First time indexing gears....

[Maylian]

So after a few years of riding (yes I know its a long time) I taught myself how to index gears. In all that time I've paid other people to do it.

I must say I'm seriously chuffed with myself and felt a serious sense of accomplishment doing it and that it is surprisingly easy. Don't know why I was so nervous about doing it, only question is how often do you lot find you have to adjust your gears?

 

[jessculter]

I've tinkered with my cannondale fatty already and I've only done about 250 miles on it. I say tinkered but it really is a guessing game for me whether I improve the shifting or not. I've watched countless YouTube videos but ideally I'd go on a course.

I had my old Marin bear valley up on the stand tonight changing the rear inner gear cable. I wasted a good hour of my life on that and I suspect I'll be taking it to a LBS to do it properly. Bloody midges were a pest too.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Same here! I replaced both shifter cables and adjusted the derailleurs last weekend for the 1st time ever, and it is very satisfying to know you no longer depend on others to do it, isn't it? The gear shifting on that bike has been smooth all week. I don't know how much cable stretch the shifter cables have, but it's possible we'll both have to do a follow-up adjustment in a few weeks?

 

[Maz]

So after a few years of riding (yes I know its a long time) I taught myself how to index gears. In all that time I've paid other people to do it.

I must say I'm seriously chuffed with myself and felt a serious sense of accomplishment doing it and that it is surprisingly easy. Don't know why I was so nervous about doing it, only question is how often do you lot find you have to adjust your gears?

This job scares me. I ALWAYS make it worse and then wish I'd never started it in the first place.
If I try to put the chain onto the big chainring, and I press too hard on the shifter, the chain gets thrown off the chainring. I've seen the adjuster screws staring at me, but I always turn them in the wrong direction and I can hear them mocking me!!

 

[Maylian]

This job scares me. I ALWAYS make it worse and then wish I'd never started it in the first place.
If I try to put the chain onto the big chainring, and I press too hard on the shifter, the chain gets thrown off the chainring. I've seen the adjuster screws staring at me, but I always turn them in the wrong direction and I can hear them mocking me!!

Got to admit as I don't have a workstand doing it upside down took a bit of experimenting but I figured I had to learn at some point. I once tried learning how to true a wheel but that didn't work out well. Think I'd have to do a proper course for that one before I attempt it again.

 

[MrJamie]

The youtube videos make it pretty easy, I always check them out for any problem before I even think of going to a bike shop and even then I'll usually have a go myself first

I get a bit OCD about it though and while im out ill be making tiny little adjustments to the barrel adjuster on the rear mech to get it exact

 

[Alan Frame]

Whatever I do, I simply cannot manage to index my rear derailleur properly !

I put the bike up on the stand and achieve something that appears to work, but when I go for a ride the gears are skipping, jumping and chattering.

I think I've watched every related video on YouTube and I still can't get it right.

In fact, I'm going to go out on my singlespeed today just to get away from the frustration.

 

[gwhite]

Whatever I do, I simply cannot manage to index my rear derailleur properly !

I put the bike up on the stand and achieve something that appears to work, but when I go for a ride the gears are skipping, jumping and chattering.

I think I've watched every related video on YouTube and I still can't get it right.

In fact, I'm going to go out on my singlespeed today just to get away from the frustration.

Best to check if your RD hanger is plumb in that case. If this is out of plumb then it's impossible to index the gears properly. Stand directly behind the bike and ensure that the pulley with the chain is directly below the appropriate sprocket. Sometimes this is difficult to judge as the hanger can be off plumb in both planes but your LBS will have a tool to check this.

 

[Blue Hills]

The best method for sorting gears ever I found was the one described in the Park Tools Big Blue (actually it's pretty small) Book of Bicycle maintenance - a lot of that book is actually on their web site and the gear adjusting bit might be as well. Before I found that system I just used to twiddle aimlessly.
Recommended, unless Maylian is giving online lessons of course

 

[Alan Frame]

Best to check if your RD hanger is plumb in that case. If this is out of plumb then it's impossible to index the gears properly. Stand directly behind the bike and ensure that the pulley with the chain is directly below the appropriate sprocket. Sometimes this is difficult to judge as the hanger can be off plumb in both planes but your LBS will have a tool to check this.

I think you may be right; I'll get the shop to check.
I'm kind of hoping something is out of true, because I can't possibly be that technically inept, can I ?

Just noticed that I haven't actually got a sacrificial gear hanger as the bike is steel. Maybe the derailleur cage itself is bent ? Best to get it checked I think.

 

[ianrauk]

Very rarely have to adjust properly set gears. If you do have to continually adjust then there is a problem somewhere.

This is a great video know how.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Fiddled with it about 50 miles after I got it - worked perfectly for 600-ish miles until I came off and bent hanger very slightly. LBS straightened hanger and I fiddled again. Done 100+ miles since and it is still spot on. So I guess I don't tinker with the FD too often.

 

[srw]

After trying and failing several times to index gears, I read on here a suggestion to index by eye - just make sure that the mech is vertically below the relevant cog. It works very well.

My solo road bike indexing is very stable once set; the tandem is a bit more temperamental, probably partly because the long cables stretch slightly when it gets hot.

 

[Lyrical]

Same here! I replaced both shifter cables and adjusted the derailleurs last weekend for the 1st time ever, and it is very satisfying to know you no longer depend on others to do it, isn't it? The gear shifting on that bike has been smooth all week. I don't know how much cable stretch the shifter cables have, but it's possible we'll both have to do a follow-up adjustment in a few weeks?

It really depends on the cable. Something you can do to in a way accelerate any breaking in is to give the gear cables a decent tug where they go along the bottom of your frame.

You'll quickly realise if things arn't working the best as you'll be "missing" gears.

 

[JabeSmith]

Dumb question if I may. I have an old 5-speed block (Shimano SIS), an old Shimano 105 5/6 speed rear mech, and Sachs Huret Rival Aris 6 downtube levers. I always thought that the indexing was driven by the levers. I.e. the mech itself is free moving rather than jumping a certain distance each change, and that it is the single click in the lever that moves the mech a defined distance and thus changes the gear precisely.

Is that correct?

If it is, then I can pretty much change the mech with anything suitable for the thicker chain width of a 5 or 6 speed block so long as the levers still work,

Is that correct?

Or am I being a total bike-numpty.....