Gears and my commute tonight URGENT ADVICE NEEDED

Harry B

I've been having a few problems with my gears changing cleanly so last night under the influence of too much alcohol I adjusted the barrel adjuster (I think thats what its called) on the downtube by around 3 or 4 turns. This made changing gear on my commute this morning "quite difficult" (that's a polite term for "fvcking awful") :evil:

Can anyone give some simple advice on how to adjust this back so that the gears work a bit better? I'm not sure which way I turned it last night

*Note to self - leave the bike maintenance alone when you've had too many you plonker :roll:

UndercoverElephant

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... &start=198

Hope this helps.

roger_merriman

the basic way is to watch the derailer as you turn the ajuster, it should line up with the correct cog.

Harry B

roger merriman wrote:

the basic way is to watch the derailer as you turn the ajuster, it should line up with the correct cog.

Seems simple enough. I'll try it before I leave this evening

Harry B

Harry B wrote:

roger merriman wrote:

the basic way is to watch the derailer as you turn the ajuster, it should line up with the correct cog.

Seems simple enough. I'll try it before I leave this evening

Thanks by the way

always_tyred

You could just turn it back 3 or 4 turns and fettle whilst sober, once you get in tonight?

Harry B

Always Tyred wrote:

You could just turn it back 3 or 4 turns and fettle whilst sober, once you get in tonight?

That's the plan but I want to enjoy the ride home so hence wishing to do some adjustment before I leave

jeepie

It's actually easier to adjust it and ride under load than do it on a stand I find. Therefore if you work somewhere quiet, turn it back say 2 turns and try then to ride the bike. Then turn it 1/8 and ride each time just 100m or so adjusting as you go. Shouldn't take more than 10 mins and you'll have a nice safe ride home. This is what I'd do anyway as I prefer the suck it and see method!

Harry B

Jeepie wrote:

if you work somewhere quiet

London Bridge :shock:

always_tyred

Harry B wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

You could just turn it back 3 or 4 turns and fettle whilst sober, once you get in tonight?

That's the plan but I want to enjoy the ride home so hence wishing to do some adjustment before I leave

You know what they say - if you are in a hole, stop fettling.

R_T_A

It may not be the gears - check out the cabling as well. Mine needed replacing after I'd spent an hour fettling :oops:

Stuey01

How about, first turn the adjuster 4x in either direction. If it gets better then great, if it gets worse then turn it 8x in the other direction.

logic, see.

jimmypippa

Always Tyred wrote:

Harry B wrote:

Always Tyred wrote:

You could just turn it back 3 or 4 turns and fettle whilst sober, once you get in tonight?

That's the plan but I want to enjoy the ride home so hence wishing to do some adjustment before I leave

You know what they say - if you are in a hole, stop fettling.

R_T_A wrote:

It may not be the gears - check out the cabling as well. Mine needed replacing after I'd spent an hour fettling :oops:

Three men on the Bummel by Jerome K Jerome, (out of copyright)

http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/jerome/three-men-bummel/3/

"The tandem," I replied, "is well."

He said: "Have you overhauled it?"

I said: "I have not, nor is anyone else going to overhaul it. The
thing is now in working order, and it is going to remain in working
order till we start."

I have had experience of this "overhauling." There was a man at
Folkestone; I used to meet him on the Lees. He proposed one
evening we should go for a long bicycle ride together on the
following day, and I agreed. I got up early, for me; I made an
effort, and was pleased with myself. He came half an hour late: I
was waiting for him in the garden. It was a lovely day. He said:-

"That's a good-looking machine of yours. How does it run?"

"Oh, like most of them!" I answered; "easily enough in the morning;
goes a little stiffly after lunch."

He caught hold of it by the front wheel and the fork and shook it
violently.

I said: "Don't do that; you'll hurt it."

I did not see why he should shake it; it had not done anything to
him. Besides, if it wanted shaking, I was the proper person to
shake it. I felt much as I should had he started whacking my dog.

He said: "This front wheel wobbles."

I said: "It doesn't if you don't wobble it." It didn't wobble, as
a matter of fact--nothing worth calling a wobble.

He said: "This is dangerous; have you got a screw-hammer?"

I ought to have been firm, but I thought that perhaps he really did
know something about the business. I went to the tool shed to see
what I could find. When I came back he was sitting on the ground
with the front wheel between his legs. He was playing with it,
twiddling it round between his fingers; the remnant of the machine
was lying on the gravel path beside him.

He said: "Something has happened to this front wheel of yours."

"It looks like it, doesn't it?" I answered. But he was the sort of
man that never understands satire.

He said: "It looks to me as if the bearings were all wrong."

I said: "Don't you trouble about it any more; you will make
yourself tired. Let us put it back and get off."

He said: "We may as well see what is the matter with it, now it is
out." He talked as though it had dropped out by accident.

Before I could stop him he had unscrewed something somewhere, and
out rolled all over the path some dozen or so little balls.

"Catch 'em!" he shouted; "catch 'em! We mustn't lose any of them."
He was quite excited about them.

We grovelled round for half an hour, and found sixteen. He said he
hoped we had got them all, because, if not, it would make a serious
difference to the machine. He said there was nothing you should be
more careful about in taking a bicycle to pieces than seeing you
did not lose any of the balls. He explained that you ought to
count them as you took them out, and see that exactly the same
number went back in each place. I promised, if ever I took a
bicycle to pieces I would remember his advice.

I put the balls for safety in my hat, and I put my hat upon the
doorstep. It was not a sensible thing to do, I admit. As a matter
of fact, it was a silly thing to do. I am not as a rule addle-
headed; his influence must have affected me.

He then said that while he was about it he would see to the chain
for me, and at once began taking off the gear-case. I did try to
persuade him from that. I told him what an experienced friend of
mine once said to me solemnly:-

"If anything goes wrong with your gear-case, sell the machine and
buy a new one; it comes cheaper."

He said: "People talk like that who understand nothing about
machines. Nothing is easier than taking off a gear-case."

I had to confess he was right. In less than five minutes he had
the gear-case in two pieces, lying on the path, and was grovelling
for screws. He said it was always a mystery to him the way screws
disappeared.

We were still looking for the screws when Ethelbertha came out.
She seemed surprised to find us there; she said she thought we had
started hours ago.