2012 Campy Centaur Shifter malfunction

[wasfast]

I have a pair of 2012 Centaur Shifters, purchased new in Oct 12. Mileage is at most 2000 as I rode my TT bike exclusively the last 6 months.

Noticed on Thursday's ride that downshifting (thumb button) the chain would jump a couple cogs. This was especially noticeable on the last few small cogs.

Did some checking last night on the stand at home and the issue has gotten even worse. It will now go from 4-5 cogs in directly to the small cog.

Took the shifter off and did some bench testing. With no derailleur spring pull, it works correctly in hand. However, back on the bike, same thing.

Is the spring for the thumb button bad perhaps? No rebuilding these either like the older 10s.

[donevwil]

Same experience here with 2012 Centaur black/red levers. 9 months on mine. For me it was an excuse to go with a set of '10 Ultrashift levers.

Supposedly one can warranty them, but you need to find an authorized dealer. Looking forward to info on this as well, perhaps Old Potato.

[nm87710]

Common with PT R shifters. They are like Italian cars. When they fail they fail quickly and you should always keep a spare around.

I've gone through a lot of R PT shifters with 4-5K miles/3-4months the avg. life expectancy. YMMV. I would not race on a failed shifter but wouldn't think twice about doing any other ride. Campy will warranty it but it's a hassle since you have to go through a LBS who will charge some absurd amount to remove/replace the warranty item and you are without use for weeks. You can also buy the replacement part(basically the whole right lever) and do the repair yourself but it's $65+. I just treat them as disposable and buy new Veloce sets(no diff. from Centaur) for $90 from the UK. Sell the old stuff for parts and it's the most cost effective solution. Plus you get a whole new set (R/L shifters, hoods and cableset).

FYI. Over the last 10 years I've worn out just about every R shifter from every brand with non ever lasting longer than one year(15-18K miles). I must be pretty shifty...

Good Luck

[tuscanyswe]

You must also have had some very bad luck or many including me have been very lucky. I have similar miles n only in down town traffic, so lots of shifting / mile. Not had a single campy shifter fail for lots of years actually. Knock on wood.

[nm87710]

Not had a single campy shifter fail for lots of years actually.

How many miles on PT shifters??

[tuscanyswe]

Not many at all. I cant make the switch to 11 (tho i tried briefly but dident like shape nor shifting) so im sticking to record 10 ultras.

[ultraman6970]

Always you can buy the body with all the internals, swap the brake lever and the clamp like for 100 and something. Campagnolo used to have them as a spare parts, the whole body assembly. Better than go new IMO, if you can't warranty them.

As for campy warranty the only guy i have dealed with is one in NC or SC (cant remember) cowles or something like that. You have to send them prove of purchasing and you should be ok, send the part and wait for the best. They will check it, call campy... campy sure willl send the lever assembly and they will send you the stuff back. I got a flat bar brifter gone wrong after 2 days... had to wait like a month but I got a new lever.

This guys...

THE HAWLEY COMPANY, INC.
1181 South Lake Drive
SC 29073-7744 Lexington
United States

http://www.hawleyservicecenter.com/


Return authorization form...

http://www.hawleyservicecenter.com/ra.aspx

[oldpotatoe]

I have a pair of 2012 Centaur Shifters, purchased new in Oct 12. Mileage is at most 2000 as I rode my TT bike exclusively the last 6 months.

Noticed on Thursday's ride that downshifting (thumb button) the chain would jump a couple cogs. This was especially noticeable on the last few small cogs.

Did some checking last night on the stand at home and the issue has gotten even worse. It will now go from 4-5 cogs in directly to the small cog.

Took the shifter off and did some bench testing. With no derailleur spring pull, it works correctly in hand. However, back on the bike, same thing.

Is the spring for the thumb button bad perhaps? No rebuilding these either like the older 10s.

