Gear cable tension

itboffin

I recently replaced my front gear cable due to a worn cable and now I'm having tension issues.

I've adjusted the H L because I've also changed my cassette and crankset at the same time, shifting rear gears is smooth both ways as is up shifting in the front, down shifting requires a lot of pressure but does work and the cable tension is so tight i'm unable to turn the barrel shifter, i've attempted to slacken the cable tension with the barrel adjuster but then it goes too loose when in the small ring.

So is it okay too have loads of tension when in the big ring?
How slack should the cable be when in the small ring?
Should I be able to turn the barrel adjuster when in the big ring?
Is it normal for the down shift to be stiff?
What's up with the clunk gear changes????

HELP!

_Brun_

I've had similar problems with me front mech. Fun isn't it?

In my experience the big 'clunk' when changing down onto the small chainring was because I was having to move the mech into the 'feathered' position in order to get the chain onto the big ring.

I found that increasing the cable tension enabled the chain to climb onto the big ring much easier, and it got rid of the clunk when changing down (although the clunk is still there if I feather it). I'm wondeirng if the high tension when on the big ring is caused by the limit screw not being set properly?

Must confess I muddle me way through this stuff and often make it worse before it gets better. That's my way of saying this isn't guaranteed to work, and I won't be held responsible if it goes even more tits up.

nicklouse

well the tension should really be constant in all the 3 positions (2) if it is high then the stops are wrong.

itboffin

I'm able to shift up and down okay but the stiffness on the down shift is alarming and can't be right, with no cable attached the STI levers are silky smooth, if I take all the low gear slack out it only down shifts in one click instead of the usual two and the cable is so tight you can pluck notes.

itboffin

UPDATE

I might have found the answer, I thought i'd give it one more go before taking it to my excellent LBS, I looked into STI lever and could see that the cable head was not fully seated and I'm pretty certain it was when I installed the new cable.

Next I removed the new cable which is now looking a little worse for wear at the derailleur end, applied a small blob of chain lube on the adjuster then thought I'd check outer casing and what do you know the casing was really stiff at the lever end, almost blocked.

So i've thrown the cable inner & outer away and routed a new clean set (more money) a loosely tightened the derailleur bolt to test stiffness, so far so good.

Once i've finished my coffee & breakfast I'll have a go at setting the indexing.

itboffin

Tiz fixed smooth shifting has returned