Which way to 'tweak' the gears (Shimano compact)

[Dave7]

New bike so I expect some cable stretch. After 30 miles I found this minor problem........small (inner) cog on the front, when I change up to the 2nd smallest & smallest) at the back it is making noises to tell it it's not set correctly.
I 'think' I should turn the adjuster counter-clockwise which I 'think' will pull the cable........is this correct?
I can & will play around but a bit of good advice will hopefully make things easier.
Thanks

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

No need to guess. If you look from behind, if the rear mech is a little to the right of the cog it should be on, you turn the adjuster anticlockwise (i.e. increase cable tension) until it lines up perfectly.

Exception to the above for "rapid rise" otherwise known as "low normal" mechs, which go the opposite way, but they are rarer.

 

[Cubist]

Yes. Winding the adjuster barrel outwards increases the cable tension, so Anti-Clockwise to increase tension and clockwise, winding the barrel back in, to slacken.

 

[wakou]

Err if you are on small front and smallest rear, you are cross chained. The noise will probs be coming from the chain rubbing the outer cage on the front mech IMHO.

 

[VamP]

Err if you are on small front and smallest rear, you are cross chained. The noise will probs be coming from the chain rubbing the outer cage on the front mech IMHO.

This.

The easy way to check is if you are getting the same noise on smallest rear and large front. If not, it's front mech rub from crosschaining.

 

[Dave7]

Err if you are on small front and smallest rear, you are cross chained. The noise will probs be coming from the chain rubbing the outer cage on the front mech IMHO.

Correct me please.
1) Coming from a tripple to a compact I was advised that I could use ALL the gears as there is so little difference in the angle (if I'm phrasing that correctly) i.e. I expect that problem on a tripple but on a compact??
2) I get the noise on both the rear small and rear 2nd smallest.......should I expect that ?

 

[VamP]

Correct me please.
1) Coming from a tripple to a compact I was advised that I could use ALL the gears as there is so little difference in the angle (if I'm phrasing that correctly) i.e. I expect that problem on a tripple but on a compact??
2) I get the noise on both the rear small and rear 2nd smallest.......should I expect that ?

No wakou is right, there's usually not enough room in the front mech cage to accomodate the full reach of the cassette on both large AND small chainring. With a bit of tweaking, you can find an optimal position for the front mech, where the amount of chain rub is minimised even when cross chained, on my Centaur compact, I get a tiny bit of rub in large/smallest combination but nowhere else.

As to whether crosschaining is bad, just annoying or totally normal - depends who you ask. It does increase wear... a bit. Can make it more likely for your chain to jump off.

I cross chain occassionally, but try to avoid it (a bit).

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

Correct me please.
1) Coming from a tripple to a compact I was advised that I could use ALL the gears as there is so little difference in the angle (if I'm phrasing that correctly) i.e. I expect that problem on a tripple but on a compact??
2) I get the noise on both the rear small and rear 2nd smallest.......should I expect that ?

I would say no.

In any case it is dead easy to spot whether a chain is fouling the front mech cage. Aside from that in this particular instance what you want to see is no more than 1mm clearance between the front mech's inner cage and the chain when it is on small front largest back - once that is the case (by setting the front mech's L limit screw) small front small back should take care of itself*.

* whether there is any rub at that extreme depends on a variety of things including if your chainstay is particularly short, or whether the front mech was installed twisted and not parallel to the chainring etc. etc., but I would be surprised if rub occurs even on the 2nd smallest at the back

 

[zexel]

Correct me please.
1) Coming from a tripple to a compact I was advised that I could use ALL the gears as there is so little difference in the angle (if I'm phrasing that correctly) i.e. I expect that problem on a tripple but on a compact??
2) I get the noise on both the rear small and rear 2nd smallest.......should I expect that ?

1. You can use all the gears, but on a on a 50-34 compact you will get noise at the extremes. It is nearly impossible to dial it out but can be lessened to a certain degree with set up.

2. Yes