Front derailleur not changing.

plowmar

I have an old (7 years) specialized MTB which I was using to commute to work - only a couple of miles.

As I didn't use the inner front derailleurs for this nor even the inner 5 rear gears they may have become damaged through non use !!!.

However the point of the post is that when I have tried recently to change the front then the wire just goes extremely loose and the chain ring does not change, it then takes a number of up shifts to take in the slack.

Does it just need stripping down and rebuilding, if so where will a compete idiot get this information, or does the whole thing need replacing - in which case it will probably be scrapped or given to one of the bike charities for training or resale.

acidstrato

the mech may have seized causing the cable to fray to bits or snap or just come loose from its clamp bolt at the mech. either way i'd take it apart and clean it all out and then put it back together, maybe with a new cable if it were required

mrushton

As above but probably more of a cable issue

Garry H

Yup, sounds like the cable may be frayed as it getting jammed inside the housing somewhere. Change of cable I think.

Radioactiveman

A mate of mine came round a couple of weeks ago with the same problem. I had a quick look and it was obvious the bike had never been washed and the mech was seized in position with crap.

I cleaned the mech after soaking in muc off and it worked a treat after that

plowmar

Like the simple solutions so I'll start with Radioactiveman's suggestion first. Especially as it doesn't seem to involve loosing part of the mechanics or delving into engineering that I will not understand.

plowmar

A good wash worked, at least it is changing after a good knock with the mallet.

All suggestions appreciated and will lock them away just in case.