|   Unable to shift in three smallest gears - help! | fû
Oct 15, 2001 4:31 AM | | Hi -
One crash-free ride after a tuneup at the LBS, I'm having problems shifting into the three lowest cogs in back. As in, I can't. I did remove my rear wheel after the ride, but don't remember doing anything funky. When I'm in the lowest shifter setting, I'm only in the forth cog (is this the right word?), and when I shift to the biggest cog, I still have some shifter positions left but resistance prevents me from going any higher. Zinn's suggested that a bent derailleur hanger could cause problems like this, but everything appears aligned, unless that's something you can't detect by eye. I screwed around with the top limit screw, not really knowing what I'm doing, but all that caused was sloppy shifts. Any ideas? Many thanks.
a Jim |
| things to check | club
Oct 15, 2001 5:09 AM | | can't get the lowest cogs, or the smallest cogs? Your header says one thing, your post says the oppsite? make sure all the cable end ferrules are fully seated in the frame stops and in the shifter end. is the cable kinked inside the casing anywhere? a shop can check the hanger alignment with a special tool that detects whether it's bent way better than your eyeballs can; but if it was bent I think shifting on all cogs would suffer. the hi limit screw wouldn't affect shifting on any cogs other than the smallest one unless its screwed so far in it prevents shifting to 3 cogs -- not even sure the screw is long enough to do that. |
| three smallest | fû
Oct 15, 2001 5:35 AM | | Whoops, I meant the three smallest cogs / highest gears?, the ones closest to the outside of the bike. I'll get that straight one of these days, eh.
Yeah, cables do sound like the culprit if all else is fine, I'll give them a once over when I get home. Thanks! |
| cable is popped out of a frame stop | scrappy-doo
Oct 15, 2001 5:33 AM | | check to make sure your cables and end ferrules are all seated in the frame stops and shifter/derail openings. 3 gears off is the classic symtom of a popped-out cable.
DONT touch any of your screws on the derailleur. DONT try to tune in the deraileur - 3 gears off is way too much to be "out of tune" its obviously a cable housing popped out. |
| too late! | fû
Oct 15, 2001 5:50 AM | | Too late on the not touching the limit screw thing. I think I have it back to the original setting though, and if not, well, I guess I have to learn how to adjust that at some point.
Is it difficult to reseat the cable, or should i let the LBS take care of it?
Thanks! |
| sheldonbrown.com | Keiko
Oct 15, 2001 6:46 AM | | try the website www,sheldonbrown.com for info on tuning the rear der. it is not difficult to reseat the cable. Start by shifting to the highest gear (given you dont have rappid rise system) and then check if your cable is in all framstops. you should be able to set it back whithout even loosen up a single skrew. |
| How to reseat cable | WaveDude
Oct 15, 2001 11:55 AM | | Shift into the biggest rear cog you can. Then, without pedaling, shift 3 or 4 times "as if" you were changing to the smaller cogs. The chain will stay hooked to the big cog, the derailer will move as if it's trying to shift. What happens is you relieve the pressure on the cable housing so you can slide it in or out of the cable stops. This works great for lubing you cables too. Don't shift more than the 3 or 4 positions w/o taking up the slack on the housing. You want to avoid getting the slack end of the inner-wire jammed up inside the shifter itself (I've heard, but not actually seen, this happen to a some people where it messed up the shifter). |
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