Gear changing question

jeannot18

As i am very new to all this I have a question about gear changing. When I try to go up the gear (from easier to more difficult) sometimes the lever do not respond immediately. I don't have this problem when I go the other way round. Is this normal or is it something wrong with my bike. Thanks
JC

Mister W

The response will generally be quicker when you're moving the chain to a smaller cog. That's because of the way the shifter and mech work. A flick of the shifter releases a set amount of cable in one go, which allows the mech to spring into the new position. Going the other way you're pulling the cable so it's much slower.

jeannot18

OK, it is a shame because sometimes you arrive at the top of a hill and you have a bit of a slope and you want to gain some speed to attack the next hill, but by the time I have managed to change the gear I have to go back the other way with the gears.
JC

Mister W

I assume you are talking about the front mech? Make sure it's properly adjusted and practice shifting. You'll learn how much you need to push the lever to get a slick change.

will3

Ah the thing is to change to an easier gear, you are pulling the mech with your hand. To change to a smaller gear you are relying on the spring in the mech, so if the spring is old, really full of dirt, or if your cables/cable housings are old and getting stiff, you will lose performance as you describe.
(assuming you mean rear mech :oops: )

will3

PS I'd start by looking to see if the cables are stiff

ride_whenever

give the cables some really light lube, and possibly check the indexing, often sluggish shifting up the cassette can be fixed with a little more cable tension.

jeannot18

will3 wrote:

Ah the thing is to change to an easier gear, you are pulling the mech with your hand. To change to a smaller gear you are relying on the spring in the mech, so if the spring is old, really full of dirt, or if your cables/cable housings are old and getting stiff, you will lose performance as you describe.
(assuming you mean rear mech :oops: )

Sorry not sure what you mean about the rear mech (I am a complete novice). But when I push the lever it feels really loose and not catching anything, then sometimes I push a little bit and something is catching and then the gear changes. So maybe it sounds like you may be right with the spring thingy. When I go the other way, from smaller cog to bigger cog and i push the braker lever+gear lever it responds immediately. Hope I make myself clear. I don't want to go to a cycle shop and the guy is going to tell me that I need to spend money and something that is perfectly ok
jc

will3

assuming you have shimano sti levers (sounds like it) the action on the small to big is heavier than on the big to small and there can be a delay as all you are doing is letting the tension off the cable, the rear mech (deraillieur/gear-changing-thingy-at-the-back) does the rest.

jeannot18

OK, maybe I will try to meet with another rider and maybe they can try my bike and see if everything is ok, or I will have to take it to my LBC and get it check. Thanks guys for your replies

JC

John.T

I am assuming you are talking about the RH lever that controls the rear mech (mechanism or derailieur). If it is changing easily to a bigger sprocket but is slow to change to a smaller one find the adjuster where the cable enters the mech and screw it in (clockwise from the back) a 1/4 turn at a time until it improves. Do not go too far or you will loose the change the other way. This adjuustment can also be done on the adjuster on the downtube of the bike. They do the same thing but you can use the frame one for minor adjustments while riding. Best kept for this. If this fails to improve things you may well have dirt in the cables. Come back for how to clean this out.
In the meantime bookmark these sites for future reference.
http://www.parktool.com/repair/
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
Between them they cover just about everything you need to know.

jeannot18

John.T wrote:

I am assuming you are talking about the RH lever that controls the rear mech (mechanism or derailieur). If it is changing easily to a bigger sprocket but is slow to change to a smaller one find the adjuster where the cable enters the mech and screw it in (clockwise from the back) a 1/4 turn at a time until it improves. Do not go too far or you will loose the change the other way. This adjuustment can also be done on the adjuster on the downtube of the bike. They do the same thing but you can use the frame one for minor adjustments while riding. Best kept for this. If this fails to improve things you may well have dirt in the cables. Come back for how to clean this out.
In the meantime bookmark these sites for future reference.
http://www.parktool.com/repair/
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
Between them they cover just about everything you need to know.

John thanks for that, I am at work now but will check my bike this week end (next ride not until next week now).
JC

le_grimpeur

Check these out too

http://bicycletutor.com/adjust-rear-derailleur
http://bicycletutor.com/adjust-front-derailer/

jeannot18

le_grimpeur wrote:

Check these out too

http://bicycletutor.com/adjust-rear-derailleur
http://bicycletutor.com/adjust-front-derailer/

Thanks Le Grimpeur. I can't check video at work (bloody IT won't allow it) but will check when I am back at home.
JC

le_grimpeur

Hey jeannot18, just been checking back through the responses, and one thing that no-one seems to have pointed out is that your cable could be loose. It is worth checking this before you do any of the fancy indexing stuff. To do so , put your gear in the lowest setting, and see if you can undo where the cable connects to where it connects to the gears - only slightly - and see if you can tug on it a little then retighten it (er the bolt/nut). It could be that as a result of use, the cable has stretched a bit. This has happened to me in the past

jeannot18

OK cool. Are you French by the way?
JC

rally200

John.T wrote:

I am assuming you are talking about the RH lever that controls the rear mech (mechanism or derailieur). If it is changing easily to a bigger sprocket but is slow to change to a smaller one find the adjuster where the cable enters the mech and screw it in (clockwise from the back) a 1/4 turn at a time until it improves. Do not go too far or you will loose the change the other way. This adjuustment can also be done on the adjuster on the downtube of the bike. They do the same thing but you can use the frame one for minor adjustments while riding. Best kept for this. If this fails to improve things you may well have dirt in the cables. Come back for how to clean this out.
In the meantime bookmark these sites for future reference.
http://www.parktool.com/repair/
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
Between them they cover just about everything you need to know.

