adjusting gears on bike

EmcD123

I know I made another thread today so I don't want to clutter things but this is definitely annoying me.
I've brought my hybrid bike into the bike shop originally because the rear derailleur wasn't working the gears were slipping so they indexed them.
90km later same things happens to front derailleur so I bring it in they fix it.
Today now I rode 2km since that fixing and its worse than ever before.
I have to push really hard on the lever to get onto the second chainring and it doesn't actually make it to the third chainring even the lever gets stuck and I have like 6 gears out of 24 that don't cause chainrub. Is it normal that a bike is so hard to get adjusted right or needs adjusting so often after so little km's on smooth roads if that makes a difference?

I'm going to bring it to be fixed again into a different bike shop soon but will this make a difference.

I've been contemplating converting said bike into a fixed gear or even just an 8 speed to remove the front derailleur at least as the shifting seems so bad on it.
Is this a good idea and is it reasonably easy? Its only for cycling to uni as my other road bike is a lot more likely to be stolen.

Qualitymark

What's 'indexed'?

EmcD123

Qualitymark wrote: »

What's 'indexed'?

As far as I can tell they made the gears match up correctly. I'd be on gear 3 for example according to the piece on the shifters but I could actually be in gear 6.
The entire gear system was completely out of whack.
But the thing is I'm unsure what they did and I can't get any details of what they actually did

Unknown Soldier

Have you ever heard of YouTube? Or Google?

EmcD123

Unknown Soldier wrote: »

Have you ever heard of YouTube? Or Google?

I've used google to try and find out if the gears need to be adjusted so often. All that comes up is how to adjust them. I could learn how but I would rather not have to go messing with my bike like that after every cycle. YouTube again will only tell me how to do it. Its not my main bike and I don't want to have to be trying to trying to fix it in the morning before I leave .

leeroybrown

Your hybrid bike shouldn't need regular adjustment. It should just need one adjustment shortly after you buy it for cable stretch and then an occasional tweak if you're either servicing it or notice extra chain rub in the outer gears.

It sounds like they're either badly aligned or adjusted. I'd suggest finding some time and doing a rear derailleur adjustment followed by a front derailleur adjustment and once you get it sorted you really shouldn't need to touch it again for a long time.

Buzwaldo

Possible that the cables and/or cable housing need replacement. Worn housing may cause loss of tension on cable.

EmcD123

Okay so it's not normal. Ill adjust it this time then. If there's worn parts though then I'll replace it. I got it second hand and its too small for me and I don't want to be spending money on it

ZiabR

EmcD123 wrote: »

Okay so it's not normal. Ill adjust it this time then. If there's worn parts though then I'll replace it. I got it second hand and its too small for me and I don't want to be spending money on it

Fix it up and sell it on.

EmcD123

logik wrote: »

Fix it up and sell it on.

Tbh it wouldn't be worth more than maybe 150 with or without fixing it up. I got ripped off when I bought it and payed a good bit more than that. So selling wasn't something I was going to do as I don't want to sell a not working bike but also dont want to fix it and sell it at the same price

leeroybrown

Just think carefully about putting new components into an old bike. Bikes are very much cheaper than the sum of their parts especially when you're paying someone to do the work for you. I've had to put 150-200 into fixing up a bike that would only cost 500-ish to replace in the past and it was very much touch and go whether to bother.

MB Lacey

Indexing your gears can be tricky if you're not experienced.
The suggestion of google or youtube isn't all that helpful if you really don't know what you're doing.
I've followed youtube tutorials and made the gear shifting worse than before I started.
The lbs should have indexed the gears in such a way that you wouldn't need to tune them again for a while - so it would seem something's up with the bike?

I'd take it back to the original lbs and explain what happened after you paid them to tune your gears. If they're a decent bike shop they should have a look at your bike and retune for free.

EmcD123

MB Lacey wrote: »

Indexing your gears can be tricky if you're not experienced.
The suggestion of google or youtube isn't all that helpful if you really don't know what you're doing.
I've followed youtube tutorials and made the gear shifting worse than before I started.
The lbs should have indexed the gears in such a way that you wouldn't need to tune them again for a while - so it would seem something's up with the bike?

