broken plastic bit where cable enters gear change trigger

[Snoozeboy]

Hello, sorry for the crap definitions, but I've broken the plastic bit that surrounds a metal part, where the cable for the rear derailer enters the trigger on the handlebars.

Does it matter? It doesn't seem to have any effect, but so far it's only half broken.

 

[R120]

Sounds like the barrel adjuster? If so it’s function is to allow adjustment of the cable to take into account cable stretch over time, and also fine tune shifting performance.

 

[Snoozeboy]

Yes, that's it, the barrel adjuster. It's the plastic surround that's half broken (Shimano SLX trigger shifter). I don't know if the metal inside works without it.

Either way, hopefully it'll hang on until I take it for the free 500km service in a couple of weeks.

 

[Snoozeboy]

Update - in the end I bought a new SLX shifter. when taking the old one off, I found the barrel adjuster works fine without the broken surround, so either I wasted my money or I now have a spare shifter.