Front gear change stiff

carl_p

My daughter is finding changing gears on the front chainrings very stiff. It's the twist shift on her MTB. To me the gear change seems fine, but to her little hands not. Does anyone know whether it's possible to adjust something to make shifting a bit more easy?

baudman

How old is the bike? Where is it stored?

The most common thing to stiffen up a gear change is the cable snagging. They can (eventually) fray too, which makes it really lousy. But if it's stored out of doors, then yeah... things can get gluggy in time if the weather gets in.

So... perhaps a few drops of chain lube into the cable (either end). Or, a whole cable replacement. (You can generally get away with replacing just the inner).

The other thing to say... FD is often harder to operate. Is it a bit beyond her strength, at the moment? I know of quite a few parents who have to operate their kid's FDs for them.

carl_p

The bike is less than a year old and kept in a shed.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the cable, but I might remove it, clean and relube. I think it's more to do with her weaker left hand. Might get her some mits and see if that helps.

Many thanks for your reply.

baudman

Yeah - give it a go. Also look at the derailleur itself... but that's likely to be fine.

All the best.

cycle monster

If your daughter is anything like my eight year old son she won't get on with a grip shift. Thumb-shifters the way forward perhaps?