Won't shift on first try

Ah.. So so frustrated with this. My set-up is Shimano 105 on a compact double. My front derailleur doesn't shift up or down on the first attempt. I always have to move the shift lever twice to go either way. It was never a huge problem before because the serious lack of big hills on my routes allowed me to stay in the large chainring. Now I'm expanding my routes but I'm worried about the shifting issues on the road. What am I doing wrong??! I feel like I can't push the lever any further.

Help.. I feel so dumb right now.

Sounds like maybe your cables have stretched or your derailleur need adjustment. I don't know how to tighten Shimano cables as I am a Campy person, but maybe someone here can tell you how to - or take it in to the shop and ask for help.

Make sure your not cross-chained when you try to shift. Shift up a gear or two in the back before you go from small chain ring to big chain ring.

I ran into a fellow client of my fave LBS at the store. She said when she last brought her bike to the shop it was shifting so badly she'd have to get off the bike and hit the der to shift :eek: Our mutual mechanic said it was simple dripping of the Gatorade/Cytomax whatever she drinks from the downtube onto the chain.

A quick clean and little bit of lube and the bike's like new ;)

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Originally Posted by Kelly728

Help.. I feel so dumb right now.

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I hope the clear message you're getting is that there is a 99% chance that this is mechanical and not "user error";)

Many front derailleurs have what is called "trim" where you can make it move just a little bit so as to eliminate the chain rubbing on the inside of the cage. So, it can take two shifting actions to make a "real" shift if your pushes are too small. Is there any chance that this is what's happening?

Anyway, take it in to the LBS and have them check it out.

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Originally Posted by MDHillSlug

Many front derailleurs have what is called "trim" where you can make it move just a little bit so as to eliminate the chain rubbing on the inside of the cage. So, it can take two shifting actions to make a "real" shift if your pushes are too small. Is there any chance that this is what's happening?

Anyway, take it in to the LBS and have them check it out.

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Ditto this. I felt like an idiot when I had to stop on a charity ride for a mechanic to look at my bike because it 'wasn't shifting'. I had no idea there were 2 other 'positions' and once I knew that, everything was fine. It slightly moves the chain to prevent rubbing and grinding.

DH would yell at me when I told him it wasn't working.... 'shift up one!!' and I'd yell back 'I DID! NOTHING HAPPENED!'. All is good now :)

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, looks like this will warrant a trip to the LBS. Now I just have to find a new LBS, I moved too far from where I bought the bike. Yikes.

MDHill- I did think about the trimming feature on the shifters, but I feel like I just can't push any futher. It still could be a possibility.

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Originally Posted by Kelly728

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, looks like this will warrant a trip to the LBS. Now I just have to find a new LBS, I moved too far from where I bought the bike. Yikes.

MDHill- I did think about the trimming feature on the shifters, but I feel like I just can't push any further. It still could be a possibility.

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It's a possibility that this is the effect you are getting because something is preventing a proper shift.

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Originally Posted by MDHillSlug

It's a possibility that this is the effect you are getting because something is preventing a proper shift.

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Doh.. it is user error. I got off the bike, pushed the pedal with my hand and shifted between chainrings with no problem. Now to figure out what I am doing differently when I am on the bike. *headdesk*

That's common. The bike will behave differently under load. Do you have a trainer? Sometimes I will work on tuning with my bike set up on the trainer with light resistance (enough that I can still hand pedal, but not so little that it's freely spinning).

Because you are getting stuck shifting in EITHER direction, it's probably a cable issue instead of a FD adjustment. Try lubing the cable well under the BB with any oily cleaning lube like Prolink. Lube/clean the shifter with WD-40. Have you always had this problem? How old are your cables? You might need new ones.

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Originally Posted by aicabsolut

That's common. The bike will behave differently under load. Do you have a trainer? Sometimes I will work on tuning with my bike set up on the trainer with light resistance (enough that I can still hand pedal, but not so little that it's freely spinning).

Because you are getting stuck shifting in EITHER direction, it's probably a cable issue instead of a FD adjustment. Try lubing the cable well under the BB with any oily cleaning lube like Prolink. Lube/clean the shifter with WD-40. Have you always had this problem? How old are your cables? You might need new ones.

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I do have trainer (very recent purchase) which is how I discovered that I could shift it by hand pedaling. I will try cleaning everything to see if that helps. I purchased the bike new in February so that shouldn't be the issue.

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Originally Posted by Kelly728

I do have trainer (very recent purchase) which is how I discovered that I could shift it by hand pedaling. I will try cleaning everything to see if that helps. I purchased the bike new in February so that shouldn't be the issue.

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My LBS always asks me to come back within 90 days of purchase so that they can give it the once-over -- check out all the alignments and tweak stuff that has loosened up or shifted since it was new.

Well cables don't last forever. There are a lot of factors involved in cable wear. If you've always had the problem with shifting, then it's probably not that the cables have suddenly died. But today I was out for a 50mi ride. Around mile 40, I had trouble shifting in either direction in the rear. It would take 2 or 3 tries each time. Being pretty sure that the cable was near toast, I quit shifting the rear until I reached the shop, which was conveniently located about 2 mi from the end of my ride. I asked them to replace the cable. When they pulled it out, the end inside the shifter was shredded and would have snapped soon.

