chain slip

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Pale Rider

Legendary Member
Always worth learning oneself, of course.

As regards time to go out of whack, 200 miles is a fair distance for bedding in of components.

The first service won't amount to a great deal, but with your mileage I think getting it done a bit sooner than May would be a good idea.
 
Always worth learning oneself, of course.

As regards time to go out of whack, 200 miles is a fair distance for bedding in of components.

The first service won't amount to a great deal, but with your mileage I think getting it done a bit sooner than May would be a good idea.

Fair enough. Good to get confirmation that what I have going on sounds par for the course. Weekend commitments mean I won't be able to get back to York any sooner, but I am friendly with a bike shop owner here in Hull so will get him to take a look next week if my efforts draw a blank. From reading on here and watching Youtube vids adjusting the indexing seems simple and in my case (i.e cables bedding in, chain slipping off a sprocket to the next smallest) I'd imagine that I just need to tighten the cable tension slightly with the barrel adjuster. But maybe I'm being overly optimistic! Someone on a different thread did suggest it might be my hanger than needs adjusting - if so then that's def an LBS job for now, as I have no tool (and am not entirely sure how to tell if it needs adjusting!)
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
You can't do any harm tinkering with the indexing, and you may well sort it.

Hangers are sometimes bent slightly out of line in transit - many bikes are sent all but fully assembled from the likes of China, Taiwan, or Bangladesh.

If the hanger is bent, it will be the devil's own job to get the gears to shift nicely.

Doesn't sound like a bent hanger in your case, because the gears presumably worked reasonably well for the first 100 or whatever miles.
 

zacklaws

Guru
Location
Beverley
You make it sound so simple!
I'm faced with exactly this problem on my new bike (Shimano Tiagra) after riding it just 200-odd miles. So I'm going to have a go at adjusting it tomorrow (if the weather's dry). It would be lovely if your method works and I don't have to get my screwdrivers out!
When you say "turn the shifter 2 clicks" - by shifter do you mean barrel adjuster? And by 2 clicks do you mean 2x full 360 revolutions? Or 2 quarter revolutions? Don't think mine makes a clicking sound when turned.
Thanks.

There should be no need to use screwdrivers. It is the barrel adjuster that needs turning. When you turn it, you should feel it "click" as opposed to hearing it. One "click" is one "click", not one revolution. With it being a new bike, chances are the cable has stretched which is normal. Always turn the shifter in multiples of 2, ie, 2, 4, 8, etc, then it makes it easier to bracket the problem as then its possible to go back half the distance and then forward again if need be till you get it right. Saves messing about with single clicks and solves it quicker. Always remember in your head as well how many turns you have gone in case things go wrong and then you can go back to the start. And its not my method, it the way it is universally done to adjust your gears using the barrel adjuster
 

JMAG

Über Member
Location
Windsor

sannesley

Well-Known Member
Location
Northern Ireland
A workstand make life so much easier especially for adjusting gears. Also handy for washing the bike and a worthwhile investment at under £30

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BIKE-BICYCLE-CYCLE-MAINTENANCE-MECHANIC-REPAIR-FOLDING-WORK-STAND-MOUNTAIN-TOOL-/360789298882?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5400b7cec2

Another £30 should get you a good starter toolkit or buy tools as required. Having the tool kit to hand will make you more likely to take a repair/maintenance task on though.

Good find there JMAG. I've just ordered one of those stands from that "well known online auction site", should come in handy
 
Location
Loch side.
The idea of doing a "service" on a bike is batty anyway; it's not a car where you need to change oils and filters and not much else. A bicycle is a collection of systems that need to be tweaked and kept in adjustment to get the best from them and the only way to do that is to learn to do it yourself.

I despair when I see people posting that their bike "has just been serviced " and they expect it to be running perfectly. You will only know when a something needs attention if you are attuned to the sound and feel of it or if you take the time to inspect it carefully; which you can't expect a mechanic in a bike shop to do when he's under pressure and being distracted by colleagues, customers, loud music and his mobile phone.

Bike "servicing" is a boring, tiring, tedious job that makes no profit no matter how much the shop charges. Speaking as a bike fettler who has tried, briefly, to make a living from servicing bikes, there's nothing more depressing or de-motivating that receiving a bike in a filthy neglected condition from a customer who expects you to wave a magic wand and make it like new again, especially when you know that your efforts won't be appreciated and they will continue to abuse and neglect the bike.

The simplest and cheapest answer is to buy some tools and learn to do your own maintenance. That way, when the bike breaks out on the road, you've a better chance of fixing it yourself.
This is the most sensible take on bike servicing I've ever seen (other than a slightly more cynical one by yours truly, of course). I cannot agree more that the very term "service" is confusing to the customer but offers the shop an opportunity to exploit the customer and skirt responsibility. In the country where I had a workshop there was a tradition of Minor and Major services. No firm definition, just a tradition. Every single workshop subscribed to it. I sold my workshop and consulted to the new owners for a few months. We had a plaque made for the workshop. Here's the wording I used.