Common problem for 2011 and later, Athena and below, 'powershift' shifters. The plastic guts get worn and this happens. 3 year warranty, have a LBS send to Campagnolo, NA. No real fix.

[oldpotatoe]

Common with PT R shifters. They are like Italian cars. When they fail they fail quickly and you should always keep a spare around.

I've gone through a lot of R PT shifters with 4-5K miles/3-4months the avg. life expectancy. YMMV. I would not race on a failed shifter but wouldn't think twice about doing any other ride. Campy will warranty it but it's a hassle since you have to go through a LBS who will charge some absurd amount to remove/replace the warranty item and you are without use for weeks. You can also buy the replacement part(basically the whole right lever) and do the repair yourself but it's $65+. I just treat them as disposable and buy new Veloce sets(no diff. from Centaur) for $90 from the UK. Sell the old stuff for parts and it's the most cost effective solution. Plus you get a whole new set (R/L shifters, hoods and cableset).

FYI. Over the last 10 years I've worn out just about every R shifter from every brand with non ever lasting longer than one year(15-18K miles). I must be pretty shifty...

Good Luck

Yep, how dare that LBS charge for their time, absurd!!!

Hopefully the lever either came on a complete bike or from an authorized distributor. Or the OP may find there is no warranty.

Or just take the lever off, take to any LBS, have them call Dan Large at Campagnolo, NA, get an RA number and send in.

Yes, replacement RH lever assemblies are not expensive.

[wasfast]

Thanks to all that responded. I expected I was SOL other than getting a warranty replacement. However, if this will happen again in less than an year, not interested. Quite a contrast to the earlier 10spd shifters. I had one set that had 25K miles on it before needing to be rebuilt. Sigh.........

I've got 10spd on 3 bikes and plenty of cassettes so don't want to switch to 11spd. I really like the newer shaped hoods. I really miss the Ultrashift option of multiple cog shifts. Same for the left hand trim positions but I digress.

For now, I'm getting a 2009-10 Centaur Ultrashift right hand lever. I ride plenty and can't have my only road bike down for a week or more.

Aren't the internals the same (Power Shift VS Ultrashift) as far as the plastic is concerned? Seems only the metal pieces would be different to make it Ultrashift.

[ultraman6970]

Power shift and ultrashift are completely different mechanisms, wish the thing was just a piece to swap but so far I've read the whole thing is different to the point that even internally the plastic case is different and you can't not move an ultrashift mechanism to a powershift lever. Never heard of anybody doing transplants from ultra to power either.

By the way if you got or going to get another levers, just open yours and find out what is wrong with it, the new ultrashift is piece of cake to put back together compared with the old one. Maybe is something small that can be fixed.

[ultraman6970]

"Campy will warranty it but it's a hassle since you have to go through a LBS who will charge some absurd amount to remove/replace the warranty item and you are without use for weeks"...

My experience ok? When I warrantied the flat bar shifters the ebay store did not want to help me, I asked them to please fill up the warranty form in the web and the asshole did not want to do it and sent me to hell, so I called again to the place and told them what happened and if they were able to help me. Explained that the store was just washing their hands, even send them the emails they send me back to back up that the item was bought in a store. About the time that will take to get your stuff back I do agree... it sucks, campagnolo response is not the fastest one but after like 3 weeks I got a new lever, if you need something next week pretty much you are screwed.

The store that ran the warranty thing told me that the only thing a lbs needs to do is just fill up the service form in the web (5 minutes?) and then even you can send the item yourself for them to look, the lbs doesnt even need to open the lever for example, to check what is wrong with it because they will have to open it anyways to check out if they were able to repair it. So IMO if a lbs wants to charge to check something is just BS but as potato said, is not weird they want to charge for their time (dont ever come back to that place). There are like 5 places around the country to run warranty issues, so no idea how other places run them but the guys at the east coast behaved 10 stars with me.

[oldpotatoe]

"Campy will warranty it but it's a hassle since you have to go through a LBS who will charge some absurd amount to remove/replace the warranty item and you are without use for weeks"...

