Derailed adjustment question

[jdcaddell]

I bought my bike new last year, and after a few issues I had with the dealership that I bought it from I have gotten most of the bugs worked out of it. I do however want to know how hard it is to adjust detailers to make them work properly, or if I would be better off just dropping it off for an extended period at a local shop. The crank gears (whatever they are called exactly) miss the little sprocket and fall off onto the crank arm when downshifting, mostly, but not always while trail riding. They rear gears sometimes have an issue leaving the sprocket they are on and a little extra force is needed when pushing the selection lever. I want to get this taken care of before the weather becomes great for riding.

 

[Brian87]

For the most part derailleurs are fairly simple to adjust. It sounds like you need to adjust your lower limit in some on your front since it is dropping your chain.  As for the rear it is a tension issue.  If it is having issues shifting from the small to the bigger you need more tension and if the other way is the issue you need less.  There are lots of great videos out there on YouTube to help you.  I suggest watching bikeradar as they have some really good bike maintenance videos.

[jdcaddell]

Thanks, I have watched a few videos, but none of them really explained why my bike was doing what it is doing so that I could fully understand what I needed to do to fix the issue, but I will check their videos out.

 

[Brian87]

The short version on explaining what everything does is that the limit screw affect how far your derailleur can move.  Low is for the inside or closest to the bike and high affects the outside position.  By position I mean where the derailleur sits over the cog.  When you are in one by one you want the front set to where you have about 2 to 3mm on the left side of the chain before it rubs the derailleur.  On the high you want to be in your highest gear and have the same distance except on the right side.  If your chain starts getting thrown on either just adjust your limit so you decrease the space.  On the rear it is the same way to adjust as the front, but you want to set it up so that the cog on the top of derailleur is lined with the cog on your cassette  low being your big ring and high being your smallest.  As far as shifting wise you have to use tension.  Both work the same tension wise. Start with the back and put it in the highest gear.  When you shift to go to a lower gear or bigger ring on the back and it doesn’t it means you need more tension.  Turn your barrel adjuster out or clockwise looking from the end of your handle bar on the side your shifter is on.  If it jumps to many gears you need less tension so turn the adjuster counter clockwise.  Same goes for when you are on the biggest ring or lowest gear and it won’t up shift to the next smaller ring, you will need less tension.  Same thing goes with the front starting on the smallest chain ring and moving up to largest being highest gear.  The only difference with the front is you will turn the adjuster in for more tension.  It is still clockwise if you are looking at it from the end of your handle bar that on the side that has the shifter on it.  Hope that helps and isn’t to complicated.  Once you adjust them a few times it becomes fairly easy.

[Alvin Mullen]

have you seen this video?

[fishboy316]

You tube is your friend! You Tube has helped me through a BUNCH of bike problems. Follow the directions and remember whatever you screw up can be fixed. That was the hardest part for me when I started working on my own bikes. I was afraid that I was going to kill the bike.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Author]

Posts