Front Derailleur Struggles To Shift To Smallest Chainring

[greekonabike]

The rear derailleur on my bike seems to be set up perfectly but if I'm in a smaller cog on the rear cassette and the middle chainring the bike will struggle to go to the smaller chainring and I have to go one of the larger cogs in the cassette to get it to shift. What can I do to get it into the small chainring smoothy?

GOAB

 

[raleighnut]

The rear derailleur on my bike seems to be set up perfectly but if I'm in a smaller cog on the rear cassette and the middle chainring the bike will struggle to go to the smaller chainring and I have to go one of the larger cogs in the cassette to get it to shift. What can I do to get it into the small chainring smoothy?

GOAB

You could try moving the 'low stop' in further but you then risk 'dropping' the chain inboard. You shouldn't really use the low-low combinations though, not only is it 'bad practice' but it increases chain wear.

 

[greekonabike]

Is that the low limit screw? What way should it be going? Thanks for your help.

GOAB

 

[raleighnut]

Is that the low limit screw? What way should it be going? Thanks for your help.

GOAB

Unscrew it a half turn at a time but be careful, if the chain 'drops inboard' it can damage the frame, bearing, chain or all 3 (and you)

 

[greekonabike]

Ok thanks I'll have a tweak later.

GOAB

 

[uclown2002]

Hold on; why are you trying to go small-small?

 

[Ajax Bay]

why are you trying to go small-small?

The OP said "smaller cog", not smallest. He might find himself there by accident. The system should still be adjusted so it will drop down onto the small chainring whichever sprocket the chain is on. @raleighnut has suggested what to do. That assumes that there is minimal or no tension in the cable after the '1' has been selected on the shifter (assume MTB). If that doesn't work, maybe able to adjust with an in-line adjuster, otherwise unbolt the cable bolt and start from scratch.

 

[uclown2002]

The OP said "smaller cog", not smallest. He might find himself there by accident. The system should still be adjusted so it will drop down onto the small chainring whichever sprocket the chain is on. @raleighnut has suggested what to do. That assumes that there is minimal or no tension in the cable after the '1' has been selected on the shifter (assume MTB). If that doesn't work, maybe able to adjust with an in-line adjuster, otherwise unbolt the cable bolt and start from scratch.

Yup; I didn't read that very well

 

[raleighnut]

The OP said "smaller cog", not smallest. He might find himself there by accident. The system should still be adjusted so it will drop down onto the small chainring whichever sprocket the chain is on. @raleighnut has suggested what to do. That assumes that there is minimal or no tension in the cable after the '1' has been selected on the shifter (assume MTB). If that doesn't work, maybe able to adjust with an in-line adjuster, otherwise unbolt the cable bolt and start from scratch.

Fiddling around with cable tension will send the middle ring indexing to cock on a triple, you can alter it on a double to your hearts content.

 

[gbb]

What make FD ?
Trying to remember if it struggled to drop onto the small or lift onto the big but my Sora FD used to sieze at the main pivot, a large dome headed bolt facing the rear of the bike IIRC, making it very difficult to shift.
If you suspect yours may be similar, loosen it (NOT remove it) spray with WD, manually operate the mech to work the WD in, then tighten the pivot back up.

Used to work a treat, takes 5 minutes, one Allen key and some WD40 is all you need.