Problem with gears - advice needed

brum_rich

I am having trouble with my gears. I am only able to get into low gears (e,g 1-3, 9-11, 17-19) as my gear shifter will not click past 3rd. My bike has been off the road for a few weeks but nothing obvious has happened to cause this, although before I wasn't able to get into all gears but more than I can now.

Had a look at rear derailleur and cabling and cannot see any problems and the thumb shifter isn't obviously damaged. I know there are some screws that can be adjusted on the derailleur but not too sure if adjusting those will fix problem. Any ideas what I need to do, or am I best just getting it booked into a shop to be fixed/serviced? :?

redvee

Push the rear mech towars the spokes and click your shifter, if you can get all the clicks then it isn't your shifter giving you probs. The screws on the rear mech are limit stops and stop the rear mech shifting into the wheel/dropping the chain between frame and smallest sprocket. If you can move your rear mech all the way to the spokes as above then its the cable. LBS's are a last resort for a simple job like this.

nicklouse

rusty cables? get them cleaned an lubed.

brum_rich

Thanks for responses. Have checked the cables and no rusting

As suggested pushed mech towards spoke and get all clicks in shifter. When I adjust H & L screws the mech does not move, so do not seem to be doing anything!

Any other thoughts?

supersonic

Take the mech and cables off. Click through the shifter, make sure it feels right. Push the mech to feel the spring. Clean and lube cables, checking for smoothness. Put back together and readjust!

Limit screws set the the max movement for the mech.