+1
I think John got it. If it's quick to change down, but slow to change up then the cable's probably slightly too tight.

le_grimpeur

jeannot18 wrote:

OK cool. Are you French by the way?
JC

Sadly no. We live in France, and I love climbing hills.

jeannot18

le_grimpeur wrote:

jeannot18 wrote:

OK cool. Are you French by the way?
JC

Sadly no. We live in France, and I love climbing hills.

I am French and we live in the UK and miss the weather of the French Riveria (not right now though as the summer has been pretty good this year).
JC

le_grimpeur

Hey, who wouldn't miss the weather of the French Riviera! Have you replaced the south coast of France with something similar?

jeannot18

Been leaving for 20 year SE of England. I am used to the weather now (never thought I would say that one day). When I was living near Nice planning outdoor activities was never a problem. Here you have to grab the nice day when they are here and make the best out of it. Where are you in France? Cycling is quite big out there, well was in the South of France.
JC

le_grimpeur

Wow, Nice, I love it round there, but have yet to do any cycling in the region. Though I managed Mt Ventoux on the way back from a visit last year.

We live in the Limousin - 40km east of Limoges. Whilst cycling is big in France, there is no club closer than 25km away. Once my french is better I reckon I'll reform the one that used to exist here. I see about 10-12 cyclists regularly and go out with 2 on an irregular basis.

The Championship of the Creuse was held about 20k away and attracted at least 100 cyclists from a 40k radius, so there is activity, but hey there are 4 times the number of cows in this region than humans, so that does explain a lot.

jeannot18

John.T wrote:

I am assuming you are talking about the RH lever that controls the rear mech (mechanism or derailieur). If it is changing easily to a bigger sprocket but is slow to change to a smaller one find the adjuster where the cable enters the mech and screw it in (clockwise from the back) a 1/4 turn at a time until it improves. Do not go too far or you will loose the change the other way. This adjuustment can also be done on the adjuster on the downtube of the bike. They do the same thing but you can use the frame one for minor adjustments while riding. Best kept for this. If this fails to improve things you may well have dirt in the cables. Come back for how to clean this out.
In the meantime bookmark these sites for future reference.
http://www.parktool.com/repair/
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
Between them they cover just about everything you need to know.

John.T you were right, did the cable thingy and going up the gear is easier, i lost a bit of accuracy the other way but I don't mind that as I prefer to go up after the hills. THanks again.
JC

John.T

A bit of fine tuning should improve it. 1/4 turn makes quite a difference.

jeannot18

The change of gears has gone again, so I took the bike to my LBS. Just finished speaking with them and apparently the shifter needs to be replaced. What I have got on the bike right now is the Shimano RX100. I found this one on Ebay (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Shimano-RSX-8-Spe ... 286.c0.m14), would this be the right model or could it be adapted on the bike? My LBS is asking for £150 to replace them with some Shimano Sora, I don't really want to spend that kind of money as i am planning to replace the bike next year. If not, does anyone knows where I could get a suitable replacement for the shifters at a decent price.
Thanks
JC

John.T

If you are on 8sp then they should be OK. A bit old so don't get carried away.
If you get stuck PM me as I have a spare set of 9sp Ultegra cluttering my garage up. Would need a cassette change and new chain but everything else should work OK.

jeannot18

John.T wrote:

If you are on 8sp then they should be OK. A bit old so don't get carried away.
If you get stuck PM me as I have a spare set of 9sp Ultegra cluttering my garage up. Would need a cassette change and new chain but everything else should work OK.

Thanks John for the offer, I will bear it in mind. I would prefer to just have to change the shifters at this stage, don't want to spend too much as I am planning to buy a brand new bike in March 2010. There is a guy on London fixed-gear site that has pair for sale. If not will have to check on Ebay regularly. Again thanks for the help
JC

le_grimpeur

If you haven't done so already, have you posted your techie question in the Workshop section?

2. Is there another bike shop could try? I did a search recently and found last year's tiagra groupset for half the price that a UK shop were gonna charge! It's not that I think I or you are being ripped off, but it depends what each shop has access to.

jeannot18

Hi Le Grimpeur, found some on the London Fixed Gear site for £44 delivered. I don't want to wait too long without the bike. I am sure that some will come on Ebay at half that price but never mind, can't stay too much away from the road.
JC

jeannot18

Got the bike back on Friday, went out yesterday and what a difference . I paid £42 to have the shifter fitted, this included 2 new cables, new tape on both side and labour - is this an ok price? Now I have another problem, I can't switch between the small and big chain ring. The derailleur is moving but the chain does not engage. As far as I can see the left shifter works ok. Is this down to adjusting the derailleur? Thanks
JC

John.T

If you paid to have the shifter fitted and it does not shift then take it back and get them to make it work. Almost certainly an adjustment issue but as they have fitted a new shifter and cables they should have left it working correctly.