XYZ Bike Shop Service Philosophy*

Our Service Philosophy

XYZ Bike Shop has adopted an incremental service policy for this workshop.

What does this mean? It means that we will examine your bike at check-in, and decide there and then what needs to be done and what not. We then charge only for the actual labour done.

This is a move away from the current industry policy of Minor Service or Major Service. The benefit is that you pay only for what is done and, the invoice will reflect exactly what was done.

We undertake to put you in touch with a skilled person at check-in time. He or she will spend a few minutes with you and determine exactly what is required. This in turn minimises changes to the job card.


One year down the line the group has resorted back to minor and major services. Some of the items on the tick lists that now define the service is BB service and Headset service. How cynical is that? You can't service today's headsets or BBs. They are either replaced or left along. Sometimes they have to be removed and replaced, but that's different from servicing it. In the industry once regularly gets new customers who are trying other workshops, often with complaints. A complaint such as "my bike went to Joe's for a service last week but just yesterday the fork broke. What sort of service was that." Upon enquiry you'll discover that he was invoice for a "minor service" that constitutes nothing more than a wash, lube and gear check.

I understand that most cyclists don't want to do it themselves and don't understand what is wrong and therefore find it difficult to communicate with the mechanic. But, time spent with the customer and a quick test ride quickly reveals all the problems on the bike.

* The actual wording was changed by the marketing guru's in the group but I don't have a copy of that. It was a bit friendlier.
 
Location
Loch side.
So the hanger couldn't have got bent in those 100 miles then?
A hanger can be bent in the first ten seconds of the bike's life. It is caused by a bump or a fall to the right. A hanger always bends inwards. Therefore it's diagnostic is always the same. Gears will readily shift up (towards the largest sprocket) but the downshift will be erratic. Extreme bends will of course confuse the pattern.
 

JMAG

Über Member
Location
Windsor
Quick tip if using the workstand for washing your bike is to spray some GT85 inside the main tube as it's untreated and oxidises quickly.
 

bpsmith

Veteran
A hanger can be bent in the first ten seconds of the bike's life. It is caused by a bump or a fall to the right. A hanger always bends inwards. Therefore it's diagnostic is always the same. Gears will readily shift up (towards the largest sprocket) but the downshift will be erratic. Extreme bends will of course confuse the pattern.
That was exactly my point! The hanger could have been bent simply putting it away or knocking whilst in the garage or shed. 100 miles or 10,000 miles it can bend at any time. Hence my reply to the post as above.
 
Location
Loch side.
A hanger can be bent in the first ten seconds of the bike's life. It is caused by a bump or a fall to the right.
That was exactly my point! The hanger could have been bent simply putting it away or knocking whilst in the garage or shed. 100 miles or 10,000 miles it can bend at any time. Hence my reply to the post as above.
OK, I see what you're saying.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
That was exactly my point! The hanger could have been bent simply putting it away or knocking whilst in the garage or shed. 100 miles or 10,000 miles it can bend at any time. Hence my reply to the post as above.

It was such a statement of the bleedin' obvious I couldn't summon the will to reply.

But it was also needlessly and pointlessly argumentative, as so often happens around here these days.

It is not possible to cover every eventuality in a short reply, as the likes of you well know.

But still you persist in smart arse one liners.

What you get out of it, only you know.
 

Tojo

Über Member
It was such a statement of the bleedin' obvious I couldn't summon the will to reply.

But it was also needlessly and pointlessly argumentative, as so often happens around here these days.

It is not possible to cover every eventuality in a short reply, as the likes of you well know.

But still you persist in smart arse one liners.

What you get out of it, only you know.





I agree I looked at this thread earlier....and thought I don't I'm going to bother getting involved any more on this forum...cannot be bothered with bitching......:wacko:
 
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summerdays

Cycling in the sun
Location
Bristol
I still use the bike shop for some bits, and gradually do more myself. And when I take the bike in to have something done by the experts I'm always asking questions and finding out a little bit more. And my LBS is happy to explain and help if I want to do it myself. But I'm not technically minded so it does take me a while to pick up some of the tinkering.

So far I'm happy to change tyres (though I go by the LBS advice on size etc), chains, cassette, pedals, v-brakes, cables. Still haven't done anything with the bottom bracket and I struggle with disk brake pad replacement and get Mr Summerdays to do that. I also have to get him to pull the cable tight for me - I can't get it tight enough before I start the minor adjustments.

Just work your way up and ask lots of questions here.
 
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