front derailleur adjustment

andy610
andy610 Posts: 602
edited November 2007 in Workshop
im trying to adjust my front derailleur ive loosened the wire but now i cant get the largest cog on my triple chainset how tight should the wire be when on largest front cog also my l and h adjust screws are not marked

Comments

  • Smokin Joe
    Smokin Joe Posts: 2,706
    Put the chain on the smallest ring and take all the slack out of the cable, that should sort your gearchange problem. While the mech is in that position have a look at which of the two screws is butting onto the appropriate part of the mech and that will be the L adjustment screw.
  • andy610
    andy610 Posts: 602
    ive managed to get it on the two biggest rings at front but now i cant get it onto the smallest cog at front when i do get it on the two smallest cogs on front i cant get it on biggest
  • Monty Dog
    Monty Dog Posts: 20,614
    Check out the Park Tools website for detailed instructions - front mechs are the hardest to set up
    Make mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..
  • hazychris
    hazychris Posts: 202
    Just a quick thought - if it's a Shimano shifter, are you 100% sure you've clamped the wire in exactly the right place - I had a similar problem which I ended up taking to the bike shop and was severely embarassed :oops: when they laughed, loosened the wire, retightened it, and it all worked perfectly afterwards!
  • PCPilot
    PCPilot Posts: 1
    I am also having trouble with my (cheap) Shimano front derailleur!

    Avoiding the shifter and just using the wire, I have set the High and Low adjust so that the chain doesn't fall off either way.

    So far, so good.

    My problem is with the cable tension (I think), mostly 'cos I can't think what else it might be.

    It is a hard push to push the shifter out onto the largest chainwheel. But, if I force it, it will go out there and it will 'index' and stay there. However, if I then shift to a smaller front chainwheel, it springs back immediately to the smallest, avoiding the middle one completetly.

    I have tried having the cable quite loose and tried it quite tight but nothing seems to work properly. Is there a fail-safe sequence to getting it right?

    p
  • hazychris
    hazychris Posts: 202
    PCPilot, please see my earlier reply. If you don't get the cable mounting onto the mech correctly, it doesn't pull at the right angle and therefore does not pull the mech far enough to get it onto the outer ring!!

    I guess it feels like it's really straining, lots of resistance, and you know it shouldn't be that hard? Just what happened to me!

    Get the correct service instructions for your mech off the Shimano website, and follow them to the letter, especially how you route and attach the cable. It is not intuitive how it attaches, and if you've just followed your own common sense, you won't get it as Mr Shimano intended.

    I hate to see other suffering with such a (potentially) simple one!

    Cheers,
    Chris

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