Rear dérailleur adjustment driving me mad!
2_tyred_itai
Posts: 53
Hi, apologies if this has been discussed significantly before, I searched but could not find a thread specifically giving general dérailleur adustment advice.
I have changed my Miche-Campy cassette for one with wider range, upgraded the rear dérailleur from a Campy Xenon short cage to a Veloce medium length cage to suit and put on a new KMC chain for the increased length needed. All of these components are 10 speed, as is the shifter.
I carried out what I understand is the right procedure in adjusting the dérailleur and I do fully understand how all the limits work and how the cable tension affects the adjustments etc.
However I cannot seem to get it right!
I started with just the right tension to keep the chain on the highest (smallest) gear without hardly using the high limit, then set the low limit and went on from there, making small tension adjustments in all gears to make the running of each as aligned and smooth as possible. On some settings I did have the tension low enough to have to bring in the high limit.
No matter what I try though, one or two gears end up misaligned and grinding or being skipped altogether. Correcting them even using the smallest necessary increments will throw out another gear elsewhere.
I've got it to the point where almost all run smooth, but at the sacrifice of one position and a slight noise from its neighbour, so it's rideable at least, however I must be able to get it perfect somehow, surely!
Any tips/advice/techniques greatly appreciated, thanks
I have changed my Miche-Campy cassette for one with wider range, upgraded the rear dérailleur from a Campy Xenon short cage to a Veloce medium length cage to suit and put on a new KMC chain for the increased length needed. All of these components are 10 speed, as is the shifter.
I carried out what I understand is the right procedure in adjusting the dérailleur and I do fully understand how all the limits work and how the cable tension affects the adjustments etc.
However I cannot seem to get it right!
I started with just the right tension to keep the chain on the highest (smallest) gear without hardly using the high limit, then set the low limit and went on from there, making small tension adjustments in all gears to make the running of each as aligned and smooth as possible. On some settings I did have the tension low enough to have to bring in the high limit.
No matter what I try though, one or two gears end up misaligned and grinding or being skipped altogether. Correcting them even using the smallest necessary increments will throw out another gear elsewhere.
I've got it to the point where almost all run smooth, but at the sacrifice of one position and a slight noise from its neighbour, so it's rideable at least, however I must be able to get it perfect somehow, surely!
Any tips/advice/techniques greatly appreciated, thanks
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Comments
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Hanger maybe slightly out of line or bent?
Perhaps the shifters are slightly worn out? I had similar problems when mix matching components (old/new, hierarchy, etc).
Try putting your old short cage derailleur back on.0 -
Can't quite understand why you need to play about with the limit screws and tension across the range of gears unless there is something seriously wrong with the RD alignment or the cable routing/freedom.
I've always used the principles from this video:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzvfCaIbyQ
In other words - set the upper and lower limits of the derailleur with the cable detatched. Attach cable while in Big/small, click derailleur once and apply tension with barrel adjuster to get first change.0 -
Graeme from Velotec gave an extensive answer to a similar question some months ago. I had a similar problem that was caused by me routing the cable on the wrong side of the clamp bolt. It has to be ( looking forward at the rear of your bike ) on the left of the clamp bolt. Getting that right made a big difference.
I am sorry but I do not know how to link you Graemes post. The thread is titled "Re:Campag RD-poor shifting*
Dated Dec 2013. It is worth doing a bit of searching for.0 -
Zerotails99 wrote:Hanger maybe slightly out of line or bent?
Perhaps the shifters are slightly worn out? I had similar problems when mix matching components (old/new, hierarchy, etc).
Try putting your old short cage derailleur back on.
I can't really put the short cage derailleur back on. I had to change it for a medium cage one due to the increased sprocket size.
The shifter shouldn't be worn, it and the rest of the bike are barely 500 miles old...
Not sure about the hanger alignment, you may be onto something there. Just by looking at it it could be veeeerry slightly out if at all. I think I might have started having some minor issues before the upgrade (the hanger is still the original one) but nothing like I am having now. The derailleur upgrade might have amplified any effects of a possible hanger out of line. However I don't remember ever knocking it.
What do you think of this:
Think I'll be getting the old set square out tonight...0 -
arlowood wrote:Can't quite understand why you need to play about with the limit screws and tension across the range of gears unless there is something seriously wrong with the RD alignment or the cable routing/freedom.
I've always used the principles from this video:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzvfCaIbyQ
In other words - set the upper and lower limits of the derailleur with the cable detatched. Attach cable while in Big/small, click derailleur once and apply tension with barrel adjuster to get first change.
I started out by doing that. Just set the limits to coincide with the big and small, then set tension to make sure changes were aligned. It's just that the correct tension for aligned gear positions is not managing to be uniform across the range.
Then I read in a very good maintenance manual that if the tension is set correctly you shouldn't need the high (small) gear limit at all since the highest index position should hold it perfectly on the small sprocket. So I tried that too.0 -
lesfirth wrote:Graeme from Velotec gave an extensive answer to a similar question some months ago. I had a similar problem that was caused by me routing the cable on the wrong side of the clamp bolt. It has to be ( looking forward at the rear of your bike ) on the left of the clamp bolt. Getting that right made a big difference.
I am sorry but I do not know how to link you Graemes post. The thread is titled "Re:Campag RD-poor shifting*
Dated Dec 2013. It is worth doing a bit of searching for.
Oh! My cable is on the right (or top, if you're looking at it another way), not the left of the bolt!
I mimicked the set up on the Xenon RD that I've replaced. Maybe the Veloce needs it on the left/bottom.
Interesting, I'll look for that post you quoted...0 -
2_tyred_itai wrote:Zerotails99 wrote:Hanger maybe slightly out of line or bent?
Think I'll be getting the old set square out tonight...
You can tell by eye if the mech is sitting roughly vertically, but to properly check you really need to use a mech hanger alignment tool. Buy / beg / borrow or steal one or take it to your LBS.
Cable clamped the wrong side of the bolt would do it too.0 -
I've just moved the cable to the other (correct) side of the bolt, fiddled again with the adjustments and it runs perfect!
Thanks lesfirth and keef66, you've sorted me right out!
Now can't wait to take it out Saturday morning...0 -
lesfirth beat me to it with the answer, I did exactly the same thing some years back with the same results. It took me a nearly a week of faffing around with adjustments before I thought to look at my other bike to see what the hell I'd done differently.2_tyred_itai wrote:I've just moved the cable to the other (correct) side of the bolt, fiddled again with the adjustments and it runs perfect!
Thanks lesfirth and keef66, you've sorted me right out!
Now can't wait to take it out Saturday morning...0 -
I still can't believe it makes a difference, despite the evidence that it clearly does. Looking closely at the way it changes angle of the cable it doesn't really appear likely to affect the leverage of the system enough to throw out the shifting... but I suppose the effect will be amplified quite a bit through the leverage in parallelogram...
Am I going too far now? Note to self - get a life.0
