Rear Derailer/Gears STOPPED WORKING!! :(

runbikeswimtim99

Hello. First post.

I noticed my bike being a bit sluggish so after some gooling I took apart the key components for a good rub down.
Rear Mech, front cogs, derailer cogs, regrased ball beaings, lubed hubs, new chain etc etc and put it all back together.

Lovely!

Now I can't change gears atall on my rear derailer. "What the hell have I done?"
(I'm now 2.5 hours into fixing this, and have done alot of goolging which doesnt help alot)

But. (as suggested by some other posts)
I have loosened off the gear cable completely and it runs smoothly from lowers to highest gears and stoppes at the highest. So no L&H adjustements needed hear.
So I put my chain onto the lowest gear and tightened the cable accordingly.

It's stuck. wont move from this gear.

I do the same on the lowest gear (just to experiement)
loosen cable. put chain at lowest gear then tighten accordingly.

It's stuck. won't move from this gear.

No cable atall.

Stuck.wont move from the gear.

What the devil have I done here!

Also: when shifting the brake lever to change gear, it moves marginally but is like it's stuck on something.
I.e when you normally change gear it kind of clickes and eases of pressure.
But there is a constant pressue and no clicks.

Oh dear babbling???

Please help. many thanks. The sun is super sunny in London and I have some time off.
this is typical....hahahah

runbikeswimtim99

Comparing this to my front derailer. (with fingers on cabe under frame)

front de-railer
I pull the gear lever 50% (taking the slack or whatever)
then the other 50% is pulling on the cable to chainge gear.

FINE!

rear derailer
I pull the gear level 40%
The it's going nowhere. it's like it stuck. wont move to pull the wire.

any thoughts?

runbikeswimtim99

rear derailer is actually going 100% then stopping.

So it appears it's not pulling or catching cable atall at the front and it just loose.

NOT SURE HOW THIS COULD HAPPEN. I didn't touch it.

still investinging :P

runbikeswimtim99

more tinkering...

I can actually scroll through the gears up & down without cable attached with no problem.

definetly this silly cable....

runbikeswimtim99

without spinning wheel...

Clicking up & down gears I can feel the cable tightening and loosening.

So why when I attach it to derailer does it not work>>??

andyk19

Are you attaching the cable to the derailleur when the STI has released all of it's cable? i.e. before attaching the cable flick the shifter 'down' until it cannot release anymore cable, so the chain would be on the smallest sprocket if the bike were fully functional.

Once you have done this attach the cable to the derailleur and see what happens.

runbikeswimtim99

Thanks for you reply Andy.
this is good advice.

I just tried.
I pulled and wiggled and made sure all the cable was through those plasticy bits with nothing getting stuck so good tention was being produced throughout.

Results:
I managed to click 2 gears up (ONLY ON THE CLICK SHIFT)
the gears actually didn't move atall.

I thought - must still not be enought tention.
Clicked back down 2 clicks to release all the tention again.

NOW...

I can't shift up atall again. no movement. brick wall. not even 2 clicks.
This is all very puzzling.

I may drop down to cycle surgery and have them rape me for £30 to look at it then tell me I need a new expensive part. LOL. bit like quickfit.

I digress....any other sugestions very welcome....

Monty Dog

www.parktool.com

KMC1993

Does the cable need tightening? You said when it was loose it went smoothly from lowest to highest gear, So why add more tension if it is shifting fine ?