Setting gears

[Jodami84]

I've read various books on indexing my gears but i still cant deal with it. Truth is i have no idea which gear is which as ive never thought about it. At the moment, pretty much every gear clicks like mad and on the small cog near the pedals i cant get it to change on to the top bracket. Really beginning to wind me up

Anyone with a cycling guide for dummies care to help me out please?

 

[Smokin Joe]

Your cable has stretched too much to shift the chain to the larger sprockets cleanly. There is an adjuster where the cable goes into the gear mech, turn that anti-clockwise until you can shift up to all the sprockets on the cassette. If you turn it too much you will find difficulty in shifting to the smaller sprockets, just turn back the other way to cure that. Do all the adjustments a quarter turn at a time till you get it right.

 

[Jodami84]

I must be the biggest cycling retard yet. I have done as instructed and have gone anti-clockwise until it wont go any further, stage by stage as described, but still only climbs onto the top gear sporadically

 

[Smokin Joe]

If you mean the largest sprocket on the cassette, then it sounds as though your limit screw needs adjusting. There are two of these, little cross-head screws on the body of the mech and they prevent the chain running off either end of the cassette. They are often marked high and low (H&L). You need to screw the low out a little till the chain goes onto the sprocket, but not too much or it will go in the spokes.

If there are no H&L markings, turn the bike upside down and you will see which of the screws are butting against the stop when you are trying to shift to the large sprocket.

 

[Jodami84]

If you mean the largest sprocket on the cassette, then it sounds as though your limit screw needs adjusting. There are two of these, little cross-head screws on the body of the mech and they prevent the chain running off either end of the cassette. They are often marked high and low (H&L). You need to screw the low out a little till the chain goes onto the sprocket, but not too much or it will go in the spokes.

If there are no H&L markings, turn the bike upside down and you will see which of the screws are butting against the stop when you are trying to shift to the large sprocket.

Tbh i dont even know what i mean. My Haynes book talks me through adjusting the indewing but i dont know which way the gears are ordered. It says to start in top gear on the biggest chainring.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Top gear will be the highest, as in a car. So it will be the small sprocket.

If you find you are getting confused by the terminology it would be worth taking the bike to a good shop and letting them show you how to do it. It is only a few minutes work and most won't charge, though even a nominal fee would be worth it to learn something.

 

[crankyray]

try .. http://bicycletutor.com/

or youtube.

i found video clips much easier to understand than books & im fairly new to this bike maintenance lark .

 

[MontyVeda]

try .. http://bicycletutor.com/

or youtube.

i found video clips much easier to understand than books & im fairly new to this bike maintenance lark .

this video should help, http://bicycletutor.com/adjust-rear-derailleur/

If you don't have a stand, as I dont, turn the bike upside down, if you don't have bar ends, rest the handlbars on a couple of bricks or lumps of wood and put a mirror on the floor under the shifters so you can see which gear it should be in, makes life much easier

 

[Jodami84]

this video should help, http://bicycletutor....ear-derailleur/

If you don't have a stand, as I dont, turn the bike upside down, if you don't have bar ends, rest the handlbars on a couple of bricks or lumps of wood and put a mirror on the floor under the shifters so you can see which gear it should be in, makes life much easier

Cheers for the help gents. All sorted now. The clip helped no end.