[Chipperman]

So after six months of being buried in snow, the weather finally cooperated. Enough snow melted over the past few days and it was warm enough today to take a ride. I got my brand new Hobgoblin XO out and went to the park. Imagine my dismay when I got on the bike and began to ride across the parking lot to the trail. I went to shift the front and there was a loud POP. The lever now has no resistance, but will spring back after releasing it. Obviously nothing happens to the derailleur itself when the lever is pressed. I'm hoping this is just a cable letting go and not anything actually broken. Should I open it up and look or just wait to talk with the Airborne people tomorrow?
Thanks

 

[jhazard]

Bummer! Especially after waiting sooo long to get out on it. It sounds like your cable either broke (unlikely) or the bolt that holds the tension at the front derailleur slipped, letting all the cable tension go. I'd check there. If that's the case, re-attach it (check on youtube for tutorials) or give Airborne a call on Monday and I'm sure they'll help you sort it out.

Good luck!

 

[Chipperman]

Thanks,
I was hoping it would just be a slipped cable. I'll check it out.

 

[Chipperman]

OK, I opened it up. The cable appears to be attached normally.


When I press the lever down, nothing happens internally

It seems that the connection between the lever and the internals is broken. : (

 

[h8pavmt]

If I'm not mistaken, you need to check the bolt that holds the cable to the front derailleur, down by the chainrings. The spring inside the lever returns the lever to the correct position after each shift, but the derailleur spring is what provides the tension on the cable. Look to see if the cable is loose or detached where it connects to the derailleur and go from there.

 

[Chipperman]

Thanks.
I spoke with Eric at airborne this AM. He said I would need to take it to the LBS to have it looked at and they would deal with SRAM re warranty work. I dropped it off today. The cable was fine, the problem is inside the shifter. Hopefully SRAM will send a new one out quickly and I'll be out a relatively small fee from the LBS.

 

[Chipperman]

Update-- Picked the bike up yesterday PM from the LBS. They replaced the shifter under warranty. They only charged me $20, which I think was a very reasonable price. Especially considering they didn't sell me the bike and had to deal with SRAM regarding the warranty. I had dropped it off Monday PM and picked it up Saturday PM. A five day turn around, not bad at all.

Unfortunately the person who actually did the repair was not there when I picked up the bike, so I could not get any details about what actually was broken inside.
Hopefully I will have no further issue. I'm hoping to get out to ride again tomorrow.
Cheers