Advice needed

[McFsC]

So I had a fairly big accident and smashed my rear dearailleur. I took it to the LBS and they replaced it ( like for like ) and I got the bike back.

When I first got it back the gears were perfect and as expected, no problems. Then after about 6 weeks and a few hundred miles they felt a little tight but still worked. Now 2 months later and a few more miles they were jumping about and slipping so I had a go at tuning them myself. Whilst I think I did a decent job they still feel very tight at the higher gears and really loose at the lower end.

The setup is SRAM Apex throughout. The cable seems to move fine and the handlebar gear changer thingy did take a whack but it was fine for a little while and nothing has changed since.

If I can't get an answer from here or elsewhere on the web ( had a breif look but nothing that I haven't done ) I'll be taking it to the LBS and having the cable replaced and the gears tuned.

[zebedee]

your cable has stretched, perfectly normal. What you should have done was just wound the barrel adjuster a quarter turn to take up the slack, tried and fine tuned from there.

Not sure what you mean by tight and loose, but you may have moved the barrel adjuster too far, so as you haven't reached the biggest cog by the time that the cable is under full tension. unwind it until you are getting all gears normally and then tune 1/8th of a turn until shifts are spot on. Normally you need a final tweak to compensate for having your weight on the bike as opposed to test shifting with the bike upside down. Have patience but you'll get it, don't get a bike shop to do this or to install a new cable otherwise you will have exactly the same issue in 2 months again.

[McFsC]

Thanks for the advice - I'll have another shot at it in the morning, bearing in mind what you have said and let you know how it goes

[Rouleur]

Have a look at videos on YT to give you a good idea of what to do

[McFsC]

Just had another look there after reading a few other bits and scouring YT... I don't think my cable is running smoothly and there is too much friction for the spring in the derailleur to overcome, which is also why it felt tight going to bigger cogs.

[McFsC]

Just a quick update.

After pulling and tugging many times across various parts of the cable I realised that it must be sticking inside the shifters/handlebar area. Squirted lots of greasy/lubricanty stuff in there and re-tuned.

Now working a treat... I was one step away from replacing the full cable.

Edited by McFsC on Saturday 5th January 17:57

[okgo]

Replace cables every 5k miles anyway.

[McFsC]

Seriously? I'm not there on this bike yet but that could be twice a year.

Awful design, plastic on metal = lots of friction. Should be smooth, finished metal against the cable.

[okgo]

Yes, if you want good shifting.

I will change cables for rear mech and back brake often, they get crappy, and my bike has mostly internal routing too!

[McFsC]

Ohh, cheers for that. I must start taking more care of my bike to be fair. I'm going to take this as my first lesson.

It used to be very rare I'd clean it, lube it or check over things... Going to do that after every ride now.

[zebedee]

okgo said:

Replace cables every 5k miles anyway.

Ot if you have Tiagra, replace cables every time the shift mechanism saws through your cable...

[Gizmoish]

zebedee said:

okgo said:

Replace cables every 5k miles anyway.

Ot if you have Tiagra, replace cables every time the shift mechanism saws through your cable...

Is this a common thing? I haven't had it... (yet...)

[zebedee]

from my own experience - yes! Rear mech shift pod, it chews through the cable same place every time, about 2 cm from the shifter end nipple. I get through 3 or 4 cables a year - probably every 1000 miles. My route is pretty hilly so it gets a lot of use but definitely a design flaw. Have seen others mention it too. This is 2007 kit I am talking about though, not sure if redesigned since then