I'd take it back to the original lbs and explain what happened after you paid them to tune your gears. If they're a decent bike shop they should have a look at your bike and retune for free.

I'm starting to think the shop doesn't know what they're doing. They can't actually give me details of what they did and keep trying to get more money off me I think. So I'm going too a different shop. I don't mind paying once if I don't have to come back for quite a while

MB Lacey

EmcD123 wrote: »

I'm starting to think the shop doesn't know what they're doing. They can't actually give me details of what they did and keep trying to get more money off me I think. So I'm going too a different shop. I don't mind paying once if I don't have to come back for quite a while

Fair enough - if you're in Dublin, Joe Dalys (Dundrum), Thinkbike (Rathmines) and Fitzcycles (Stillorgan) good for Southside. The bike shop in UCD also has some great mechanics.

The lbs should automatically be checking for chain stretch, cassette wear and jockey wheel wear.

Paddigol

MB Lacey has it spot on.

I'm not mechanically gifted, no matter how much I'd like to be, how hard I try or knowing how much money I'd save. I'll always give it a go, but at least half the time I at best spend hours only making something marginally better (and building up an unhealthy amount of rage!) and at worst exacerbate the problem. I've found the YouTube videos next to useless most of the time. Not necessarily because they are useless, but because I just don't have a mechanical brain. Most of them assume a certain amount of knowledge or intuition on the part of the viewer, that we don't all necessarily have.

And yes, the lbs should probably have fixed the issue first time around, and if not should really look at it again gratis once you explain the background.

EmcD123

Paddigol wrote: »

MB Lacey has it spot on.

I'm not mechanically gifted, no matter how much I'd like to be, how hard I try or knowing how much money I'd save. I'll always give it a go, but at least half the time I at best spend hours only making something marginally better (and building up an unhealthy amount of rage!) and at worst exacerbate the problem. I've found the YouTube videos next to useless most of the time. Not necessarily because they are useless, but because I just don't have a mechanical brain. Most of them assume a certain amount of knowledge or intuition on the part of the viewer, that we don't all necessarily have.

And yes, the lbs should probably have fixed the issue first time around, and if not should really look at it again gratis once you explain the background.

Ya I'm not mechanically minded at all and I don't think I ever will be. Am completely useless with my hands. You see the problem with the shop is that they have no account of what they did so they keep making it out to be some new problem since their service and I can't prove its not so they won't fix it for free

leeroybrown

EmcD123 wrote: »

I'm starting to think the shop doesn't know what they're doing. They can't actually give me details of what they did and keep trying to get more money off me I think. So I'm going too a different shop. I don't mind paying once if I don't have to come back for quite a while

You're in Galway, aren't you? What shop did you go to? I'd normally recommend Nigel's but they can be very busy.

EmcD123

leeroybrown wrote: »

You're in Galway, aren't you? What shop did you go to? I'd normally recommend Nigel's but they can be very busy.

I went to on yer bike the second hand one because that's where I bought the bike.
But I'm buying a new road bike in Kearney's now so I'm going to get them to have a look at this bike there too

leeroybrown

EmcD123 wrote: »

I went to on yer bike the second hand one because that's where I bought the bike.
But I'm buying a new road bike in Kearney's now so I'm going to get them to have a look at this bike there too

I don't know what On Yer Bike is like but the workshop in Kearney's should adjust it properly for you or tell you if you need to replace stuff.

Unknown Soldier

EmcD123 wrote: »

I've used google to try and find out if the gears need to be adjusted so often. All that comes up is how to adjust them. I could learn how but I would rather not have to go messing with my bike like that after every cycle. YouTube again will only tell me how to do it. Its not my main bike and I don't want to have to be trying to trying to fix it in the morning before I leave .

Apologies.

My comment is a lot harsher than I meant it.

I have used youtube/google to learn a lot about fixing my bikes in the last year. I tend to watch a few videos and google dealer manuals etc.

You shouldn't have to index gears every day though