Derailleur help

[bunnysquasher]

Hello,

I wonder if anyone has any ideas about solving my derailleur problem.

I bought a new Specialized camber comp yesterday (last year's) and I cant find an adjustment that lets me use enough of my gears.

First of all If I am in the middle cog in front I cant use all 9 of the rear cogs as the chain rubs on the front derailleur. Is this normal? I've never had a bike with this many gears before (but I am reasonably used to adjusting derailleurs).

If I adjust the front derailleur so that I can use middle front with middle 7 cogs at the back the chain rubs on the derailleur if I try to use my smallest rear with largest front.

This is driving me nuts, anyone got any ideas or info on which gears you can/can't use?

Cheers

[jj.]

Yep, I think thats how they are now...

My 10speed XT - in the instructions (I know, I know, I was bored one eve!) says not to use the first three cogs when on largest ring, or the last three when on the small cog, and to top that, to avoid using the first two or last two when on the middle cog...!

So thats 10 gears out of my 30 I shouldn't use....!

Must admit, the noise drives me wild when the chain 'rubs', so I normally end up shifting gears aroun...

You are not alone, ...
jj

[bunnysquasher]

jj. said:

Yep, I think thats how they are now...

My 10speed XT - in the instructions (I know, I know, I was bored one eve!) says not to use the first three cogs when on largest ring, or the last three when on the small cog, and to top that, to avoid using the first two or last two when on the middle cog...!

So thats 10 gears out of my 30 I shouldn't use....!

Must admit, the noise drives me wild when the chain 'rubs', so I normally end up shifting gears aroun...

You are not alone, ...
jj

Cheers for the reply,

I can understand not getting all of the gears but I can adjust for the 7 middle when using front middle. The problem is that I can't then use my three highest gears (small back, large front) what if I want to go fast!?

If I adjust for speed (small back, large front) then I cant get the 3 largest cogs when in middle front. That can't be right can it?

[snotrag]

Have you put the bike together yourself, or physically picked it up from a shop?

The whole thing needs indexing properly by someone who knows what they are doing.
If you are going to do it yourself, then you need to do it properly by undoing the cable clamps and resetting the barrel adjusts, and starting afresh. Bear in mind that the cables will 'stretch' (not really stretching, its the outers compressing) after a few rides and it will need tweaking again.


Have a look on Park tools or Sheldon brown for a guide on setting up the indexing.

[bunnysquasher]

snotrag said:

Have you put the bike together yourself, or physically picked it up from a shop?

The whole thing needs indexing properly by someone who knows what they are doing.
If you are going to do it yourself, then you need to do it properly by undoing the cable clamps and resetting the barrel adjusts, and starting afresh. Bear in mind that the cables will 'stretch' (not really stretching, its the outers compressing) after a few rides and it will need tweaking again.


Have a look on Park tools or Sheldon brown for a guide on setting up the indexing.

Hello, cheers for the reply.

I picked the bike up from a shop built, but I also like to think I have in idea what I'm doing.

After struggeling with it for ages I followed the instructions http://techdocs.shimano.com/media/techdocs/content...

Everything goes fine I complete step 4 but then I get terrible rubbing on the cage in my top three gears.

Cheers

[Rouleur]

Take it back to the shop, it should have been done by them! If that's not possible for some reason then this video should help http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j1gSwhsVN8

[bunnysquasher]

Rouleur said:

Take it back to the shop, it should have been done by them! If that's not possible for some reason then this video should help http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j1gSwhsVN8

Thanks for trying.

The shop whilst being friendly and helpful adjust it so there is a little rubbing in top gear (biggest front smallest rear) and also a little rubbing when in the biggest two at the back and middle at the front.

That video was interesting, but didn't cover the front mech and wouldn't teach me anything I didn't know 20 years ago.

Cheers.

[itsnotarace]

Do you not have a trim function on the left shifter where you half press it and it moves the front mech slightly

[Kermit power]

I'm just about to enter this apparent world of pain

I snapped the mech hanger at Christmas, and have been hiding my head underground ever since, trying to pretend I don't have a mountain bike at all, but tonight I intend to grasp the nettle by the horns and fix it!

Quick question - it was working OK before I snapped the hanger, so is it simply a case if getting the cable back to the same place, or will I have to start from scratch?

[rhinochopig]

I'd take it back TBH front mech are a pig to set-up if you don't know what you're doing.

If you really want to do it yourself check in order:

1. Is the BB correctly spaced for the frame?

2. Is mech cage set parallel and at the right height - 3mm above the top ring when the green set-up block is inserted? The height and being parallel is super critical on some frames.

3. Are limit screws correctly set.

4. Is the barrel adjuster set.

5. Have you ridden it after setting up - some set-ups as I found out recently will only index properly with the correct sag set up. I found this on my new turner frame. It would rub when on the stand but ride perfectly.

HTH.

[bunnysquasher]

itsnotarace - Nope, no trim function, I'm half tempted to put a non indexed lever on it because I know that will just work. I've got to keep trying first though.

Kermit - you may need to adjust the high and low screws also as your new hanger may be aligned slightly differently.

rhinochopig said:

I'd take it back TBH front mech are a pig to set-up if you don't know what you're doing.

If you really want to do it yourself check in order:
HTH.

1. Is the BB correctly spaced for the frame?

yes - it's pretty hard to measure but I'd say it's 49mm from centre of bike to middle ring (believe its supposed to be between 47.5 and 50)
Strangely though the middle ring at the front seems to line up with the 4th smallest on the cassette.

2. Is mech cage set parallel and at the right height - 3mm above the top ring when the green set-up block is inserted? The height and being parallel is super critical on some frames.

Angle can't be changed because it's not clamp fit.
There is a 5mm gap, there are only 2 positions and this one was specified in the manual, I did try the lower position which only had about 1mm gap and the rubbing was worse.

3. Are limit screws correctly set.
Yes

4. Is the barrel adjuster set.
Yes

5. Have you ridden it after setting up - some set-ups as I found out recently will only index properly with the correct sag set up. I found this on my new turner frame. It would rub when on the stand but ride perfectly.

I will definitely give this a go tomorrow and try tweaking it whilst riding.

Cheers for your help

Edited by bunnysquasher on Thursday 15th March 02:25

Edited by bunnysquasher on Thursday 15th March 02:27

[Kermit power]

bunnysquasher said:

Kermit - you may need to adjust the high and low screws also as your new hanger may be aligned slightly differently.

Cheers, and yes, you were absolutely right. It's now working better than it was when I took it off!

Next step on that bike is definitely going to be working out how I service the hubs.

[bunnysquasher]

Just thought I should update this.

I changed the front dérailleur for an old LX one I had lying around. Now I can get all gears.

Cheers

[itsnotarace]

Glad you fixed it, sounds like the replacement mech has a cage that is a fraction wider