Whats wrong with my bike?

Underpants

Only done about 50 miles on it due to breaking my collar bone but its had its first free service. Went out yesterday and did about 25 miles on the red route at Dalby Forest and my chain came off about 4 times resulting in a scratched bottom bracket which I'm none too pleased about.

The shifting on the front rings is not smooth at all. I think since the service (this was the first time Ive taken it out since) has made it worse.

It does need a clean and grease so perhaps this will make a difference but I'm not happy about it....it didnt ruin a great ride but it did threaten to...

Should I get a new set of shifters or something? Currently running Deore drive train (with SLX rear derailleur)

supersonic

Just adjust the gears. Make sure the crashes haven't damaged anything.

nicklouse

sounds like the gears need setting up correctly.

New stuff will work just as badly if not set up right.

Underpants

Not crashed yet :oops: (probably means I'm not doing it right..)

I'll only end up knackering it even more if I try it and when I took it the the LBS I specifically told them about the shifting so I would have thought they'd know what they are doing...

How do I adjust the gears then?

Andy B

Look in the parktool link in Nick's sig.^^^

Beardface

I'd take it back to the LBS.. surely if you've just had it serviced and the gears aren't working properly, would the LBS not have to have another look, as technically they've failed to service the bike properly?

I would have thought if you take it in, explain the problem, they should/have to look at it again for you mate.

I could be wrong, but if you're not confident with gear adjusting, that should be your first stop..

stumpyjon

Should be able to sort it yourself. 2 things to remember:

1. The limit screws just set the top and bottom position of the mech, to stop the chain coming off you need to adjust the lower limit screw (probably a little 'L' on the mech next to the screw). Put the mech so the chain is on the smallest chainring and then tighten the screw, you should see the mech move towards the largest chain ring, set it so it is nearly touching the chain when it is in the largest sprocket at the rear.

2. The barrel adjusters on the shifters adjust the tension on the shifting cables. Altering the tension will change the index position of the mech. If you can get the bike into a work stand and shift the chain to the middle sprocket. If you now turn the barrel adjusters you should see the mech move left or right. Small changes are the key to sorting indexing and take it slowly, turning the barrel adjuster anti clockwise will increase tension moving the index position towards the large chain ring and clockwise will do the opposite.

Have a play, take it slowly, remember what you have done, count the turns left and right so you can always put it back to the position it started in.

Underpants

Thanks all for your input. I consider myself pretty mechanically minded but incredibly impatient and I've tried fiddling with my front mech before and just couldnt face it again so I took it back to the LBS.

Bloke tried telling me there was nothing wrong with it when it was up on their clamp which annoyed me no end but once he took it out he realised there was something wrong.

Anyway, it turned out that they did need adjusting and the horrible clicking noise was from my pedals so he put a new set on for me...bonus

I'm chirpy again now...