New bike - Derailleur problem

[Bawheidbob]

Hi All

So I decided to get a new bike and had the notion to get it delivered and put it together myself to try and achieve something with my life and get some basic understanding of how things work.Now progress has been slow but taking shape yet I have just noticed a rather severe problem that I cant work out.

As I went to try turn pedals to try out gears I noticed the derailleur is touching the spokes of my back wheel - I cant figure this one out so some advice would be most welcome really do not want to admit defeat and take it back to the shop.

Cheers

Rob

 

[cyberknight]

Hi All

So I decided to get a new bike and had the notion to get it delivered and put it together myself to try and achieve something with my life and get some basic understanding of how things work.Now progress has been slow but taking shape yet I have just noticed a rather severe problem that I cant work out.

As I went to try turn pedals to try out gears I noticed the derailleur is touching the spokes of my back wheel - I cant figure this one out so some advice would be most welcome really do not want to admit defeat and take it back to the shop.

Cheers

Rob

Sounds like the low stop needs turning in a bit ....(L stop )
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/rear-derailler-adjustments-derailleur

 

[Shortmember]

I think you need to post a photo of this problem derailleur

 

[Cycleops]

Sounds like it could be bent or it may just need adjusting. Did you receive it boxed by carrier? May have got damaged there, if it is indeed damaged. Look at it from behind the back wheel, does it look bent inwards? If it isn't bent it may just need adjusting with the screws which limit the travel of the derailleur. There are two, low gear screw is always located nearest the cassette. Check out this video
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j1gSwhsVN8
Good luck

 

[Bawheidbob]

Thanks all a great help - Progress being made - Especially now I have my handle bars on the right way round .
Not hitting the smallest seventh gear but I proceed now to tweak that.

 

[Bawheidbob]

Going to leave it for today - Tweaking gears driving me a bit bonkers. Will update again tomorrow - Thanks all

 

[roadrash]

The best tutorial on youtube for gear indexing


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzvfCaIbyQ

 

[Exile]

I too went down the "buy boxed" route, and my rear gears needed some tuning. Granted, the derailleur wasn't in the spokes (at least not until after my first attempt at adjusting it ) but after a few hours of tinkering, a handful of YouTube videos and several mugs of tea and coffee I managed to get everything working nice and smooth.

I'll probably need to tweak it some in a few weeks/months when the cables stretch a bit, but right now it's great, and I saved myself a few bob to boot! Well, by "saved" I mean "am now able to spend on something new for the bike"

 

[Bawheidbob]

Well I am going to admit defeat - My old man was working on it last night without any luck either - When I went out this morning to take another look my gear shifter will show 2 when I am in 1.

Give my an IT problem any day this practical real world stuff is too much for me.

Thanks again for advice I am sure if I was anyone else I would have been able to work it out.

 

[cinelli]

Has the derailleur hanger been bent whilst in the process of shipping? I would suggest taking it to the local bike shop to check everything is aligned. Tuning gears is often very frustrating.

 

[Bawheidbob]

All sorted out - Took the lad in the shop 5 minutes - I am going to go out for the first time tomorrow - Thanks again for advice.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Always amazing how you can work on something for the longest time, and the fellow in the shop can fix it in 5 minutes, or tell you why not. I used to run photography stores, and we would see such situations all the time, and with regularity, so it gave us a lot of skills in diagnosis and cure. If not, then we knew who to send it to. Canon AE-1 pops to mind. Lubricated with whale oil (ostensibly) at the factory, then this would congeal over many years and cause the shutter to squeal, then screech, then fail.