Cant change to innermost gear?!

Barrzy257

Hi folks, dont no much about adjustment of the rear mech but when im shifting i cant get onto the innermost gear? Im running SRAM rival stuff, when i try to shift it just clicks it straight back down a level?
Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Cheers folks

chambers_a3

Just sounds like the stops are preventing it from changing down a gear. Theres 2 screws on the side of the mech, one with a "H" one with a "L" referring to high and low.
When you say inside I assume you mean the larger tooth gear; just lightly unscrew the "H" screw little by little until it allows you to change gear.

Keep an eye on where it was in the first place so you can change it back or if you turn the wrong screw.

Barrzy257

Cheers buddy, top advice! And yea the largest sprocket on the rear.

CiB

Has it ever worked? If so I'd be wary of adjusting limit screws unless you're comfortable with the idea that you can easily go a bit too far and next thing the mech is in the spokes.

If it has worked but now doesn't it's more likely to be the cable settling and needing just a bit more tension than the shfters can provide. The easiest way to resolve it is to turn the adjustment barrel out of the back of the mech a quarter of a turn anti-clockwise to take up a bit of slack. If the change gets closer but not quite, repeat until it works properly.

You should also have fine adjustment via barrrels on the cables near the shifters - winding these out a bit may also resolve it.

Another option is that the indexing has run out of stops. The shifter pulls the cable across for each click; it only has enough clicks to get to first gear. If the last stop is at second gear you'll need to release the cable at the mech and silmutaneously pull it through whilst stepping up through the gears (as if changing into your highest gear). Then reclamp the cable and check that it goes all the way back up to first.

If you have adjusted the limit screws check that they're doing their job and not letting the mech beyond first into spoke territory.

Barrzy257

Cheers, it is a new bike only weeks/months old and it did used to work so maybe the cable settling is a better explanation. I will try to adjust the cable tonight.
One thing I will say is when I try to shift across to the gear the shifter clicks, then clicks straight back as if the cable is to tight?
Will try some things this wkend, if all fails I will have to take it to the shop! But cheers guys

carl_p

If it is a newish bike then it is inevitable the cable will have stretched. Learn how to fine tune the adjustments yourself

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/tech/fix ... mechadjust

There are many other such sites.

optimisticbiker

If its a new bike most shops offer a tune-up service after a few weeks to deal with this... I'd take it to them first before playing with it... its almost certainly cable stretch

CiB

OptimisticBiker wrote:

If its a new bike most shops offer a tune-up service after a few weeks to deal with this... I'd take it to them first before playing with it... its almost certainly cable stretch

Quite true but looking after your bike is a good chunk of the joy of owning it, and this is the equivalent of taking your guitar back to the shop for it to be tuned up.

Just my view tho.

Barrzy257

OptimisticBiker wrote:

If its a new bike most shops offer a tune-up service after a few weeks to deal with this... I'd take it to them first before playing with it... its almost certainly cable stretch

It's a ribble, so wouldn't be able to take it back for a free tune up! Local shop here is quite good, but il try it myself first as I like to be able to do most things myself, quite technically minded so hopefully learn fast...