New Front mech and still won't shift to large chainring

[Turbo Rider]

Yay Except for the extra price tag, of course. So boooo at the same time. Nice that it's sorted though.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Nah, not yet Turbo; have to bid for one first. Rather budget orientated at the moment and only want to buy a 2nd hand LH shifter as it's a second bike but one I use a lot. Could be a few weeks given the LBS is busy.

Thanks for the input anyway fella.

 

[Turbo Rider]

Ah, one of life's little scoundrels has plagued you then. People are always flogging things or giving parts away for free on here - keep a looksee.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

New front mech and now a new shifter fitted and it still won't shift the fark up. The front mech cage is too far in and yet I'm turning the L screw clockwise and nothing is happening, the cage isn't moving...?This is a new derailleur FFS.

What is it I am doing so wrong?

 

[ColinJ]

Are you sure that your bottom bracket axle isn't too long? I put up with a similar problem on my Basso throughout the lifetime of its BB. I could always eventually get the chain onto the big ring but it was a real struggle every time. When I replaced the BB I discovered that the worn one was about 4 mm too long. The shifting with the new shorter BB axle was fine!

 

[Spoked Wheels]

New front mech and now a new shifter fitted and it still won't shift the fark up. The front mech cage is too far in and yet I'm turning the L screw clockwise and nothing is happening, the cage isn't moving...?This is a new derailleur FFS.

What is it I am doing so wrong?

It's quite possible, reading this post, that you busted the previous shifter trying to sort this problem out, Go easy on it. Test it by hand to see if it is physically possible to shift onto the big ring.

 

[jack smith]

Personally I don't think the first shifter was broken despite what the lbs said, it's bloody hard to break a shifter, are you sure your mech is on the frame properly ei.. Height over chainrings and angle

 

[Rob3rt]

SRAM have a set of instillation video's on youtube, follow them, if you follow them, provided nothing is broken, it will work perfectly. A few years ago when I installed my 1st groupset from scratch, I followed them, perfect!

You shouldn't need the cable completely tight. I think he means that if you can't move the gear lever, it's too tight?? Try loosening the cable with the barrel adjuster, but do it gently, maybe a complete twist at a time go give it some slack. Then turn the crank and click the gear lever. No action mean another twist and so on, until it rides up to the high cog. There will be a biting point, but you may still find the chain drops off again. Again, loosen the barrel adjuster until it finally sits on neatly. Then check that it stays put in all gears and try all gears on both cogs, for grind and / or drop offs. Might take some time, but when it does, you'll get a nice buzz about you If in real trouble and frrustration, might be worth going into an LBS and asking them to do it but insist that they let you watch...cost you a couple of quid at very, very most.

No, what I meant was that there is a lip on the mech, you need to get the cable on the right side of it.

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

New front mech and now a new shifter fitted and it still won't shift the fark up. The front mech cage is too far in and yet I'm turning the L screw clockwise and nothing is happening, the cage isn't moving...?This is a new derailleur FFS.

What is it I am doing so wrong?

If I were you I would first measure the front chainline (i.e. the distance between the centre of the frame and the middle of the two chainrings), it should be 45mm assuming your bike has consistent road and not mtb components. Mixed road/mtb/brand components could give rise to phenomenon you are experiencing.

Then I would shift the front in onto the small ring and pull the front mech bare cable and see if the front mech would traverse outboard. The L stop screw should abut with the moving part of the mech when the cage inner plate is around 1mm away from the chain when the chain is on small front large back - it is easier/better to adjust the L screw to achieve this when it is not pushing against the mech (i.e. do it by pulling the bare cable while you turn the screw).

If the L screw adjustment is successful then use the cable adjuster to take up the resultant cable slack.

Then shift onto the large front and check/adjust the H limit screw to stop the mech overshifting.

If there is any doubt about cable clamping at the mech then best look up the online guide associated with the mech.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Thanks for the input folks.

If I were you I would first measure the front chainline (i.e. the distance between the centre of the frame and the middle of the two chainrings), it should be 45mm assuming your bike has consistent road and not mtb components. Mixed road/mtb/brand components could give rise to phenomenon you are experiencing.

Then I would shift the front in onto the small ring and pull the front mech bare cable and see if the front mech would traverse outboard. The L stop screw should abut with the moving part of the mech when the cage inner plate is around 1mm away from the chain when the chain is on small front large back - it is easier/better to adjust the L screw to achieve this when it is not pushing against the mech (i.e. do it by pulling the bare cable while you turn the screw).

If the L screw adjustment is successful then use the cable adjuster to take up the resultant cable slack.

Then shift onto the large front and check/adjust the H limit screw to stop the mech overshifting.

If there is any doubt about cable clamping at the mech then best look up the online guide associated with the mech.

That's the problem, it won't shift and have tried it by hand. Either the shifter is busted and FWIW I think Jack above is right - am not convinced the first shifter was knackered and/or the front mech, which is also new, is kerbadgered. The limit screws are right on the inside and when moved along by hand have what looks like enough room to shift over..? The cable is taut, I rerouted it and the only thing that I can fathom is perhaps a cable misroute which would seem unlikely given the ease it managed an upward 180 degree turn through the Rival shifter. I'm at a loss.

Close on £70 to fix two things that may not be the problem.

Nothing more soul destroying than having to waste precious (fuel) money to get to work with the weather we've had. Time for it to move on after all this (preferably on to the large fecking chainring first if you don't mind).

 

[arch684]

I know this may be a silly question but is the high limit screw in to far ? this would stop the mech from moving over

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

That's the problem, it won't shift and have tried it by hand. Either the shifter is busted and FWIW I think Jack above is right - am not convinced the first shifter was knackered and/or the front mech, which is also new, is kerbadgered. The limit screws are right on the inside and when moved along by hand have what looks like enough room to shift over..? The cable is taut, I rerouted it and the only thing that I can fathom is perhaps a cable misroute which would seem unlikely given the ease it managed an upward 180 degree turn through the Rival shifter. I'm at a loss.

A way to move forward is to isolate the issue. To check if the front shifter is working you can loosen the cable pinch bolt at the front mech, use your fingers to hold on to the end of the cable where the pinch bolt is to maintain cable tension then operate the shifter, and see whether the cable pulls strongly and by how much. It should be around 9mm iirc. If it doesn't the issue is with the cabling/threading/shifter.

It is highly unlikely that both front mechs are faulty, in my previous post I mentioned pulling the bare exposed cable by hand to see if it would traverse, alternatively with an adjustable spanner and some cloth/paper padding to protect the front mech finish plus a bit of care you should also be able to simulate the cable pull by applying torque on the pivot the cable would have acted on, and see if the mech can traverse across correctly.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

It was a cable misroute which according to LBS is a common issue with SRAM. A google search came up with nothing when I searched for problems of this nature with Rival. The LBS had to take a plate off in order to plant the cable properly and recovering the one misrouted wasn't easy. Ridiculous but true.

Anyway thanks again for the input folks and RecordAce, again, thanks for all your time and input. Virtual pint for you.

 

[neil_merseyside]

It was a cable misroute which according to LBS is a common issue with SRAM. A google search came up with nothing when I searched for problems of this nature with Rival. The LBS had to take a plate off in order to plant the cable properly and recovering the one misrouted wasn't easy. Ridiculous but true.

Anyway thanks again for the input folks and RecordAce, again, thanks for all your time and input. Virtual pint for you.

Same LBS that sold you an uneeded shifter? Name and shame!

 

[Monsieur Remings]

Same LBS that sold you an uneeded shifter? Name and shame!

Nope. I wouldn't have bought new. He was tops to be fair.