My experience ok? When I warrantied the flat bar shifters the ebay store did not want to help me, I asked them to please fill up the warranty form in the web and the asshole did not want to do it and sent me to hell, so I called again to the place and told them what happened and if they were able to help me. Explained that the store was just washing their hands, even send them the emails they send me back to back up that the item was bought in a store. About the time that will take to get your stuff back I do agree... it sucks, campagnolo response is not the fastest one but after like 3 weeks I got a new lever, if you need something next week pretty much you are screwed.

The store that ran the warranty thing told me that the only thing a lbs needs to do is just fill up the service form in the web (5 minutes?) and then even you can send the item yourself for them to look, the lbs doesnt even need to open the lever for example, to check what is wrong with it because they will have to open it anyways to check out if they were able to repair it. So IMO if a lbs wants to charge to check something is just BS but as potato said, is not weird they want :help::banana:to charge for their time (dont ever come back to that place). There are like 5 places around the country to run warranty issues, so no idea how other places run them but the guys at the east coast behaved 10 stars with me.

Not sure why the idea that you bring bike into a LBS, they eval, do all the warranty legwork, get a new lever, put it back on.....and the bike hop charges some labor, and it's a 'don't ever go back to that place'.....???

All my warranty stuff for Campagnolo was with Campagnolo, NA., but pretty sure the others, Hawley, QBP, Ochsner....ya need to go thru a bike shop...and wht's wrong with that? I think after you got something via a eBay store, I think you are lucky to get a warranty at all.

Btw, shimano, SRAM warranty gig is no different.

[wasfast]

Power shift and ultrashift are completely different mechanisms, wish the thing was just a piece to swap but so far I've read the whole thing is different to the point that even internally the plastic case is different and you can't not move an ultrashift mechanism to a powershift lever. Never heard of anybody doing transplants from ultra to power either.

By the way if you got or going to get another levers, just open yours and find out what is wrong with it, the new ultrashift is piece of cake to put back together compared with the old one. Maybe is something small that can be fixed.

The body "externally" is the same for newer style levers. I bought the replacement section that you put your brake lever and hood on similar to this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Campagnolo-Centaur-Ultra-Shift-Lever-Body-Assembly-Shifter-Parts-/350704365249?pt=US_Shifters&hash=item51a79beec1

I do intend to disect the assembly to see what failed. I may well have to swap the "new" style for the "old" style on my other bike if the life is truly less than a year for a shifter....

[Ralph]

I have some 2011 P/T shifters that have about 10,000 miles on them that are working fine. They get sweat on them almost every day. However.....I do spray them down internally with WD 40 occasionally, and some spray grease a couple times. Also realize their is not much to lube in there. Never been crashed or dropped in mud.

Don't understand why you would expect less than a normal life from them.

[wasfast]

Received the Ultrashift body (no brake lever or hood). The mold for the main part is nearly the same but they've inserted the section underneath the thumb lever. The thumb knob is also a different shape than the later models.

No issues with installation. The sound of the shifting is different too, not important.

I took apart the malfunctioning one and believe I found the issue. THere are 2 different ratchet pieces. One is metal and looks new. The other plastic, the one the thumb ratchet works against. The teeth were visibly worn down.

The Ultrashift version should last me a while but no way I want any more Power Shift models. 11 spd may be in my future when the time comes. With all the wheels I have, that means A LOT of cassettes and the pricing doesn't seem anywhere close to 10 spd Veloce.

[donevwil]

OK, I'm convinced, fix it right, fix it once. Ultra body on order. Having my shifter warrantied would yield just another Powershift shifter. Too cheap to just buy the Ultra body and be done with it. Plus my wife would prefer not to be downgraded from Ultrashift back to Powershift.

[wasfast]

I also hate the trim positions on the left lever. I can feel a Ultrashift LH body in my future. Besides, the thumb buttons don't match:banana: