Gears and my commute tonight URGENT ADVICE NEEDED

Harry B
Harry B Posts: 1,239
edited October 2009 in Commuting chat
I've been having a few problems with my gears changing cleanly so last night under the influence of too much alcohol I adjusted the barrel adjuster (I think thats what its called) on the downtube by around 3 or 4 turns. This made changing gear on my commute this morning "quite difficult" (that's a polite term for "fvcking awful") :evil:

Can anyone give some simple advice on how to adjust this back so that the gears work a bit better? I'm not sure which way I turned it last night :(

*Note to self - leave the bike maintenance alone when you've had too many you plonker :roll:

Comments

  • the basic way is to watch the derailer as you turn the ajuster, it should line up with the correct cog.
  • Harry B
    Harry B Posts: 1,239
    the basic way is to watch the derailer as you turn the ajuster, it should line up with the correct cog.

    Seems simple enough. I'll try it before I leave this evening
  • Harry B
    Harry B Posts: 1,239
    Harry B wrote:
    the basic way is to watch the derailer as you turn the ajuster, it should line up with the correct cog.

    Seems simple enough. I'll try it before I leave this evening

    Thanks by the way :wink:
  • always_tyred
    always_tyred Posts: 4,965
    You could just turn it back 3 or 4 turns and fettle whilst sober, once you get in tonight?
  • Harry B
    Harry B Posts: 1,239
    You could just turn it back 3 or 4 turns and fettle whilst sober, once you get in tonight?

    That's the plan but I want to enjoy the ride home so hence wishing to do some adjustment before I leave :)
  • jeepie
    jeepie Posts: 497
    It's actually easier to adjust it and ride under load than do it on a stand I find. Therefore if you work somewhere quiet, turn it back say 2 turns and try then to ride the bike. Then turn it 1/8 and ride each time just 100m or so adjusting as you go. Shouldn't take more than 10 mins and you'll have a nice safe ride home. This is what I'd do anyway as I prefer the suck it and see method!
  • Harry B
    Harry B Posts: 1,239
    Jeepie wrote:
    if you work somewhere quiet

    London Bridge :shock:
  • always_tyred
    always_tyred Posts: 4,965
    Harry B wrote:
    You could just turn it back 3 or 4 turns and fettle whilst sober, once you get in tonight?

    That's the plan but I want to enjoy the ride home so hence wishing to do some adjustment before I leave :)
    You know what they say - if you are in a hole, stop fettling.
  • R_T_A
    R_T_A Posts: 488
    It may not be the gears - check out the cabling as well. Mine needed replacing after I'd spent an hour fettling :oops:
    Giant Escape R1
    FCN 8
    "Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
    - Terry Pratchett.
  • Stuey01
    Stuey01 Posts: 1,273
    How about, first turn the adjuster 4x in either direction. If it gets better then great, if it gets worse then turn it 8x in the other direction.

    logic, see.
    Not climber, not sprinter, not rouleur
  • jimmypippa
    jimmypippa Posts: 1,712
    Harry B wrote:
    You could just turn it back 3 or 4 turns and fettle whilst sober, once you get in tonight?

    That's the plan but I want to enjoy the ride home so hence wishing to do some adjustment before I leave :)
    You know what they say - if you are in a hole, stop fettling.
    R_T_A wrote:
    It may not be the gears - check out the cabling as well. Mine needed replacing after I'd spent an hour fettling :oops:

    Three men on the Bummel by Jerome K Jerome, (out of copyright)

    http://www.literaturecollection.com/a/jerome/three-men-bummel/3/
    "The tandem," I replied, "is well."

    He said: "Have you overhauled it?"

    I said: "I have not, nor is anyone else going to overhaul it. The
    thing is now in working order, and it is going to remain in working
    order till we start."

    I have had experience of this "overhauling." There was a man at
    Folkestone; I used to meet him on the Lees. He proposed one
    evening we should go for a long bicycle ride together on the
    following day, and I agreed. I got up early, for me; I made an
    effort, and was pleased with myself. He came half an hour late: I
    was waiting for him in the garden. It was a lovely day. He said:-

    "That's a good-looking machine of yours. How does it run?"

    "Oh, like most of them!" I answered; "easily enough in the morning;
    goes a little stiffly after lunch."

    He caught hold of it by the front wheel and the fork and shook it
    violently.

    I said: "Don't do that; you'll hurt it."

    I did not see why he should shake it; it had not done anything to
    him. Besides, if it wanted shaking, I was the proper person to
    shake it. I felt much as I should had he started whacking my dog.

    He said: "This front wheel wobbles."

    I said: "It doesn't if you don't wobble it." It didn't wobble, as
    a matter of fact--nothing worth calling a wobble.

    He said: "This is dangerous; have you got a screw-hammer?"

    I ought to have been firm, but I thought that perhaps he really did
    know something about the business. I went to the tool shed to see
    what I could find. When I came back he was sitting on the ground
    with the front wheel between his legs. He was playing with it,
    twiddling it round between his fingers; the remnant of the machine
    was lying on the gravel path beside him.

    He said: "Something has happened to this front wheel of yours."

    "It looks like it, doesn't it?" I answered. But he was the sort of
    man that never understands satire.

    He said: "It looks to me as if the bearings were all wrong."

    I said: "Don't you trouble about it any more; you will make
    yourself tired. Let us put it back and get off."

    He said: "We may as well see what is the matter with it, now it is
    out." He talked as though it had dropped out by accident.

    Before I could stop him he had unscrewed something somewhere, and
    out rolled all over the path some dozen or so little balls.

    "Catch 'em!" he shouted; "catch 'em! We mustn't lose any of them."
    He was quite excited about them.

    We grovelled round for half an hour, and found sixteen. He said he
    hoped we had got them all, because, if not, it would make a serious
    difference to the machine. He said there was nothing you should be
    more careful about in taking a bicycle to pieces than seeing you
    did not lose any of the balls. He explained that you ought to
    count them as you took them out, and see that exactly the same
    number went back in each place. I promised, if ever I took a
    bicycle to pieces I would remember his advice.

    I put the balls for safety in my hat, and I put my hat upon the
    doorstep. It was not a sensible thing to do, I admit. As a matter
    of fact, it was a silly thing to do. I am not as a rule addle-
    headed; his influence must have affected me.

    He then said that while he was about it he would see to the chain
    for me, and at once began taking off the gear-case. I did try to
    persuade him from that. I told him what an experienced friend of
    mine once said to me solemnly:-

    "If anything goes wrong with your gear-case, sell the machine and
    buy a new one; it comes cheaper."

    He said: "People talk like that who understand nothing about
    machines. Nothing is easier than taking off a gear-case."

    I had to confess he was right. In less than five minutes he had
    the gear-case in two pieces, lying on the path, and was grovelling
    for screws. He said it was always a mystery to him the way screws
    disappeared.

    We were still looking for the screws when Ethelbertha came out.
    She seemed surprised to find us there; she said she thought we had
    started hours ago.