Adjusting Gears (help)

[Amnesia180]

Hi All,

After following some great advice on my updating my bike, I have changed the tyres and given it an overhaul (by taking it to a shop). I got a service where he adjusted the brakes and gears. Upon returning home the gears were very stiff and it was sticking between gears 4/5 on the 2nd gear. Plus, the front brakes were rubbing on the wheel. So I took it back, he replaced all of the cables (for no fee) and made the front brakes “straight”, it still looks like it is touching on one side but he assures me it is not as the brakes are now “square”.

So, I got on my bike last night and it won’t change into the 3rd gear on the front, and sticks on the 2nd. The rear gears are worse and won’t go above four on the 1st or 2nd gear… I can’t test the third because it doesn’t go that high!

I have been doing a bit of research on the internet and I felt the cables, they were all slack. The little plastic twists that come off the gear levers (to adjust the gears) snapped, so they were removed (according to the bike shop) when they replaced the cabling. So, I took an alan key to the front and back derailleur to tighten the cable. This hasn’t made any difference and has sort of made it worse (because now the chain rubs).

Have I ruined my bike? I don’t want to take it back to the shop for a THIRD time as I fear I will lose my bike for another whole week and it won’t be any better.
What have I got to lose by trying it myself? If I fail, I will try another shop.

So far, I have just tried to tighten the cable by release the front and back derailleurs and then pushing them so the metal bracket covers the whole chain. I haven’t adjusted anything else.

Any advice would be great. I have tried to watch a couple of youtube videos but they all seem to offer different advice regarding slacking the cable tension/don’t slack the cable tension, which gear to be in etc.

Many thanks!
Amnesia

 

[vorsprung]

Is "3rd gear on the front" the big chainring or the small chainring?

"The rear gears are worse and won’t go above four" same question, is the problem with selecting big or small sprockets?

 

[Amnesia180]

Sorry :-)
On the front, 1 - smallest, 2 - middle, 3 - largest cogs.
On the back - 1 - largest, 7 - smallest.

I can see the front derailleur has been moved UP.... Is it worth me taking the whole thing apart and starting from scratch?

 

[Cyclist33]

Don't know enough techy stuff really to help, but I recently reindexed both front and rear on one of my bikes after watching YouTube videos by bikeradar, very good tutorials. I doubt youve ruined your bike as such, although it sounds like you've got grip shifters and it seems a bit of a shame if the plastic handles have snapped off. Perhaps invest in some trigger shifters and get a different bike shop to fit them up?

 

[mrandmrspoves]

Hi,

My advice....don't ever take your bike back to that shop!

Lets start at the beginning....

Loosen the front and rear cables and ensure that the chain is on the smallest cog at both front and back. Make sure that the gear levers are set so that they are in the slackest position. Now gently pull the gear cables so that there is no slack in them but ensure that they are not pulling the derailleur across at all.

Now check the gears again and see if they are working normally.

If not.....
. If you look on your derailleurs (both front and rear) you will find 2 cross head screws next to each other. Sometimes they are helpfully labelled as H (High) and L (Low) For your front derailleur you will need to unscrew (anti clockwise) the one marked H. If it is not marked have a look at the end of the screws and it will be the one that is touching metal at the end. Unscrew it about one revolution at a time until the chain goes onto the large crank. (If you unscrew it too much the chain will go too far and fall off)

Once you have sorted the front derailleur it's time to move on to the rear derailleur....set the front so that the chain is on the middle crank...
I am not sure from your description which gears you cannot get on the rear derailleur....but if it is the higher gears (small cogs) it may have been because your cable was too tight. If it was the lower gears (big cogs) it may have been the cable was too slack.
If you are happy that the cable is not too slack or too loose. Adjust the screws on the rear derailleur as you did for the front one.
Again you can see which screw does which by looking at the screw tip and seeing which one is touching metal. TAKE CARE if adjusting the screw that allows the derailleur to move towards the wheel (big cogs) because if you loosen it too much it will allow the derailleur to come into contact with the spokes which could cause you to crash!

 

[sidevalve]

More or less all covered above but I'll say it again, get the back wheel off the ground turn the pedals slowly change the gear shifters and WATCH what happens. On a bike all the mechanicals are open to view and when you get it down to the bare bones it's only a bit of wire pulling on a few levers. Don't be afraid of it, unless you actually break something [and your old bike shop seem to be able to do that anyway] the worst you can do is end up with only one or two gears and have to ride / push to another shop. Take your time, think about what you're doing, follow the instructions above and on U tube etc and you really will find it aint as hard as it may seem.

 

[vorsprung]

mr and mrs spoves explanation above is pretty good for a full gear set up

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/categories/derailleur-systems

also has very good info

Going back to your original problem description, the reason the gears won't go to the "bigger" sprockets at the back - the sprockets with more teeth (that give a lower gear for uphill pedalling) - is that there isn't enough tension in the cable. On most road bikes low tension moves the arm to the smaller sprocket (that gives a higher gear for high speeds) and high tension moves it up to the sprocket with more teeth near the wheel

Sometimes this happens because a new cable stretches, or if an old cable is about to break

 

[pplpilot]

There are a load of useful Vids on Youtoob to help, this one sorted me -

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzvfCaIbyQ


oh and I'd avoid that shop in future, beggers belief how these people survive in business. Like others have said dont be afraid to have a go its a bike it isn't a V12 bottom end strip down.

 

[Peteaud]

There are a load of useful Vids on Youtoob to help, this one sorted me -

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzvfCaIbyQ


oh and I'd avoid that shop in future, beggers belief how these people survive in business. Like others have said dont be afraid to have a go its a bike it isn't a V12 bottom end strip down.

Thats about the best one on youtube.

I used it when i swapped the entire rear mech & cassette.

 

[Cyclist33]

Or watch the vids i referred to!

Hi,

My advice....don't ever take your bike back to that shop!

Lets start at the beginning....

Loosen the front and rear cables and ensure that the chain is on the smallest cog at both front and back. Make sure that the gear levers are set so that they are in the slackest position. Now gently pull the gear cables so that there is no slack in them but ensure that they are not pulling the derailleur across at all.

Now check the gears again and see if they are working normally.

If not.....
. If you look on your derailleurs (both front and rear) you will find 2 cross head screws next to each other. Sometimes they are helpfully labelled as H (High) and L (Low) For your front derailleur you will need to unscrew (anti clockwise) the one marked H. If it is not marked have a look at the end of the screws and it will be the one that is touching metal at the end. Unscrew it about one revolution at a time until the chain goes onto the large crank. (If you unscrew it too much the chain will go too far and fall off)

Once you have sorted the front derailleur it's time to move on to the rear derailleur....set the front so that the chain is on the middle crank...
I am not sure from your description which gears you cannot get on the rear derailleur....but if it is the higher gears (small cogs) it may have been because your cable was too tight. If it was the lower gears (big cogs) it may have been the cable was too slack.
If you are happy that the cable is not too slack or too loose. Adjust the screws on the rear derailleur as you did for the front one.
Again you can see which screw does which by looking at the screw tip and seeing which one is touching metal. TAKE CARE if adjusting the screw that allows the derailleur to move towards the wheel (big cogs) because if you loosen it too much it will allow the derailleur to come into contact with the spokes which could cause you to crash!