SRAM X9 rear derailleurs set up

bails87

There could be a tiny bit of frame flex, or maybe you're putting more force through than is being being put on the pedals when it's in the stand.

I'm surprised there's so many problems, my SRAM stuff on my Boardman has always been flawless.

Northwind

Usually I'd say that sounds like chain wear but it's surely too new, unless you've been riding it 24 hours a day. Misadjustment can sometimes only become obvious once on the move though, spinning it in a stand has next to no load so is undemanding. Usually 2 minutes of riding around fannying around with the adjuster sorts that though.

grim168

My orange crush has an x9 mech (2010 model) It struggles to drop into the highest gear. I researched it after owning mine a few months and found this was a common problem. It seems tight rivets in the mech are a problem and you cand hit them and wiggle 'em to loosen them up. Leaving it parked up in the highest gear helps as well as was said recently. Some people had them replaced under warranty. It might be worth a search on this and stw's forum.

rybu

It sounds like somethings not right, yes the bike is a week and half old. Only ridden once for around 4 hours around Cannock Chase and it was doing it throughout (no clogging on the inners!)

I have got a funny feeling it will be woth Halfords for a while

I dont undersand why it is only a couple of the gears it does this in though...

ryan

d3matt

rybu,
My Boardman Team FS was doing exactly the same. Initially (well the first 2 hour ride) it was fine. Then it got worse on subsequent rides. It was fine on the stand, but as soon as I put force on the pedals, the gears would jump.
I took it into a Halfords for it's free 6 week checkup at 4 weeks old and told them my problems. They said it was all fine, after some adjustment. It was no different. Then after playing around with the gears and front adjusters, I couldn't get it setup at all, so I took it to a local bike shop and they changed the cable to the rear derailleur and setup the gears. When I got it back, it was great. I thought it was fixed, but it got worse again after an hour.
I decided to not bother with the shops and learn how to setup the gears myself. A mate of mine leant me a trainer so we could put force on the rear wheel and then watch the gears jump when under load. After spending hours on it, and spending some money, I've got it fixed. In fact, it's now better than it's ever been.

There was a combination of things I did to fix it. But the main problem was that the derailleur wasn't properly inline. A new hanger (£7 from Halfords) and making sure the derailleur bolt is tightly into the hanger (as there was a small gap on mine), straightened up the derailleur by a couple of degrees.
Also the cable to the rear derailleur was tight and even after the shop changed it, it was tight again. It was kinking in the last section of outer. This was solved with some new Shimano XTR gear cable outer from CRC at £1.95. Two 600mm lengths was enough to replace all three sections. And a new cable (yet again), which costs about £2 - but I upgraded my shifter to an X9 instead!
Then after setting it up again, it's now a dream to ride. And I can stand up on the pedals for the first time Its now like a different bike. I feel I have a new bike again and I've got some confidence back with it.

I found this video to be the most helpful. Once you've done it a few times, it's actually a breeze with the SRAM gear.

One thing though with the Boardman Team FS - you can't get the 6mm gap with the b-tension screw. The derailleur gap just doesn't tighten when adjusting the screw, but instead just moves it forward below the cassette, rather than up/down. It seems that Boardman aren't using the best hanger shape for the correct positioning of the rear derailleur. The gap on mine is about 15+mm and it works fine. I checked in a Halfords store and all the Boardmans were the same.

Even though I purchased a Halfords 3 year bike plan (about £34) with my new bike, I'm now going to do all the maintenance myself. I've learnt a lot over the last few weeks and you can soon learn enough to make a better job than many Halfords can do. Maybe most down to you spending more time and being more thorough.

During my efforts to fix my gears, I've also done a few upgrades...
- upgraded Sram X7 rear shifter for an X9
- upgraded Shimano HG73 chain for a Sram PC991 cross step chain
- upgraded Sram PG950 cassette for a PG990

None of these really make a difference, but because of all the problems I'd been having with the rear gears, I wanted to cover all bases and get it all working perfectly. And another extra £85 has given me some spare parts!
Using the Sram chain with the powerlink has been great,. I now remove the chain after each (muddy) ride and clean it soapy water and oil it. It's so easy with the powerlink.....and the right pliers. I would highly recommend getting a chain with a powerlink type joint in it.

Email me and I'll give you any help I can. I know what its like to a new bike that doesn't work properly!

rybu

Well that sounds good... that someone else has got the same problem as me if that doesnt sound selfish.

I am waiting for a call from Halfords - in the morning to say that its been fixed. i will print this off and pass it to them.

Its not leaving the shop till its fixed.... Its really naff buying a new bike that appears to be a Friday afternoon put together. I know what you mean about not being able to stand up on the pedals - not that good going round Cannock Chase I can vouch.

I think i'll have to start my own blog too if it doesn’t get sorted out.

In essence,

1) rear hanger alignment - possible need to straighten it up and get a new hanger
2) rear hanger bolt loose
3) snagging on last section of inner cable
4)possible new inner cable


Lastly, do you think the upgrade from x7 to x9 rear shifter played a part??


Many thanks to you, I guess its Matt from your Tag?


