Rear mech sideways movement

hugo15
hugo15 Posts: 1,101
edited April 2009 in Workshop
I have a Campagnolo Racing T triple rear mech. While cleaning the bike today I noticed that when I grabbed the jockey wheel cage I could move the mech a few mm towards the rear wheel and back again. It seems like it is slight loose on one of the pivots (but I can't work out which one!). The bike is running fine and there are no shifting issues. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Comments

  • Mister W
    Mister W Posts: 791
    Nope.
  • neeb
    neeb Posts: 4,473
    Mine does that too. I presume that they all do that. Don't know whether it's down to the impracticality of making a device with several pivots completely stiff, or the undesirability of doing so. My guess is the latter, and that that there has to be some play in the system for it to work properly.

    I wouldn't worry about it. But I think it's good to notice things like that, it means that there's more chance you'll notice when something is genuinely wrong!
  • k-dog
    k-dog Posts: 1,652
    Isn't it designed like that to allow smooth changes - if it just clunked laterally the chain would be stressed but if the top can move a little before the bottom or vice-versa then the chain isn't bent as much.
    I'm left handed, if that matters.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    A slight bit of play on Campagnolo rear mechs is normal, they come like this. It should not affect the shifting. It can wear and you can get more play, but normally the rest of the mech would be very worn before this. Even if the shifting gets dodgy, it will normally be something else that is at fault, not the play on the bolt.

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