take a look under the hood and investigate.
Thanks
Richard

You may not see much under the hood, but when the gear cable is fed in, the mouse ear i think needs to be clicked out, otherwise it can be fed it but it will never pick up any cable. It should be with lever instructions or online. It’s a bit fiddly too. I did the same thing before and mis-fed the cable.

If you mean to say, when you change down it takes you all the way down to the bottom gear instead of just the one, then you need new ‘G-clips’. You can get them from Sigma sport, they’re a PITA to fit, but it’ll sort it. Or you can deal with the real issue and upgrade to Shimano or a more expensive Campagnolo groupset.

Ollie, thanks.
Had the bike on workstand, cleaned up cables and played with tension and all is well again, weird.
Thanks for the advice all
Richard

Hi there

Normally this fault is caused by the thumb lever (lever 3 as we generally term it) snagging on the lever hood, or lever 2 (the one behind the brake lever) snagging on the lever hood – in the first case, the spring that returns lever 3 to the “normal” position isn’t strong enough to overcome the hood catching the lever, in the second case, as the two levers are responsible for driving a central spindle (which carries the shift ratchet) in opposite directions, if lever 2 doesn’t release off the shift drive ring, sometimes the system will free up by “wiggling” lever 3 up and down but this can also break things – so we don’t advise it.

Some pattern shifter rubbers are notorious for causing the jamming problem – as the fit isn’t quite “right” and some are a bit slack & sloppy on the lever body.

Older Campag hoods can become slack if the levers are lubed with spray lube – not required, don’t do it, can make a lever problem worse in some versions, regardless of damage to hood!

@Ollie51, it’s often times not that simple – in cases of doubt, especially on new levers, or levers up to 3 years old, best to send the lever to one of the four UK SCs – otherwise warranty may be void. In older levers we can usually return them to “as new” function, which can and usually is a case of more than just the index springs.

@faustus, the lever just needs to be in top gear, as per the fitting instructions available online & sent with the levers …

HTH
Graeme
Campagnolo Main Service Centre UK

Graeme
Thanks for the advice will take another look.
Richard

it’s often times not that simple – in cases of doubt, especially on new levers, or levers up to 3 years old, best to send the lever to one of the four UK SCs – otherwise warranty may be void.

Graeme
Campagnolo Main Service Centre UK

Part of the benefits of Campagnolo components for me is that most parts are replaceable, it kind of defeats the object if I can’t do it myself!

Graeme, are you guys a separate entity to Chicken or part of their set up?