Ryan

apolloseventeen

d3 & rybu

Just found this thread searching for a fixes to exactly the problems you describe. Take heart my friends, i'm on the otrher side of the world and I have EXACTLY the same issues. I do all my own bike work, and i've setup many SRAM mechs and a couple of Shimano's (including a shadow XT) and this 2010 X-9 mech has given me more grief than any other, and is very un-sram like. All the previous SRAMs have been a breeze.

There is no way I can get the B-limit screw to give me a 6mm gap on both the highest and lowest gears. Through trial and error I set the 6mm off the largest cog which has given me the best results, and seems to be what others on the thread have recomended.

As far as the indexing goes i'm loosing my mind. Its near impossble to get the indexing correct using the 2 smallest cogs as reference as the SRAM doc recomends. At one stage I even installed a spacer behind my rear mech, which helped a little but seemed just a stop=gap so i removed it. I have the limit screw wound all the way out, and even with the cable disconnected, it WILL NOT line up with the outer edge of the smallest cog. GRRRRRRR

I'm running a Nomad 1.0 and all my transmission (rear cassette, chain and front rings, shifters) are all brand new to match the rear mech. I also swapped my rear mech hanger in case it was out of alignment, no joy.


Anyway, i'm still working on the issue, so if I find any nuggets i'll pass them on. Going to try some of the suggestions here.

rybu

Well got mine back,

it seems okay so far. He said it took alot of time working on the rear derauller doing adjustments.

The cable seems more tighter on smallest rear cog, less slack. as the chain used to run between The upper and lower jockey wheel, the chain used to rub as it went back on itself.

Whereas the b screw was all the way in, its not about 2 turns out.

Does that help??

Please all note, Well done to Matt at Halfords, Abbey Lane in Leicester for fixing it.

Yes halfords can fix bikes, well my store can.

ryan

The Rookie

apolloseventeen wrote:

There is no way I can get the B-limit screw to give me a 6mm gap on both the highest and lowest gears.

Ofo course it is, as I said earlier, the gradient would be different between an 11-32 and an 11-34 (for example), so it will never be 6mm at both ends on every available cassette option.

Simon

thepha5e

I recently got a sram x9, and managed to set it up well after reading this: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/tech-tuesd ... -2010.html
good luck

ddraver

Resurrection!

Just got a new 2011 (I presume) (spd shifter on warranty from Fisher vis CRC - these don't actually appear to exist at the moment - they look like the current 10spd ones but with the same colouring as the 2010 and before

Is it supposed to not be indexed on the Up shift? that's gonna be weird!

jayson

I recently had my X9 rear mech replaced under warranty cause of very sloppy shifting, even with the cable disconnected i had to push and pull it up and down the cassette to get it to switch gears correctly and no matter of cable/mech lubing or retensioning would help.

According to Evans there was a bad batch goin around cause they'd had over a dozen in with the same problem that had to be replaced, it all works peachy now with the new mech so it might be worth having a word with the shop if theres still a problem.

wlad

All of you with the X9 on your Boardman Team FS may be interested to read my experiences.

I started out with a Shimano Deore drive train (long cage rear mech) on my Genesis Core 20. It worked "OK" as you'd expect from mid-range Shimano, but I got bitten by the weight weenie bug and decided to go for SRAM twist shifters... this meant I had to get a SRAM rear mech. So, I bought a medium cage X9 thinking I could save a few more grams, but not realising it would mess-up my gearing...

I spent countless hours at home and at the trailside trying to get my gears setup. It seemed that when I fixed one aspect of it, it would put something else out of alignment. It was impossible to adjust the b-tension to give the recommended 6mm gap as this caused the chain to be so slack that it rubbed along the whole length of the chainstay. By shortening the chain I managed to achieve something close to the 6mm gap and stop it jumping out of gear but this was at the expense of reducing the range of gears available to me (I couldn't get into the largest three sprockets at the back when in the large chainring on the front). Eventually my mech hanger snapped and it was quite a relief to see that the X9 had been twisted badly beyond repair. So I bit the bullet and bought a second-hand X0 LONG CAGE off eBay. The X0 is a much better design than the X9, and setup was a doddle. Shifting was beautifully smooth, precise and fast. However, it's not a cheap piece of kit and mine hasn't been without problems: the teeth on the jockey wheels wore out making the chain run between the jockey wheel and the cage, eventually snapping the inner cage. Luckily I kept my mangled X9 and was able to rivet togetether the two cages to make a decent one. This has been working like a dream for a fair few miles now.

Fast forward to the January sales and I succumbed to the lure of an £850 Boardman Team FS. From the very first ride, I disliked the X7 shifters and initially blamed them for the poor shifting and jumping out of gear. So I bought a set of X9 twist shifters and swapped them over, which was a big improvement. However I was still not happy with the tendency to jump and snap under heavy load. Inspection of the X9 rear mech revealed it to be a medium cage - oh well I thought, must be due to the different characteristics of a full-sus and different geometry to my Genesis. Tweaking the b-tension adjustment screw to get the required 6mm gap resulted in precisely the same slack chain issues as above. So I shortened the chain a little. Now at least I can get all gears (only just), but the huge gap between mech and casette means it has a tendency to jump out of gear on heavy load. Hmm, this is looking increasingly like the problems I had on the Genesis when I used too short a cage... So tonight I swapped my X0 over to the Boardman, and guess what, the longer cage makes it entirely possible to attain the 6mm gap between mech and cassette (meaning no jumping out of gear under load and faster shifting), and I can get in every possible gear combination and the chain pulls through smoothly.

