All the symptoms of a frayed gear cable but...

[mrandmrspoves]

nah, whilst the recumbrant side of life would suit my bad/failing wrist I am not ready to go there yet - had my eye on something like this... I usually meet a guy on one somewhere between Sandbach and Middlewich (Cheshire) each and every time I commute over to my parents' home. It has taken a while, but I finally have him saying hello to me and I see him smile and cheer up when he sees me and for the last few rides he has said hello first!

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The recumbent would probably suit you better - standard trikes require you to unlearn everything that you know about balancing a bicycle. To go round a bend at even reasonable speed requires you to lean right over to put weight on the unweighted wheel, otherwise you will end up eating tarmac. My recumbent allows me to take bends quite safely at speeds of up to 25mph ................which I can only achieve if the bend is at the bottom of a steep hill :-(

 

[young Ed]

nah, whilst the recumbrant side of life would suit my bad/failing wrist I am not ready to go there yet - had my eye on something like this... I usually meet a guy on one somewhere between Sandbach and Middlewich (Cheshire) each and every time I commute over to my parents' home. It has taken a while, but I finally have him saying hello to me and I see him smile and cheer up when he sees me and for the last few rides he has said hello first!

View attachment 39727

steerer needs cutting down and spacers removed though!
Cheers Ed

 

[jay clock]

on the subject of loose cones/hubs, check the cassette lockring is tight. I failed to tighten mine once, and the cassette was moving laterally, making it skip gears.. A long shot, but worth a mention

 

[raleighnut]

nah, whilst the recumbrant side of life would suit my bad/failing wrist I am not ready to go there yet - had my eye on something like this... I usually meet a guy on one somewhere between Sandbach and Middlewich (Cheshire) each and every time I commute over to my parents' home. It has taken a while, but I finally have him saying hello to me and I see him smile and cheer up when he sees me and for the last few rides he has said hello first!

View attachment 39727

I'd go with crackle and remove clean and regrease the dolly wheels, don't mix up the screws, washers ,wheels and inserts though.
Always fancied a trike meself though

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Sounds like a possible bent derailleur hanger, easy to solve and there's quite a few YouTube videos. When I had similar issues a quick 2 minute straightening of the mech hanger sorted them out. With all the carrying and your known physical issues I can see the rear mech taking a knocking, and it doesn't take much. The other issues could be the rear chain stays flexing, but on a bike so new I can't see this being a problem.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

OK - there is no lateral movement in the wheel and the lock rings are tight. The RD hanger is not bent or out of alignment (been there, done that one ) (only the tourer is kept upstairs - the mtb & road bikes are kept outside) and I have the jockey & pulley wheels being oiled as we speak (assuming the oil does not freeze - its dense freezing fog outside at the moment ). If that does not resolve the squeak, I will dismantle them tomorrow (I have my 44 mile 'domestic' commute again today) and clean them up properly (not really got time before I leave in the next 30 mins).

The skipping is still there, so if that continues I'll have a word with my bike shop (sort of local) only I don't have the car tomorrow, but do on Friday (meant to be packing to go on holiday though!) and see what miracle he can muster for me before Saturday when I go on holiday for a week (with road and mountain bikes in tow)... Worst case scenario there is a good bike shop in Pitlochry... but I will also take a spare cassette & new chain on holiday with me, just in case. The teeth on the existing one do not look worn, but I guess it could just be a bad combination of new chain with a slightly worn cassette (I'm not exactly a power horse if you look at my average speeds and my thighs are only 18.5" circumference at their max!). Thankfully the new cassette only cost me £12.50 because various shops online are clearing their stock of them!

That really only then leaves

• a derailleur problem - possible and does look a little 'suspect'
• indexing - so why is it only skipping in 2 or 3 middle of the range gears on the cassette and why not all the time.
• shifter issue - possible with it getting very stiff randomly () and sometimes not coming home.. - OK that could really be better phrased but it is way too early in the morning

Ahhhhh annoying

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

OK - have finally tracked down and sussed out the problem. On Tuesday the shifter button got so stiff that it needed 2 hands to change gear... so that was the final straw. Yesterday I dismantled it on the grounds that even when there were no more gears to change to, it was still very stiff to click, so it had to be the shifter. Inside looked 'OK' but not brilliant so I decided on the WD40 fix... I got it working again, albeit a touch stiff still and reassembled the shifter and left it overnight. Today it only needs the slightest of touches (like a feather) and it is working happily again and no more issues with gear changes and slipping chain etc... so sussed it - sti lever needed greasing!

 

[mrandmrspoves]

Glad you sorted it SatNav. In my experience, things that get stiff randomly can cause all sorts of problems!