My commuter bike runs an alfine 8 hub with flat bars. Since there’s no commuting any more I decided I would switch to drop bars with the (used) Versa VRS-8 Brifter that came with it. I’d filed it away and could remember where it was so uncovered it last week and tried to install this morning…

All the info I can find online seems to be about installing the cable – that but isn’t where my problem is. The mechanism just doesn’t seem to do anything – no matter how far I push the up lever there is no sound, the cable doesn’t move and the little I can see of the internals doesn’t shift. The down lever moves but again no click and it doesn’t seem to actuate anything. There is some rust inside hard to see how bad. Have flooded with plus gas – but am I right in thinking:

1. The positive noise/click should happen at the level end?
2. Actuating the levers should move the cable ever without the hub attached (I do have it attached but it makes not difference)
3. Anyone got a VRS-8 or equivalent drop bar shifter/brake they want to get rid of?

Oh, or is it feasible to strip and service these?

The alfine is kinda serviceable – you basically wash/dunk it in ATF. Some replacement parts were available from sjs cycles.

The alfine hub needs the cable to move (without a cable attached, the cable stop rotates around the hub). So if there is no movement at the shifter end it sounds like that needs some TLC. I know nothing about the brifters.

The alfine is kinda serviceable – you basically wash/dunk it in ATF. Some replacement parts were available from sjs cycles.

Ah yeah, sorry I meant are the VERSA levers serviceable. It looks like if I had a suitable screwdriver I could take it apart but I don’t want to try that and have bits fly everywhere if this could be something silly… The hub itself was working fine on the standard flat bar shifter so I’m not planning to service it.

Ok I’ve braved stripping the lever down – for anyone searching for this in the future if you remove the two Cross head screws on the plastic cover that says insert cable on it you can access a lot of the internals. A lot of dried grease and crud in there and some rusty bits – so a clean and a light oil and it’s now moving through all 8 gears in both directions. A damn site better than £150 for a new lever!

Happy days!