Delayed Gear Changes

Hurricane151

I went out on my bike this morning after the bike has stood for a good 8 days and for some reason my rear cassette gears aren't changing properly.

I changed down and nothing and then a good 5-10secionds later it changed. Changing up (up the cassette) doesn't seem to be as bad but at times i try and change down and by the time it actually engages and changes it has changes 2 or three gears.

The levers are shimano Sora shifters on my cross bike. Not sure why this is happening, they are not completely ceased as they do eventually change.

Any ideas or thoughts as to what I need to do to sort this out?

any help appreciated.

roger_merriman

At a guess, gear cables.

assuming I'm right, then need to oil and clean the cable. ie the cable is sticky.

iain_j

Clean and oil the chain, all the pivots on the rear mech, and the gear cables (especially the last section into the rear mech).

Set the gears so the chain's on the largest sprocket, then without turning the pedals, click the shifter all the way to the bottom sprocket, this'll slacken the cable right off so you can slide the outers off to clean the inner cable.

Also play about with the barrell adjuster on the rear mech. The way I was shown was, with the bike the right way up, turn it towards the direction it's not shifting smoothly. So in your case the chain's not shifting towards the right (to the smaller cogs) when looking from behind, so turn the adjuster to the right (ie. clockwise). Turn it about quarter to half a turn at a time, and run the shifter up and down through the full range several times to test it.

nicklouse

mucky sticky cables. the spring is struggling to pull the mech down while the cable tension (powered by your thumb) can over come the friction.