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| *Vultures Knob>>>Bicycle Shop |
My gears are not shifting as well after a while...? |
Is it typical for the gear wire to stretch, and not able to shift all the way to certain gears after you buy a new bike? How do you fix it? I don't want to take it to a bike shop because they will try to make me buy new parts. Hey, For sure it is normal. No cables ever come prestretched from the factory on a new bike. First off, where you bought the bike usually gives the first couple of tune ups free for this very reason - you should enquire. All you need to do is likely tighten the cable by unscrewing the barrel adjuster until the gears run smooth. These are the adjusters on the rear derailler and shifter. Unscrew it until it shifts smooth from hardest to easiest gear. Then go back down to the hardest gear. If it isn't smooth in this direction, you unscrewed the adjuster too much. That should be it. good luck Source(s): work in a bike shop well never had tht situation sorry.... Sounds like your bike needs a tuneup. A bike shop should be able to tune your gears, true your wheel and adjust your brake for $40-$50. In all reality, cables today don't stretch and are MUCH better than they used to be except for a few of the coarse galvanized brake cables that you can still get for $2. But "stretching" is an easy way to refer to it, and yeah, it's sorta normal on new installations. What's really happening is that the cables and ferrules are being compressed and seating into their fittings. It has the same effect as "stretching" the cable, and so you need to adjust for it. If you do it correctly the first time, it'll often stay perfect with no further need of attention, but if it does usually one adjustment will keep it set (assuming the cables never slip in the fixing bolt, of course). Check out the Park Tools website for good instructions, or you can look at the Shimano instructions at their European website (they don't publish any of that in the US for some dumb reason). Basically, you just unscrew the barrel adjusters a little at a time until the slack is removed from the cable. There's more to it than that, but it's a lot to type. Those two sites give good instructions.....and it's easy to do once you understand the basic concept. Cable needs to be tight, but not too tight. :o) If you bought it from a bike shop, most decent shops offer free adjustments for some period of time. Yes, new cables stretch a bit with use, and this would fall in the adjustment category. If you wanted to do it yourself, backing off the starwheel at the derailleur or by the shifter will do the trick. Do what ct said. |
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