Gear Indexing

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Davehateshills

Senior Member
Location
Bury, Lancashire
I bought my used Trek 1.5 a few months ago from my LBS. It was a bargain and I have put about 700 - 800 miles on it and most things have been good.

The flight deck is Shimano Sora with the little plastic 'button's' and seems to work quite well. the rear deraillieur is Shimano 105 and I am not quite sure what the front deraillier is, I suspect it may be Sora.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I had an issue with the indexing so I took the bike back to my LBS who had a look at it and told me that the rear deraillieur hanger was bent and that was why the indexing had been thrown out of kilter. They straightened the hanger and set things up again.

We are now two weeks down the line and the shifting has become 'delayed' I press the button or lever and the gear changes 5 - 10 seconds later. I did have a 50 mile ride last week in the wettest conditions ever, so I am thinking this may have caused the issue?

I would like to get the thoughts of a few forum members before I start tinkering.

Thanks in advance.
 
My first guess would be cable snag, try cleaning your cables to see if it makes a difference, if not they may need replaced (inners & outers).
 

Pauluk

Senior Member
Location
Leicester
Usual problem is the cable tension or sticking cables. You could try lightly lubing the inner cables (or replace them if they look in poor condition). You can do this easily, without removing the cables and you can slide the outers up and down the inners while you're doing it to give them a good clean. You could then try to adjust the cable tension using the barrel adjuster(s).
 
OP
OP
Davehateshills

Davehateshills

Senior Member
Location
Bury, Lancashire
OK, Thanks for this. The LBS did replace all of the cables when I bought the bike so they are all quite new. In terms of Lubricating them, is there a special technique? or is it simply trying to spray lube in the ends?
 

mrandmrspoves

Middle aged bald git.
Location
Narfuk
Instead of spraying lube, put the rear derailleur into highest gear so the cable is at its slackest - you should then be able to unclip the cable outer from the stops on the frame and slide them up and down the inner cable. Do this a few times to cover the full length of the inner. Then wipe the inner clean with a rag before applying a good light oil. Now reassemble. You may then just need to adjust the cable tension slightly tighter....but I doubt it will be necessary from your description.
 

boydj

Legendary Member
Location
Paisley
If the lbs put new cables in then, the likely problem is a bit of cable stretch and a slight tightening of the cable - half turn, say, anti clockwise on the adjuster on the rear mech - should do the trick. New cables should not need much in the way of oiling in such a short time.
 

mrandmrspoves

Middle aged bald git.
Location
Narfuk
If the lbs put new cables in then, the likely problem is a bit of cable stretch and a slight tightening of the cable - half turn, say, anti clockwise on the adjuster on the rear mech - should do the trick. New cables should not need much in the way of oiling in such a short time.

Could be right - but cable stretch would only account for a delay if going to a higher gear (smaller sprocket). If the delay is in moving to a lower gear it's more likely to be that the cable is snagging or needs loosening slightly.
 
OP
OP
Davehateshills

Davehateshills

Senior Member
Location
Bury, Lancashire
Could be right - but cable stretch would only account for a delay if going to a higher gear (smaller sprocket). If the delay is in moving to a lower gear it's more likely to be that the cable is snagging or needs loosening slightly.

That is exactly what's happening. the delay is when changing to the higher gears. I will give it a half turn as you have suggested. Thanks.
 

Lee_M

Guru
All good advice above, but I had a similar problem with my ultegra and took the bike to my lbs today.

The mechanics view is that once the hanger is bent it will continue to bend over time ( which I can believe due to the weakness having been introduced) , so if the tweaking doesn't fix it then a change of hanger may fix it
 

mrandmrspoves

Middle aged bald git.
Location
Narfuk
Just to clarify..... if the derailleur is slow moving towards the centre of the wheel tighten the cable slightly. If it is slow moving to the outside of the wheel loosen it slightly. If it is the latter - it is more likely the cable needs lubricating. If this is the case give the whole of the rear derailleur a good lube too - especially the pivot points and springs
. Lee is quite right to suggest that alloy gear hangers can be considered to be single use - once bent change them.....and most experienced MTBers carry a spare one with them because it's almost impossible to unbend a damaged one when out on the track. Having said that, the rear hanger on my MTB was straightened about 2 years ago (as was the spare that I carry) and has not caused any problems.
 
Top Bottom