Beginner Gear Cable Questions

[raleighnut]

Amazing insight! You are totally right i had forgotten that he he changed the front chainring from 50t to 46t! That must be the reason. The previous owner said he changed the cables too which i don't doubt but i wonder if the outers/bb guard was changed too

What I was thinking was the front mech might be struggling to shift rings due to the curve on the arm not matching the ring if the chainset had been changed. It depends what had been fitted in that a mech capable of working with a 53 will be fine on a 50 but won't really work on a smaller outer due to it not 'lifting' the chain in the right place, it will shift it eventually but the leverage is wrong.