In conclusion, the Boardman Team FS is incorrectly specced from the factory - it should be fitted with a LONG CAGE rear mech. I was upset with myself for making the rookie error of choosing the wrong cage length for my Genesis, but I'm bordering on angry with the manufacturers of the Boardman for making the same mistake!

I fully intend to send photographic evidence of this setup issue to the manufacturers in the hope that they will send me a LONG CAGE X9 as I know this will fix the issues. I hope that if enough of us here make the complaint then they will be obliged to act.

Good luck with your SRAM drivetrains!

Northwind

Ah, a sad story of someone who can't work drivetrains. Running a medium cage on a triple bike isn't a problem, as you should never, ever be using the gears that it won't work with- sure a long cage will let you shift into big-big but it's still stupid.

Stop fixating on the 6mm gap, it's impossible to get that with any mechanical shifter, SRAM or Shimano. It's bad instructions but it's not a fault of the mech. Set it up so that it works. Oh and all jockey wheels wear out.

Somehow I get on fine with 3 bikes with X9 front and rear, never the slightest bother. Most manufacturers do spec out long cages for triple rings because it's fairly foolproof but it's not a fault if they don't.

LjStronge

So what is the point of me running 27 gears is I am not allowed to use them?

I understand that technically their is obviously ratio cross-over and I am better to use gears in specific patterns but I shouldn't be limited to use a specific set up because my £90 mech is too shit to cope with what is required?

I don't have issues with long mech's at all. I respect that there will be a difference in how mid cage's are set up, how they work and the inevitable tweaking that is likely to ensue, I can deal with that. What I can't deal with is poor workmanship.

Just my opinion obviously!

Northwind

LjStronge wrote:

So what is the point of me running 27 gears is I am not allowed to use them?

I understand that technically their is obviously ratio cross-over and I am better to use gears in specific patterns but I shouldn't be limited to use a specific set up because my £90 mech is too shoot to cope with what is required?

Your mech's been specced to work better than a long cage in those ratios that you should be using, but at a cost of working worse than a long cage in those ratios that you shouldn't be using. Is that "shoot"? Sounds pretty good to me. It just isn't specced to deal with user error, because you bought higher-end kit not foolproof entry level stuff.

The point of having 27 gears isn't to use every one, it's to give the widest usable range of gears. The crossover gears are all duplicated elsewhere in the range so you're losing nothing.

wlad

Northwind wrote:

Ah, a sad story of someone who can't work drivetrains. Running a medium cage on a triple bike isn't a problem, as you should never, ever be using the gears that it won't work with- sure a long cage will let you shift into big-big but it's still stupid.

I understand you're not really supposed to use certain gear combinations, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who's accidentally changed into these gears. I don't expect my chain to slap against the ground if I manage to get into small-small (or the next two up), or snap the chain or worse still tear the mech to pieces if I accidentally shift into big-big.

Northwind wrote:

Stop fixating on the 6mm gap, it's impossible to get that with any mechanical shifter, SRAM or Shimano. It's bad instructions but it's not a fault of the mech.

Then why am I staring at my mate's 2010 Stumpy with XTR long cage mech which maintains a perfectly uniform and tight gap along the whole range of the cassette?

Northwind wrote:

Set it up so that it works.

That's exactly what I was able to do once changing to a long cage. It allowed me to move the mech in towards the front of the bike using the b-adjustment screw. This gets the top of the mech closer to the cassette which gives the chain a greater contact area on the sprockets eliminating the snapping out of gear under heavy load, whilst maintaining good chain tension in all gear combinations. Maybe the reason I had to do this was (as d3matt suggested), Boardman aren't using the best-shaped hanger for the mech? It can't just be coincidence that so many other people have the same problem with the Boardman with the X9. I'd be interested if others could try a long cage mech to see if it cures their issues too.

Northwind wrote:

Oh and all jockey wheels wear out.

I don't dispute that - just wasn't expecting it to wear through the cage so fast.

Northwind wrote:

Somehow I get on fine with 3 bikes with X9 front and rear, never the slightest bother. Most manufacturers do spec out long cages for triple rings because it's fairly foolproof but it's not a fault if they don't.

You're obviously more skilled than me, but changing to long cage has fixed my issues and I'm happy with my solution.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of SRAM twist shifters and I'm perfectly happy with my X0 long cage mech. I, like a few others on here am just not happy with the factory setup of the Boardman.

Northwind

wlad wrote:

You're obviously more skilled than me, but changing to long cage has fixed my issues and I'm happy with my solution.

TBH I'm really not that good. It's just that it isn't difficult. Yes you can choose to build your bikes so that the bad gears still work but that doesn't mean it's wrong to build a bike so that they don't, is all.