Friction Shifters Maintenance - Disassemble, Clean & Lube 

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One of the missing videos on RU-vid has been released. Nice work RJ, I've been looking for this video - or something similar - for ages.

Excellent! I love working on vintage bicycles and your tutorials are always very helpful. Thank You!

I love vintage bikes. Thanks for your videos R.J! Very helpful.

Moved theese to my brake levers. It required some fabricatoin, but the result is great, best shifters I ever used.

Amazing I picked up a old school alcyon with friction shifters and I had know idea how to fix my lose cables. Thanks for the great video !

Thanks RJ great video, this was very useful to me.

Ahh, I love friction leavers. Never thought of using Superlube (I have a ton of that stuff around) to lube them - I normally use a little bit of white lithium grease (from a tub, not the way too thin spray can version).

very interesting video Thank you!

Thanks for the upload! Can't seem to find any videos on how to change shifter cables on downtube shifters. Assembling the cables should be pretty straight forward, but tightening and adjusting i'm not so sure about!

Thank YOU for the helpful video !

Good tutorial for us that like vintage stuff.

ah friction shifters. reliable, simple and very modular. can be a lil tricky at first but after a few uses you get the hang of it.

RJ the cable snapping’ guy !

Nice Show!

Another tip: Dip the adjuster bolt in BOILED Linseed Oil (BLO) before insertion into the downtube shifter braze on. It'll keep it snug enough not to loosen but won't 'Lock' the thread, allowing for repeated adjustability. Works AWESOME on spoke nipples too keeping them from loosening up. BLO is a real good all round 'thread locker' on bolts and nuts that need to be adjusted often.

Works like the drag on your fishing reel. Yes, I found out the hard way, not too much lube.

I am just finishing mocking "Gevenalle" (read overpriced) shifters with a pair of SunRace (ultra old, ultra cheap) very like this ones... thanks for the video.

RJ, God bless you for all these videos! I'm restoring an old french road bike. Could you please make a video about setting the shifters to the front and gear derailleurs? Thanks!

I have the exact same make of shifter (I believe these came with the VX groupset), good to know I'm not the only one putting grease in friction shifters. These polish extremely nicely, so much so that putting rubber covers on them seem like a crime (I don't think these came with rubber booties. I have a couple shifters and skewers from the 1970s with pristine rubber booties, somehow, and have grown to love the rubber covers).

What added steps would be needed to disassemble, clean/lube, re-assemble a down tube shifter that's indexed. In other words, what would I find for different parts on an indexed shifter. I have a Shimano 105 rear down tube shifter that has the indexed feature and am thinking of taking it apart for cleaning/lubing.

The suntour shifters I had looked like yours, but when I removed them they only had one thin washer and the plastic piece had the curved side pointing outwards. So to other people, beware if you are cleaning up your friction shifters as they seem to have subtle component variations.

Hey RJ, thanks for the videos! I was wondering where you find replacement cables for old shifters like these?

"first thing I'm gonna do here is cut these cables" need to put that on some bike guy merchandise. awesome videos, thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Could you please add the link to the video you have done showing how to install and set up these friction shifters ? I, like a few of your viewers, have been unable to find your video(s) on this topic. Thank You

Couldn't find your video on cableing friction shifters. Could you link it?

I have some silicone grease. Would that be ok to use here?

Hey RJ thanks for making this vid. I’ve a 1977 Raleigh sprite in Toronto. It’s got round flat head gear cables. The wire comes out the side rather than the end of the cylinder cable end. Shifters on the stem. Not standard ones. Any ideas where to buy the cables from? I can’t find any. Help.

Hi there What is the size and the brand of the tires on this bike??

Could you describe how to adjust the derailleurs on a bike with friction shifters? It's hard to adjust using an indexing procedure since you need to be precise with the shifter from one cog to the next

I'm very skeptical of greasing all parts of the shifter. I am pretty sure some of the parts are supposed to keeps some friction. Grease does not help with friction.

Hey, I'm having trouble finding a video about how to actually install these. You mention that you've covered it before, can you point me in the right direction? Thanks! Love your stuff.

Can you show us how to install caliper brake drop bolts for road bike brake which wont fit down to the rim?

Hello! Thanks for your great videos. I have one question, I've bought a 1988 Premiere Peugeot bike, and it's missing many components, amongst them the friction shifters. I'm from argentina, and it is hard to find parts. On my bike they mount directly to the downtube, and I can only find the ones that are already assembled and you fix them to the tube with a clamp. Could I use these ones directly on the threads of the frame?

