When do you adjust your derailleur

sharky86

Hey Folks,

Can not get my head arround this. When do you all know you have to adjust your derailleur? What is the benefit of it and how do you do it?

I get a clickin noice at both the highest AND lowest gears on my defy 3.5. Gears anywhere in between are smooth. Would this be a sign that my derailleur needs to be adjusted?

Any knowledge you wish to share would be helpful..

thanking you
S

Hail 2 Da Thief

Are you cross chaining?
Is the clicking noise coming from the front or rear deraileur?

seamus

My guess here would be that your limits screws need adjusting to give you a little more room at the top and bottom.

H2DT's question is the first one to ask though - have a look at the chain as it moves around. Is it actually clicking as if it's about to change gear, or is it rubbing against the front derailleur?

650Ginge

seamus wrote: »

My guess here would be that your limits screws need adjusting to give you a little more room at the top and bottom.

H2DT's question is the first one to ask though - have a look at the chain as it moves around. Is it actually clicking as if it's about to change gear, or is it rubbing against the front derailleur?

Not the limit screws, you don't need to touch them unless you can't get on the largest or smallest rings, or the chain in jumping over either end.

Sounds like you are using front/rear gear combinations are crossing the chain. You will find another gear combo with give you the same or similar ratio.

You only need to adjust the derailleur if you are only getting it at the gears at the limits.

sharky86

Hail 2 Da Thief wrote: »

Are you cross chaining?

Eh stupid I know but whats this?

650Ginge wrote: »

Not the limit screws, you don't need to touch them unless you can't get on the largest or smallest rings, or the chain in jumping over either end.

Sounds like you are using front/rear gear combinations are crossing the chain. You will find another gear combo with give you the same or similar ratio.

You only need to adjust the derailleur if you are only getting it at the gears at the limits.

So what do I do??

I really dont know anything about these sorry

DirkVoodoo

What geartrain do you have? I'm guessing it's Shimano if it's a Defy, in which case you should either consult the very helpful and clear Shimano tech documents for your groupset:

Shimano Tech Docs

If you are still unsure after reading those then take it into your nearest bike shop. Bikes are not very complicated but they do require some finesse and like tuning a guitar (it's all about wire tension see) it takes a bit of time and patience. Chances are you might break something on the bike or knock the shifting out of whack which may even lead to an accident (think chain going over largest sprocket into the spokes).

I'm all for learning how to take care of your own bike, but it sounds like you may need to be talked through it by an experiences mechanic first.

tomasrojo

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

Bikes are not very complicated but they do require some finesse and like tuning a guitar (it's all about wire tension see) it takes a bit of time and patience.

My two major interests are cycling and guitar. Your comparison seems very apt to me.

seamus

650Ginge wrote: »

Not the limit screws, you don't need to touch them unless you can't get on the largest or smallest rings, or the chain in jumping over either end.

Not necessarily. The chain may get onto either sprocket, but the limit screws can be ever so slightly off that the chain is being pushed against the next sprocket up/down.