Shifting - tried everything - won't work right - desperate
pastryboy
Posts: 1,385
I am at the end of my tether here. I've spent hours on this. Got internal routing and I've:
Replaced gear hanger
Tried another cassette
Replaced all inner and outer cables
I can shift up through the cassette and I can shift down - all works fine. However, if I shift up one then down one then nothing is happening - the RD barely moves and needs another press to move down.
I'm not sure what else to try. Help
Replaced gear hanger
Tried another cassette
Replaced all inner and outer cables
I can shift up through the cassette and I can shift down - all works fine. However, if I shift up one then down one then nothing is happening - the RD barely moves and needs another press to move down.
I'm not sure what else to try. Help
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I'd completely gunked up the rd with road censored , gave it a damn good clean off bike, relubed, all ok.
One thing i did was disconnect the rd and put a dot of Sharpie pen on a spot i could measure from, and checked the movement each time.
Bike 1 (Broken) - Bike 2(Borked) - Bike 3(broken spokes) - Bike 4( Needs Work) - Bike 5 (in bits) - Bike 6* ...
It must be because mechanical never goes wrong and is very easy to fix beside the road...
Narrowed it down to rear loop. Kept cutting new bits of shimano cable and trying again but same problem. Tried some lifeline cable and looks to be moving OK now but didn't have time to test - this was done at 4:30 this morning!
It's so annoying there's no logical reason why the shimano cable shouldn't work. It's fine on the other part of the run
Is the rear loop too tight, so it's causing too much friction as the cable passes around it? Or too big so it's pushing the derailleur?
That doesn't guarantee anything. It may still be slightly bent. Or, even if it's perfectly straight on the workbench, how does it look once it's fastened to the dropout?
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This ^.
Get a lifeline hanger straightener - or borrow a Park Tools one. Five mins later, with tiny adjustements, you will have an actually straight not just supposed to be straight rear mech hanger
I agree. I had the same issue with an old 8 speed Shimano. It was in the shifter; I had taken it apart and probably not put it back together right. But the cable wasn't moving freely/getting stuck.
The outer cable I used had been siting around for years. Shouldn't have degraded should it? As mentioned the bit between shifter and frame entry seemed OK.
I know you got internal routing but
undo at the rear mech .. probably take back the bar tape as well... feed the cable back to the shifter and hold onto it tightly as you click thru on the shifter. You should feel the small increments on the cable as you shift.
If this seems sweet then you can rule out your shifter as the issue at least.
Newer shimano shift cables are PTFE coated (anything designed for shifters that route the shift cable under the tape I believe). Older ones aren't. That could be causing the cable to bind somewhere in the frame where a new PTFE coated cable would not.
Edit: Just spotted you said outer.
Mike
Lazy option but effective.
Had to get a new mech because I wanted to get a bigger cassette on and suddenly problem solved. Have you tried new jockey wheels?
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This is the answer
Was the Shimaon cable as per my last comment. I think I tried three different lengths on the RD loop and none of them worked even without ferrules. Last resort was trying the Lifelife outer I had and that worked first time.
Very, very frustrating and no idea why it was a problem other than, as mentioned, I'd had it sitting around for years
That is a little odd as Shimano gear outers are normally pretty good. Only time I ever have issues with them is if they have corroded inside which normally takes months of riding in rubbish conditions. Hope the test ride goes okay.
So I ripped out the lot and started again getting rid of the bit of Shimano cable that was between the shifter and frame. Was a bit worried as I had to re-use the same inner which needed a little cutting but just about had it long enough.
Right now it is shifting damn near perfect in the workstand with a test ride tomorrow planned.
I probably had no need to replace the cables at all since the hanger was so bent but I had no reason to assume it'd be bent and assumed it was worn cables.
An educational experience if nothing else.
Ive been having horrible shifting on three of my bikes and im pretty sure its cable related
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Perfect this morning then noticed it wouldn't shift to the biggest cog at the back on the afternoon ride.
Even with everything replaced I a back to square one - there an upshift and downshift that do absolutely nothing - so I need to shift up twice and down twice for certain changes and at random some downshifts don't happen.
I give up.
1. You have a Shimano cable running through SRAM outer - there is only a .1mm difference and I have never had a problem
2. You have frayed off a piece of cable which is stuck in your brifter
3. Your brifter is breaking or already broken (I once had most of the internals fall out of an ultegra brifter at Blackfriars) - Bloke next to me on the cyclesuperhighway "Ooops - that's gonna be expensive" . Is the white plastic disc which takes the cable shifting around crisply and cleanly? You can see this without disassembly - just by removing rubber grip.
4. Your brifters are full of censored .
2 and 4 are remediable by a good clean (I just spray gt85 in through any holes I can find and make sure I have a container underneath
Thing is it was working perfectly on the workstand and then it worked fine on the AM ride to work.
It was only come PM that it no longer shifted to the largest cog, when I attempted to alter that via the barrel adjuster I just ended up with more problems.
Nothing should be worn or broken - bike has only done about 2,500 miles in two years and barely seen the rain.
I have bought another bike so at least I can leave this be for a bit then come back to it afresh.
I bet the rear mech has taken a knock and the hanger is slightly out.
But buying another bike because its not shifting properly is a bit extreme though, surely that must be the greatest parts sale by a lbs ever.
"No mate you dont need new cables to get that shifting properly. What you need mate, is a new bike. That will sort all your problems."
PX Kaffenback 2 = Work Horse
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Although I said I gave up I have just gone and set it all up again. It is shifting perfectly right now in the workstand. Next ride is Sunday so I'll see what happens.
New bike was a suggestion on page 1 - I'm just doing what I'm advised :oops:
Not a cassette or hub issue? There's no load in the workstand.
It's one of the things that makes me happy about Di2 is that, after doing a change on the bike, you can tune the thing on the fly.
I still think that there's an alignment problem - something bent, worn or loose at the rear. It shouldn't be this difficult (as much as I think mech shifting is so 20th Century).