Can't get my Shimano Sora to shift properly
Ever since I bought my Viking Criterium about 2 years ago, the shifting never really worked smoothly.
I've been doing all the maintenance of the bike myself and it's going pretty well... apart from the adjustment of the gears.
Front Derailleur:
First I focused on the problem with the front derailleur. It would never shift to the big cog straight away... I would always have to give the lever a little extra push so the chain would jump to the appropriate place. What's weird is that if would put too much strengh on this extra push, the shifter would go into a ghost 3rd cog and get stuck there... I'd have to put a lot of strenght on the thumb shifter to get the left shifter back into the 2nd gear position (which is where the chain actually was since I have no 3rd cog) to then be able to change to the 1st smaller one when I needed too.
Is that a normal behaviour or does that mean they sold the bike with a shifter for a triple chainset?
Either way now I got the front derailleur and the cable tension adjusted to a point where the shifting goes smoothly but it still rubs the chain on the derailleur when on the smaller cog. If I lower the cable tension to fix that I am back to the initial problem I mentioned above.
Rear Derailleur:
I tried all possible configurations I could think of with the barrel and low/high limiters. It just seems impossible to get the chain going up and down the cogs properly. Higher tension means it won't come properly from the bigger cogs to the smaller ones while a low one means I have to hit the shifter twice to get the chain to move up the bigger cogs.
Anybody has experienced these problems? Could they be because of an improper cassette/chainset? The bike has an Claris Octalink for a chainset now which I know is shit but I am not sure that's the source of the problem.
Solutions?
I would consider to buy a whole 105 groupset but that would be only in a last case scenario, since after all although I love that bike (it's my first road bike) it's still a cheap one that costed under 400 quid
I've been doing all the maintenance of the bike myself and it's going pretty well... apart from the adjustment of the gears.
Front Derailleur:
First I focused on the problem with the front derailleur. It would never shift to the big cog straight away... I would always have to give the lever a little extra push so the chain would jump to the appropriate place. What's weird is that if would put too much strengh on this extra push, the shifter would go into a ghost 3rd cog and get stuck there... I'd have to put a lot of strenght on the thumb shifter to get the left shifter back into the 2nd gear position (which is where the chain actually was since I have no 3rd cog) to then be able to change to the 1st smaller one when I needed too.
Is that a normal behaviour or does that mean they sold the bike with a shifter for a triple chainset?
Either way now I got the front derailleur and the cable tension adjusted to a point where the shifting goes smoothly but it still rubs the chain on the derailleur when on the smaller cog. If I lower the cable tension to fix that I am back to the initial problem I mentioned above.
Rear Derailleur:
I tried all possible configurations I could think of with the barrel and low/high limiters. It just seems impossible to get the chain going up and down the cogs properly. Higher tension means it won't come properly from the bigger cogs to the smaller ones while a low one means I have to hit the shifter twice to get the chain to move up the bigger cogs.
Anybody has experienced these problems? Could they be because of an improper cassette/chainset? The bike has an Claris Octalink for a chainset now which I know is shit but I am not sure that's the source of the problem.
Solutions?
I would consider to buy a whole 105 groupset but that would be only in a last case scenario, since after all although I love that bike (it's my first road bike) it's still a cheap one that costed under 400 quid
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Comments
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Maybe the post was too long (especially for a first one).
If I was to change to a 105 groupset... could I have any compatibility problems with the bottom bracket?0 -
hi,
the high low screws will set the limit of the derailileur at the top and bottom, right? back these off and set them at the end when you sort the cable tension!
if you are having trouble up and down the gears and the barrel isnt sorting it out, i would suggest a new cable and outers or at least clean and lube. cable friction is likely your foe.
<£10 should sort it.0 -
oh and i think you need to tighten the front shifter cable and adjust the limit screw to prevent your 3rd ring situation.
you dont need 105, my sora shifts great at 3 yrs old, with fresh cables.0 -
FelipeT wrote:I've been doing all the maintenance of the bike myself and it's going pretty well... apart from the adjustment of the gears.
I tried all possible configurations I could think ......
This is the statement that makes me want to cast my vote for operator(you) error. "...tried all possible configurations..." means you quite possibly don't know the correct way to do it. My advice? Find out how to do this correctly instead of trial and error.0 -
This is how you adjust your rear gears.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzvfCaIbyQ0 -
dennisn wrote:FelipeT wrote:I've been doing all the maintenance of the bike myself and it's going pretty well... apart from the adjustment of the gears.
I tried all possible configurations I could think ......
This is the statement that makes me want to cast my vote for operator(you) error. "...tried all possible configurations..." means you quite possibly don't know the correct way to do it. My advice? Find out how to do this correctly instead of trial and error.
Indeed I wasn't really sure how to do it but what I meant by "all configurations" was "tried all the youtube tutorials".
But in the end you were right. I the problem was a mix of an old cable and operator (yeah, me) error
I got it working perfectly now... all it took was a new cable and some more patience
Thanks everyone0 -
FelipeT wrote:dennisn wrote:FelipeT wrote:I've been doing all the maintenance of the bike myself and it's going pretty well... apart from the adjustment of the gears.
I tried all possible configurations I could think ......
This is the statement that makes me want to cast my vote for operator(you) error. "...tried all possible configurations..." means you quite possibly don't know the correct way to do it. My advice? Find out how to do this correctly instead of trial and error.
Indeed I wasn't really sure how to do it but what I meant by "all configurations" was "tried all the youtube tutorials".
But in the end you were right. I the problem was a mix of an old cable and operator (yeah, me) error
I got it working perfectly now... all it took was a new cable and some more patience
Thanks everyone
Glad to hear ya got it resolved. 0
