Help...stuck

[Catrin]

I was doing practice drills on my Jamis tonight, things were going well so I decided to try a really tight low-speed turn. Apparently it was either too tight, or I had a bit of toe-overlap, or not enough momentum, or all of the above at the same time - regardless I had a very low-speed and unavoidable fall. I was focusing on not letting my pedals tear my legs up and somehow laid it down with my foot against the RD It appears fine, the problem is in this photo - sorry it is so bad but it is the best one I could get.

The problem is I slipped the housing & cable for the RD out of the guide on my TT, and I can't seem to figure out how to loosen it enough to get it back into the guide. It seems loose enough down by the rear cassette, it is the top part I need to figure out how to loosen. Part of this is fear that I am going to make matters worse if I start playing with the nut at the back of my rear shifter...

Also looking on Google to see if I can find a tip.

[tulip]

I can't give you any advice from the photo. But that's a pretty bike.

[Catrin]

I can't give you any advice from the photo. But that's a pretty bike.

Let me see if I can get a couple more, this one just shows where it slipped. Ms. Mountain Goat thanks you for the compliment

[Catrin]

My pictures just aren't coming out I've SRAM X7 triggers & SRAM X9 rear derailleur.

If I keep loosening the nut on the rear of the shifter, will this provide me the slack I need to put the cable back into the guide?

[TsPoet]

To get the slack needed, manually push the rear derailer to a lower gear (towards the center of the wheel) while pedalling it by hand (or having someone else pedal it). Stop pedalling. There will be some tension on the derailer, but should provide enough slack to seat the housing in the cable stop. Also, be sure the shifter is in the highest gear (9 or 10, depending on what you have), that will also provide maximum slack available.

[tzvia]

Just click the shifter as if you were going to put the chain into a smaller gear in back (provided it is not already shifted to one of the smallest gears). Two 'shifts' should be enough- don't pedal- you are not looking to actually shift, just to move the rear derailleur to a smaller gear. This should make some slack. Put the housing back into the stop, and shift back without cranking. Then check everything out (rear dropout not bent, no housing kinks...) and try shifting while turning the cranks to see how it works.

[OakLeaf]

If SRAM has technical manuals on their site as Shimano does I can't find them, but from the picture your RD looks like it's "high normal," and I'd be surprised if it isn't, AFAIK most modern derailleurs are. That means that with zero cable tension, the springs on the RD pull it out toward your highest gear - so tzvia has it right.

But it's easy enough to check. Grasp the cable with your fingers and work your shifter - then you'll know for sure which direction of shifting gives you more slack.

[Catrin]

Thankfully Winding Road lives very close to me right now, and she dropped by and checked it out/fixed it. I learned several things Apparently when I fell, my foot hit the RD and loosened the tension on the cable, which created a situation where the cable fell out of the guide and even did something up in the shifter up front.

All is working now, though will have LBS check out the RD to make certain all is well before I hit the trails on Saturday. Thanks for all of the tips, it is time for me to start learning such things properly.

[Catrin]

All is fine, now there is nothing to keep me from riding the most beginner of trails at Brown County State Park tomorrow - probably solo but that is ok. If I can snag someone when I get there to ride the trail with me at least once I will, but I can be comfortable there is nothing wrong with the bike before I hit the trail.

now, the ENGINE of the bike, that might be a different matter