Great start to my journey into cycling!

[gazza81]

So I bought my first ever road bike today, and went for a spin round the block, noticed the chain was rubing slightly on the Derailer thingy so i thought id have a play!

Bad idea! So after looking online and following steps i still cant get it right infact its much worse!
And now the gear wire is started to fray quite a bit too!
Was hoping i would be able to do simple things like this myself
Back to the shop tomorrow

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Frayed cable sounds like you've been loosening and tightening the cable to fix the problem.

The barrel adjustor on the derailleur is for this adjustment. If the chain is flying off either top or bottom cog then your Hi/Lo screws are set wrongly - if a new bike, these should all have been set..... So the other option is that you have caused the chain rub by mixing the selection of front and rear gear so the chain is not running as straight as possible, but is more diagonal (termed: cross chaining) and by the nature of the angles introduced causing chain rub and a clattery noise.

It is simple with a bit of practice, don't give up on the cycling or the fixing. Gears can be a PITA to get just perfect and thinking /learning about how your front and rear gears work in harmony and need to be considered together not as 2 independent items.

 

[raleighnut]

^^^^^^+1

 

[gazza81]

Played about with it again and have got it working, still not as smooth as id like needs some fine tuning i think

 

[gazza81]

Took it back to the shop, they replaced the cable snd sorted it out.
Yeah i caused the frayed cable form loosing and tightening it.
The chain rubbing, he said its cos Its on the big cog at the font and the big cog at the back and vise versa so the chain is crossing and its normal for it to rub and that I shouldn't really have it in the gears like that!?

Dose that make sence?
So basicly to keep it in gears that keep the chain in a straight line

 

[raleighnut]

Took it back to the shop, they replaced the cable snd sorted it out.
Yeah i caused the frayed cable form loosing and tightening it.
The chain rubbing, he said its cos Its on the big cog at the font and the big cog at the back and vise versa so the chain is crossing and its normal for it to rub and that I shouldn't really have it in the gears like that!?

Dose that make sence?
So basicly to keep it in gears that keep the chain in a straight line

Yep, avoid cross-chaining. You are only using redundant duplicate gears, try shifting the front mech when the chain is in the middle of the rear cassette to get into the habit.

 

[Ihatehills]

Yes that makes perfect sense, keep the chain in as straight a line as possible, and always avoid the very extremes ( big to big, and small to small) you will be able to achieve approximately the same ratio in a different position e.g on my bike I get the same ratio on the Middle front chainring and the fourth rear against being on the large front and 1st rear.
Don't be put off from trying your own repairs/ adjustments IMO you only learn by making mistakes

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Took it back to the shop, they replaced the cable snd sorted it out.
Yeah i caused the frayed cable form loosing and tightening it.
The chain rubbing, he said its cos Its on the big cog at the font and the big cog at the back and vise versa so the chain is crossing and its normal for it to rub and that I shouldn't really have it in the gears like that!?

Dose that make sence?
So basicly to keep it in gears that keep the chain in a straight line

Well, that's the theory but I've never bothered. Rings/Cassettes/chains are just consumables - they tend to last yonks even if you 'abuse' them.

 

[Shaun]

Also, depending on the gears you have, you can push slightly - a sort of half-click - on the chain ring changer to apply "trim" which moves it slightly across (but not enough to move from one ring to the other) and this helps to avoid chain rub if you're using an extreme combo (as @Ihatehills mentioned above).

 

[gazza81]

Also, depending on the gears you have, you can push slightly - a sort of half-click - on the chain ring changer to apply "trim" which moves it slightly across (but not enough to move from one ring to the other) and this helps to avoid chain rub if you're using an extreme combo (as @Ihatehills mentioned above).

Got no idea what gears its got lol
Its the b'twin tiban 500.

 

[EltonFrog]

Yep, avoid cross-chaining. You are only using redundant duplicate gears, try shifting the front mech when the chain is in the middle of the rear cassette to get into the habit.

D'ya know, I never knew that. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Cyclist33]

Trouble is now you've got new cables they will go through their initial stretching process again and it'll need further adjustment in a few miles time!

 

[gazza81]

Trouble is now you've got new cables they will go through their initial stretching process again and it'll need further adjustment in a few miles time!

Get a free service as long as its before 3 months so all good!
Plus i watched what they did in the shop and asked a few questions and have a slightly better idea of what to do!

 

[Ticktockmy]

Until you have had your first free service, best to leave things alone, if your LSB is a decent shop, they will be happy to make minor tweaks. Once you have had your free check start doing your own servicing, you will need to buy some tools, to remove some of the parts, but its worth it, And servicing is not as scary as you might think, just a little care, get some advise from this forum, and view the many vid's on Utube as you have already done so. Then you will find that broken chains (often the result of using the wrong gears on hills) loose cranks and punctures( practise repairing punctures at home safer than having to learn for real on some wind road when it raining) and cycling will become a little easier.