Hey RJ, Another helpful tutorial, thanks. A mid-1980s, low-miles Fuji step-thru "orphan" came in yesterday, in not-so-great condition, and curious "HI VAL 616" steel mainframe-tubing, which I'd not encountered before. However, it had Suntour friction thumb-lever shifters mounted on a Nitto low-riser bar that cleaned-up nicely, using only hot soapy water. They're designed differently than the down-tube shifters shown in this video, with some internal cams/pawls hidden behind a small plate that's secured with a Phillips-head fastener. I want to refurbish 'em to replace a pair of shifters on a 1985 GT MTB that have plastic outer-housing guides which have failed/fractured, over two and a half decades. The Suntour design us all metal construction, so they appear to be more robust. I'll continue looking for an exploded parts diagram that details these shifters, but thanks for the tip on the transparent "SuperLube" brand of grease. I'll try some of it. Matt Pohlhammer GO2 Bike Program

I’m working on a schwinn with slightly different shifters. Do you have to cut the cables in order to remove and clean the shifters? Will the cables work if I just put everything back together? Or will the cables be too loose or too tight?

Hi RJ- Love your channel and find the content very helpful! I have a few pair of DT/barend shimano shifters where the cable head has galled/frozen in to the recess so it will not budge :- ( Have tried T9 then Liquid Wrench then put in freezer then resoak- no luck. Do you or any viewers have any suggestions so I can try to salvage the shifters? I have now started to grease the heads before inserting the cable and do so periodically to help prevent seizing/galling but am searching for a solution.

I've seen/heard some disagreement as to whether or not you should lubricate DT shifters at all -- lots of people saying you should leave them dry or they'll slip and won't hold the gear. What are your thoughts on this? And if lubing is important, is marine grease not a good lubricant for the plastic parts?

Hello! I have an issue with the shifters on my bike. They don't stay in place. The cable tension keeps dragging the shifters so I'm stuck with using just one gear. When I screw in to get them tighter they seem to hold for a while but it comes to the same behaviour after an hour or two. Have any ideas?

RJ, I read on a forum that you're not supposed to grease friction shifters as it reduces the amount of friction and could cause 'autoshifting' as Sheldon Brown refers to it. The grease that you used, is it the kind of grease that increases friction like what people use on carbon to carbon surfaces? My friction shifters slip all the time especially on higher gears.

Hi RJ, have you ever assembled the old Campagnolo C record shifters; Syncro 7 speed w friction lever? I have them and they are in pieces. It is like a puzzle putting them together. I have been looking on the internet for a schematice, but have not found one. Just so you know, I worked for a bike shop for 10 years, selling and servicing. But I never had the chance to work on one of these.

I'm a bit confused. Why is it that with the shifter lever having a tapered "seat" and the plastic insert having a tapered edge, that these two parts are not fitted together? Why would there be two metal washers between them?

Hey RJ - thanks for your videos. You are a pro. I was wondering if you could make a video showing how to convert from stem shifters to downtube shifters. I've got a vintage bike that I commute with and use as a project and I'd like to do this conversion on it.

Grease which is safe for plastic? I had assumed that plastic bike parts are made to be safe for grease. Are plastic parts in danger of degrading through contact with ordinary grease?

Could you make a video on how to properly shift using friction shifters? Trimming and basics. I grew up on indexed shifting but recently bought a vintage bike w/ down tube shifters. Can't find a video on this anywhere.

I’m working on an 80s Bridgestone 300 mixte frame. It has stem mounted shifters on a quill stem. The shifters are attached to the stem by a small clamp/bracket thing that slips around the stem. I removed the one screw that holds the shifters onto that clamp. But when I went to screw it back in, the screw wouldn’t go in. It won’t even get started. I put the tip of the screw into the screw hole on the clamp and it just spins and spins and nothing goes in. Any ideas what I can do? Thank you!

Can i use bike chain lube?

are you sure you are supposed to grease friction shifters?

What are friction shifter for?

I don't get why you would lube them? They are called friction shifters because you need the friction to make sure the shifter remains in place.

Could you help solve the issue of gear jump to smaller cog when I push hard? I have 9 sp DA downtube shifter and DA rear derailleur. but running a campy 10sp cassette. thanks

sorry but I looked and looked for the video on installing the friction shifter cables. could you pls direct me to the correct video. thanks!

My old bike has those types of shifters but they're on the stem.