So I got my bike tuned up before coming to montreal, and i noticed last week that whenever I go onto my lowest gear the chain won’t stay on the gear and like skips, so it’s really jerky when trying to ride. For most rides I’ll be good, but with KOM coming up this thursday I was hoping someone would know a quick fix for this.
Thanks!
Sounds like there isn’t enough cable tension… Try turning the barrel adjuster on the rear derailleur counter-clockwise little by little until it shifts into the gear you want without skipping and such.
If it’s just on the lower gear it’s probably not the cable tension (and it would be too tight), but the limit screw. http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/rear-derailler-adjustments-derailleur
You’ll need to unscrew the limit screw. Typically by a very small amount. The cable itself should still have a tiny bit of slack too. As you unscrew, you should be able to see the derailler move a bit too.
Otherwise, it can also be caused by a new chain on a worn cassette (or a new cassette with a worn chain) if either were changed. This happens when you’ve run your chain for too long and it stretches, prematurely wearing out your cassette.
In my defence, in the Index Setting section (#4) of the Park Tool article above, it says that if the chain fails to shift up to a larger cog it may be due to too much slack in the cable (I assume by lowest you meant the biggest cog, since you mentioned KOM).
But yeah, Jon’s right, if it’s just that last cog (and everything else shifts okay), it’s probably a limit screw issue.
Good point, got low upside down. It would probably still be the limit screw, because cable tension affects the whole range.
ok thanks guys, ill give what you suggested a try.
You can always swing by the bike collective for issues like this. I think they are still giving general mechanic clinics too.
ya i’ve fixed it for the most part now. Thanks for all the advice. I realized it was getting stuck between gears, and not fully up onto the next ring. Where’s the general mechanics clinic? Is that the area by gert’s in the basement of SSMU?
They haven’t updated their website in a while. They are still by Gert’s last time I checked. Best bet is to just drop by.