Rear Derailleur problems

joe24

I have a folding bike, thats pretty new, about 5-6 weeks old. Its done 351 miles so far. The rear derailleur doesnt always go into gear, i thought it was because the chain needed some more oil on, but i have just oiled it and when it was in 6 gear, it wouldnt go into 5th, but if you put it into 4th it would go into 5th. I've had this problem for a while, but when i put oil on, it cleared up, and when it happened on a ride, if i pushed the gear shifter on the handlebars up, it went into gear, except in 4th, every so often it would skip back to 5th. It was doing it today on a ride, and now when i have put oil, it still does it. I went on the Park Tool website, and thought i got it sorted. I did some adjustments to the rear derailleur and it didnt help. I got it sorted at one point, it went from 6th to 5th, but then it wouldnt go from 5th to 4th, and then go back down again. :evil: So what should i do? Anyone got any suggestions? Should i take it to a bike shop to have a look at? The shop i bought it from is a caravan shp because that was its main use, so no real use going back there. So i'm sort of stuck, and i wonted to ride it tomorrow for 20miles so i will have done 100 miles this week, the furthest in a week i would have done :roll: . I'm thinking about going for the ride, but i dont wont to seriously mess up the derailleur. So i'm seeking some wisdom from you.


Thank you,

Joe

nicklouse

sounds like you need to increase the cable tension.

Bagonabike

Yup, sounds like you need to tweak the cable up a little bit with the adjuster on the cable that goes into the derailleur.

Failing that, any bike shop should be able to sort it out for you in 5 mins flat.

Riding it as is won't damage the derailleur in any way, but will make for a frustrating ride.

jibi

Take a look at some videos

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... rch=Search

they may help

george

joe24

Thanks, they were quick reply's.
I have tried adjusting it, but i've never done one before. I will take it into the bike shop tomorrow after my ride. It does get very frustrating when it changes from 4th to 5th when you really dont wont it to. I've looked at the videos, and the guy makes it look relly easy doing with only one hand. To tweek to cable up will i need to adjust the higher one clockwise, and the lower one anti clockwise? Or the other way around. From how it is now, it wont go into 4th from 5th, and it wont go down to easy.


Thanks for the really quick responses,

Joe

rafletcher

Try the following - put the bike in 4th gear. Then using the barrel adjuster on the cable on the back of the mech turn it until the centre of the chain is excatly in line with the centre of the 4th gear sprocket. This should reset the indexing and enable you to go up and down the cassette using all gears. Be careful after this when changing to 1st or 6th - you may also need to reset the travel stops on the mech - there are two separate screws - that prevent it travelling too far and either hitting the spokes or dropping the chain off 6th. Check out the Park Tool website - full of great advice on bike maintenance.

joe24

Hi,
I had another go. I went to a car park and tried it, but it still didnt work. It helped it, but it just wasnt there. I took it to my local bike shop and they did it, its better then it was when i first got it. It didnt take them long to do it. And i know what to do when it happens aswell.

Cheers all

Joe