Rear derailleur shifting weirdly ?

R.dufy454773

Now I think I’ve got the barrel adjuster sorted ( the plastic housing is only covering half of the barrel adjuster) and the cable connected when I’m in the smallest ring and try to shift up the shifter moves but there is no tension it is really light and NOTHING. Happens at all until I get to the second last gear and then it changers


* at first it was in third gear and then changed to the lowest gear when i very first removed the cable

martyc5674

1. Click your shifter repeatedly towards the smallest cog.
2. Slacken the cable grip.
3. Screw the barrel adjuster all the way in.. then turn it back maybe a turn or 2.
4. If you have a barrel adjuster on your frame do the same.
5. Pull some tension on the end of the cable with a small pliers whilst tightening up the cable grip.
6. Shift up and down whilst spinning the cranks, you’ll likely find you need to tension cable with barrel adjuster a few turns.

That should get you into a good position.

R.dufy454773

martyc5674 wrote: »

1. Click your shifter repeatedly towards the smallest cog.
2. Slacken the cable grip.
3. Screw the barrel adjuster all the way in.. then turn it back maybe a turn or 2.
4. If you have a barrel adjuster on your frame do the same.
5. Pull some tension on the end of the cable with a small pliers whilst tightening up the cable grip.
6. Shift up and down whilst spinning the cranks, you’ll likely find you need to tension cable with barrel adjuster a few turns.

That should get you into a good position.

When I screw the barrel all the way , do I screw towards the bike ? And what exactly do you mean by cable grip , I thought screwing the barrel adjuster would slack off the cable? Thanks

martyc5674

R.dufy454773 wrote: »

When I screw the barrel all the way , do I screw towards the bike ? And what exactly do you mean by cable grip , I thought screwing the barrel adjuster would slack off the cable? Thanks

Yes screw it clockeise so that it shortens/threads into frame/derailleur.

Cable grip is the little guy that grips the cable on the derailleur.

R.dufy454773

I got messing around with the barrel adjuster and now it shifts smoothly however when I'm in my smallest cog, and I go to shift up one then nothing happens at all. I pressvit again and then it goes up but when I get to the second highest gear the shifter won't let me Shift up any more ( because the shifter "thinks" I'm already in the highest gear.

Any help would be much appreciated and thanks for all the responses so far

martyc5674

Yeah your out a full gear...
wind the barrel adjuster out until it skips up to the next gear and fine tune as per video.

If you can’t get it using the barrel start again... slackening the cable off the grip when in highest gear etc as per above.

R.dufy454773

martyc5674 wrote: »

Yeah your out a full gear...
wind the barrel adjuster out until it skips up to the next gear and fine tune as per video.

If you can’t get it using the barrel start again... slackening the cable off the grip when in highest gear etc as per above.

I’ve got the gears shifting pretty smoothly now but I’m out 3 gears I think or maybe 2.


When I try to unscrew the barely adjuster all the way in like u said , the housing falls off the barely adjuster so I have to pull the cable to keep the barrel adjuster on to turn it . Is that what I’m supposed to be doing

And even when I’m doing that I was unscrewing for about 7 mins and it kept going and didn’t really start to stop/ I couldn’t feel it being screwed in the whole way ??

martyc5674

The barrel adjuster is for fine tuning.
If your out by a gear or 2 you have to start again.

Some barrel adjusters have a clutch built into them to prevent you accidentally adjusting your gears by rubbing off the adjuster... I’m guessing that’s why your having some issue screwing it into the derailleur... if so you need to pull the thumb wheel towards you to engage it with the threaded section and then turn. (The exact opposite of a child safety lock in a bottle of calpol... you pull instead of push)


So start again...
Small ring... go to highest gear/smallest cog on the back...slacken cable grip.
Screw in barrel adjusters most of the way, tighten grip whilst pulling a little tension on the cable so there’s no slack between it and shifter.

Then try indexing it using the barrel adjusters.

R.dufy454773

If your saying undo the cable at derailleur, screw the barrel adjuster most of the way clockwise no then pull tight again at cable grip and start to use the barbell adjuster to fine tune the gears , then unfortunately,

I have just tried that and the gears are a bit out, I will try again

(I'm guessing I turn the adjuster anti clockwise when I'm fine tuning , correct?

Thanks

martyc5674

Yes initially you’ll be turning it anti clockwise to tension the cable...obviously if you over do it you’ll need to go back.

Make sure your shifter is clicked all the way down so that it’s expecting to be on the smallest cog/highest gear.(and that’s obviously where your derailleur should be..then tension the cable from its very tip and nip up the cable grip. Then go indexing.

I can’t say a whole lot more than that on the subject. YouTube surely has heaps of vids.

Look at this from about 3:20
https://youtu.be/-7ea5tpiM7I

He nips up the cable a few cogs up but that’s more likely to see you out a cog or two, I’ve always done it on smallest cog and not had a problem getting the tension in the cable but it is probably the trickiest bit.

magicbastarder

in all sincerity - don't rely on people online trying to explain in text how to adjust your rear derailleur - it's better explained in several of the videos linked - and if you're still having trouble, just bring the bike to a bike shop and pay the ten or fifteen quid to have it done professionally.

Type 17

If you don't find the GCN video easy to follow, try Park Tool's one instead - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkZxPIZ1ngY