More commonly, you will get some gunk (from your bottles or the road) near the cable stops under the BB or grunge and dirt down in the shifter. Too much friction means poor shifting, and it will seem worse under load.

It could also be that your shop didn't tune it well from the start, which might mean a combination of things like a too loose cable and a too tight lower limit screw.

I am going through a cleaning overhaul this week. I must admit that I haven't been very adamant about bike maintenance, considering I really don't know what I'm doing, but I'm learning!

I recall having a few shifting issues in the beginning, took it into the shop for my warranty tune-up but at that point I got injured and my ability to test out the shifting was limited. It is really hard to say when I starting seeing these issues, especially with my flat routes.

If the cleaning doesn't help, off to finding an LBS that I can whine to about my shifting woes.

Just for reference, how many miles do you usually get out of a shifter cable (particularly the rear)? Is yearly replacement enough regardless of mileage?

I usually get one season. That was close to a full year at first. By upping my mileage and racing, the past 2 years, I've put on new cables at the end of March and had to replace the rear cable in the fall. Last year, I made it till October. This year, August. I've done more tough climbing this season, which probably has to do with it because of more shifting and more shifting up under heavier loads. I've put over 2000 miles on with this cable.

I think some of it depends on your drive train. Shimano shifters are pretty notorious for eating cables. I'd been told that I'd get a lot more life out of Dura Ace cables than standard Shimano, because they are thicker. So far with the rear, that hasn't been true for me.

At any rate, I think that it's pretty good practice to change cables at least yearly if not 2x a year.

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Originally Posted by aicabsolut

I usually get one season. That was close to a full year at first. By upping my mileage and racing, the past 2 years, I've put on new cables at the end of March and had to replace the rear cable in the fall. Last year, I made it till October. This year, August. I've done more tough climbing this season, which probably has to do with it because of more shifting and more shifting up under heavier loads. I've put over 2000 miles on with this cable.

I think some of it depends on your drive train. Shimano shifters are pretty notorious for eating cables. I'd been told that I'd get a lot more life out of Dura Ace cables than standard Shimano, because they are thicker. So far with the rear, that hasn't been true for me.

At any rate, I think that it's pretty good practice to change cables at least yearly if not 2x a year.

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Do you have to replace the bar tape each time to replace the housing underneath?

For the rear cable, it doesn't run under the tape with my shifters, so there was no problem there. I didn't change the housing this time anyway. It's in good shape. The cable was shredding up inside the shifter and not at a ferrule or something. I'll save that for when I do a complete cable replacement.

In general, it depends on the tape you have (and how gross it is). My tape has a gel backing that helps it stick to itself enough to wrap easily, but it's not adhesive. Adhesive-backed tapes are easy to rip when you take it off and harder to rewrap even if they don't rip. Then there's the dirt factor.

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Originally Posted by aicabsolut

For the rear cable, it doesn't run under the tape with my shifters, so there was no problem there. I didn't change the housing this time anyway. It's in good shape. The cable was shredding up inside the shifter and not at a ferrule or something. I'll save that for when I do a complete cable replacement.

In general, it depends on the tape you have (and how gross it is). My tape has a gel backing that helps it stick to itself enough to wrap easily, but it's not adhesive. Adhesive-backed tapes are easy to rip when you take it off and harder to rewrap even if they don't rip. Then there's the dirt factor.

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I ask because I realize now that I should have replaced the cables on my used tri bike when I bought it but since I just replaced the bar tape I'm reluctant to want to do anything.

I was thinking I ought to replace my rear derailleur cable, 2750 miles. From what you're saying I'm really pushing its life. Going to a show tonight - I'll stop by a bike shop while I'm in town. Thanks!

I was thinking more about it, and I realized I've never gone a full year on derailleur cables. 2 years in a row, I made it one race season. Of course, I got a new bike this year that I did most of my racing on, so the other bike that got used the most from Oct-early March is still on it's fall '08 cables.

Farther back, I think I've always needed to replace derailleur cables 2x a year at least. The first time, the housing split. After that, I started having shifting problems, always in the rear. With non-Dura Ace cables, I would always replace the front at the same time. I'm going to experiment to see if the Dura Ace front cable will last maybe the length of 2 rear cables.

It's weird, but I think I change my cables more often than my chain!

ah now I've really done it, but I'm sure an easy fix for the LBS. After cleaning (and trying to be a mechanic) I have it stuck in the small chain ring. Oops. I think I'll be dropping my bike off on sunday.:p

Shimano 105 shifters (especially fronts) have had a run of problems. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that your LBS guy called Shimano and had them send a replacement front shifter (my guy taught me to change the 9-speed ones without removing the handlebar tape, but I haven't tried it on the 10-speed stuff). Our shop dude said that the last two times he called Shimano about a 105 shifter, they didn't even wait for him to finish describing the problem before they issued a return number.

Finally made it out to the LBS, 45 minute drive for a 5 minute repair! :rolleyes:
A bit of cable adjustments and it seems to be shifting just fine but we'll see what happens the next time I can take it out on the road. (Maybe my injury will be a 5 minute repair too..)