Can't change front gear at all - Front derailleur adjustment

[HughF]

I was having trouble with changing gears and with rubbing sounds coming from the chain of my road bike so I thought I would adjust my bike's derailleurs. I managed to index the rear derailleur fairly well so moved onto the front. My main problem was getting into the biggest ring at the front so I thought I would try increasing the cable tension. The previous owner had unfortunately cut the wire where it was clamped so I decided to fit a new gear cable. I fitted the cable, pulled it reasonably taught and then went on to adjust the lower limit of the derailleur using the lower limit screw. All was fine until I then tried to move up a gear. I pulled the gear lever but the gear wouldn't move into the middle ring. I then pulled the lever again to put more tension in the cable but still the chain wouldn't move over. I thought to put more tension in the cable so I adjusted the tension by loosening where the cable is clamped and adjusting by hand. At this point the cable was as taught as it could reasonably be and yet still when I went to move into higher gears at the front the chain wouldn't even move onto the middle ring.

I adjusted the alignment of the front derailleur with no cable attached and yet still the gear wouldn't change. This included adjusting the lower and upper limit screws whilst moving the derailleur by hand. At this point I just have no clue what could be wrong. The cable is tight enough, the derailleur is aligned and yet still I can't change gear at all.

Any help would be appreciated by this point. Cheers.

(By the way this is a Giant defy road bike with Shimano gears)

 

[Cycleops]

Rather than try to talk you through the process have a look at this video which explains the process very well. You may have put too much tension on the cable when you were on the small chainring.
Changing the outer cable as well as the inner might be a good idea.


View: https://youtu.be/lxV_vKlgolc

 

[Ajax Bay]

Oil on all the FD pivots and a beer close to hand.

 

[Paulus]

I was having trouble with changing gears and with rubbing sounds coming from the chain of my road bike so I thought I would adjust my bike's derailleurs. I managed to index the rear derailleur fairly well so moved onto the front. My main problem was getting into the biggest ring at the front so I thought I would try increasing the cable tension. The previous owner had unfortunately cut the wire where it was clamped so I decided to fit a new gear cable. I fitted the cable, pulled it reasonably taught and then went on to adjust the lower limit of the derailleur using the lower limit screw. All was fine until I then tried to move up a gear. I pulled the gear lever but the gear wouldn't move into the middle ring. I then pulled the lever again to put more tension in the cable but still the chain wouldn't move over. I thought to put more tension in the cable so I adjusted the tension by loosening where the cable is clamped and adjusting by hand. At this point the cable was as taught as it could reasonably be and yet still when I went to move into higher gears at the front the chain wouldn't even move onto the middle ring.

I adjusted the alignment of the front derailleur with no cable attached and yet still the gear wouldn't change. This included adjusting the lower and upper limit screws whilst moving the derailleur by hand. At this point I just have no clue what could be wrong. The cable is tight enough, the derailleur is aligned and yet still I can't change gear at all.

Any help would be appreciated by this point. Cheers.

(By the way this is a Giant defy road bike with Shimano gears)

Have you clamped the cable to the right side of the clamp, so that it is pulling the clamp bolt and derailleur the right way?