Clunk!! Is it the mech or the shifter?

gohabsgo

Hi,

I have a strange set up on my rain bike (Devinci Silverstone SL3): Tiagra brake/shifter levers, Tiagra front mech and 105 rear mech. Whenever I shift from the large ring on front to the smaller one, it is pretty hard push on the mini lever to get to drop and it does so with excessive gusto, in my opinion. Compared to my Ultegra on my other bike which is pretty much silent, this the rain bike is doing a big clunk when it drops to the small ring. It seems like the bike is pi**ed that it only gets to go out in the questionalble weather.

I'm wondering if the problem stem from the shifter or the mec or if that is generally the nature of the Tiagra line.

Larry

Monty Dog

Could be a combination of factors from gunked-up cables and poorly set-up mech. Changing the cables and looking at some online tutorials would be a good place to start.

Man Of Lard

Is the mech itself gunked up with crud? I know mine was to the extent shifting on the front mech just didn't happen at all, rarely used it so didn't notice until I needed it.

Cleaned it and lubricated it and now it shifts silently. Tiagra 4600 shifters & mech.

gohabsgo

I will go over it when I get home ... it may need some lubing. Usually I only clean and lube the chain and forget to lube anything else. Thanks.

k-dog

Could be cleaning but I've also found with those ones that they are set up poorly. If you release the cable you can sometimes find that there are more clicks than you need - if it is setup one position higher than it should be then the tension has to be too high and you're trying to use a trim position rather than a whole click - the shifter doesn't like that and I think that's what led to a flurry of broken ones about 10 years ago.

I would give it a clean as suggested (although I find that just makes the derailleur stick rather than clunk) and then set it up from scratch.

This is how I do it and my shifting has never been better.

Start over. Undo the cable. Click the small shifter a few times to make sure it's in "least tension" position

When clamping the front derailleur to the frame make sure the gap between the big chainring teeth and front derailleur cage is 2-5mm.

So first, with the cable de-attached. Put the chain on the small front ring and biggest back cog. Make sure to click the downshift lever into its lowest postion.

Adjust the inner limit screw (closest to the frame on the front derailleur) so the gap is 1mm from the chain to the inner side of the front derailleur.

Wind out the outer limit screw so it doesn't interfere in the next stage.

Clamp the cable (finger tight cable tension - not too much). Then shift the chain onto the 11t cog (or smallest) at the back, and shift the front onto the big ring. There should now be some chain rubbing on the cage if you spin the cranks.

Then wind the inline barrel adjuster (adding more cable tension) until there is a 1mm gap between the outer cage and chain, and no chain rub. Look down at the front derailleur cage as you do it.

Then wind the outer limit screw in until it just touches the stop.

Now shift the chain onto the small front ring, and the rear onto the second to last smallest cog. Then click into the front small ring trim position. Now whilst in the trim position - add more tension again with the barrel adjuster until there is no rub. Leave a gap of 2mm from the chain and the outer cage. This will eliminate any slop in the trim position and make it feel more positive.

Check all gears and trim settings. Make sure the chain isnt being thrown over off the big ring.

There will always be rub in the small/small combo. This is the chain rubbing on the big ring not an adjustment issue.

svetty

^ This. It just sounds as if the cable tension is a bit high