can i ride with no front mech?

andy83

Been having problems with the shifting of my front mech so done some maintenance on it on friday and seemd fine and shifting great

however on way to work i realised i hadbt tightened the bolt (one that holds the end of the cable on the mech) enough and it popped off. thought it had just come loose but when i got to work realised it had gone lol

now the thing is i aint too bothered bout shifting onto the bottom vog of the three, mainly use 2nd and 3rd. Could i just take the mech off and leave the chain on one of the rings, as to be honest the shifting lately is doing my head in

if so which is best to have it on? i commute on a converted mountain bike with a 3 ring deore chainset. also would it be possible to just manually (before a ride or during) change the chainring its on dependant on tyupe of riding i want to do.

before anyone says get a road bike or fixie i am saving up for road bike

thanks in advance

andy83

forgot to say as the bolt is now on the road somehwere i cant find the chain stayed on the middle ring til i got to work wit h a horid grinding, then when i pushed mech a little it dropped onto smallest and that is where its staying, will i be ok to at least ride home tonight til i can try sort a bolt out,

its a deore xt if anyone has a spare bolt lying around!

wgwarburton

Hi,
Should be fine. You ought to be able to adjust the limit stop (the little screw that stops the mech shifting the chain too far) to get the chain to run on one of the three rings.
There are usually two stops- one for the inner movements and one for the outer. If you operate the mech with your finger you'll see how they work- a little protrusion on one of the moving bars will rest against the end of the limit screw as the mech comes to the end of its travel. Move this screw so that the mech is positioned over the middle ring and you should get home fine.
If you normally need to trim the front mech to avoid chain noise during your riding then you will either need to put up with it or avoid the outermost sprockets on your cassette..

A good bike shop (the ones with workshops that have little boxes of parts, rather than the ones that only sell things in blister packs) should be able to help you with a replacement cable bolt.. take the bike in and appeal for help (preferably after being distracted by their rows of shiny new bikes, one of which you might well buy,if you get good service from the workshop... :-).

Cheers,
W.

cjcp

andy83 wrote:

if so which is best to have it on? i commute on a converted mountain bike with a 3 ring deore chainset. also would it be possible to just manually (before a ride or during) change the chainring its on dependant on tyupe of riding i want to do.

On the road commuter steed (see link below), I just took the front mech off - a combination of it being 2am when I built up the bike and technical incompetence. It's remained off ever since. I leave it in the 53 unless I go up an 18%er near home. If necessary, I'll change it manually by stopping and flicking it onto the 39, and then change back at the top.

If I commute on the MTB, then I only use the outer ring (no idea how many teeth that has :oops: ), and use the sprockets to make life easier.

redddraggon

David Millar tried it once, and he couldn't keep his chain from dropping....

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour.php?id= ... ar_monique

Cost him the prologue.....

andy83

well started taking my front mech off last night when finished work, only to completely forget i would have to break the chain to get mech off and forgot to add chain tool to bag when i was sorting out tools the other day, so as i didnt fancy resetting the mech and after a 12 hour shift i just decided to bust the cage with pair of pliers, my lovely xt m770 mech knackered

however on the plus side had a lovely ride home last night and think i will not even bother replacing the mech, just another thing that could go wrong so why have it on lol

only thing now is that i have a redundant xt shifter, spose i can keep this as a sapre for if i ever fancy building up a new bike, or making my bike for off road

only problem is bike sometimes feels a bit uncertain round corners, did have problems with hub getting loose a while back but sored that prob and checked it and its not that

could it be a case of not enough air in ym tyres??

cjcp

andy83 wrote:

well started taking my front mech off last night when finished work, only to completely forget i would have to break the chain to get mech off

Is there not a screw around the back/other side of the mech which you can undo to take it off? (There was on my Ultegra mech, but don't know if this applies to other mechs).

Not enough air in the tyres would make the rim roll a little on the tyres. Do the forks wobble in the head tube?

andy83

just read that and panicked, ran to bike bag to check mech but alas no screws lol

na forks are fine, might give the tyres a good pump up and everything a tighten and see how it goes

really just want my new road bike now, how much you reckon i can get a decent second hand road bike for long rides. never used a road bike so anything will be good

cjcp

andy83 wrote:

really just want my new road bike now, how much you reckon i can get a decent second hand road bike for long rides. never used a road bike so anything will be good

What's your budget? The right size is also important, especially for long rides.

andy83

well basically having to save up, want to have it for around may time and will prob have around £500 MAX

im 6 foot in height if this makes any difference

cjcp

Yep, you can get one for that price. Have a look at:

1. The road classified section on BR (put up wanted if needs be);
2. Bikehut for Boardman bikes - think the Comp may come undr £500 atm;
3. Ebay.

At 6ft, you're probably looking at a 56cm frame.