Rear Mech not fully shifting

chiefinspector

My bike has a SRAM X9 rear mech and when i was out biking yesterday, it wouldn't shift down gear after being in the largest back cog. I gave it a pull and it seemed to work again. When back home and giving the bike a clean, i went through all the gears only to find that it won't shift into the 2 smallest cogs. I tried turning the barrel adjuster to tighten the gear cable but no joy.

I have had problems with this mech before but LBS managed to sort. It's getting to the stage where i'm considering doing away with it altogether and changing to Shimano Deore XT. Before i do this does anybody have any ideas what this could be?

Chunkers1980

I'd think very little to do with it being SRAM.

You need to undo rather than do up the barrels.

Start by disconnecting the cable to see if the mech goes where it should by hand.

chiefinspector

As in following the video tutorial in setting up the rear mech that was on bikeradar about a week ago?

Chunkers1980

Yes

felix.london

Tightening the cable will move the mech to the lower gears (bigger cogs) you need to loosen/release the cable to get the higher gears (smaller cogs).

As above undo the cable completely from the mech and see if it then goes to the correct position (on the smallest cog). If it does pull any slack through and re-attach cable to mech

nicklouse

Sounds like new cable time. Or a bent rear mech.

chiefinspector

Ok, i'll give that a shot. If the rear mech is bent is it time for a new one or can it be fixed?

nicklouse

or mech hanger it should have said.

chiefinspector

No problem, i'll watch the tutorial and see if i can get it to work. If not i'll check the mech hanger.

cooldad

Do the cables first, then worry about it.