Shifting problem

[OakLeaf]

Which part of the cage does the chain rub? That'll help isolate what needs adjustment.

[Catrin]

Which part of the cage does the chain rub? That'll help isolate what needs adjustment.

Standing at the rear of the bike looking at the FD, it is the upper right part of the cage. There is a part there that comes down, then goes over to the right - which is the perfect place for the chain to rub. And so it does.

Is that a good enough description? I can always take a pic tonight and post it...

[OakLeaf]

mmmkay. It sounds like your cable just needs a little tightening (just as I originally thought - after the shop repositioned the cable, everything will settle a little and need a tweak within a few rides). But two last questions to be sure.

Does it rub when you're in your very tallest gear (your 48x11)?

What about in your very shortest gear (your 26x34)?

[Catrin]

mmmkay. It sounds like your cable just needs a little tightening (just as I originally thought - after the shop repositioned the cable, everything will settle a little and need a tweak within a few rides). But two last questions to be sure.

Does it rub when you're in your very tallest gear (your 48x11)?

What about in your very shortest gear (your 26x34)?

It mainly only rubs in the middle chain - they originally had it adjusted so that I could use the tallest gear on the middle chain without rubbing, but now it always rubs once I get higher than the middle gear (if 1=lowest, it now rubs on gears 6-9 on the back;s sometimes even on 5). This doesn't leave many effective non-rubbing gears for me on the middle chain...

I do not recollect rubbing in the shortest gear when in the middle chain - but I am so rarely there. Typically by that point I probably have already headed down to the granny chain.

Very occasionally it will rub on the other two chains, but rarely. I try to be very conscious about cross-chaining - especially on the granny and big chains.

All of this is very helpful in understanding all of this. It is time for me to understand my drive-train, and once they show me how to adjust this I will be good to go

[Becky]

It mainly only rubs in the middle chain - they originally had it adjusted so that I could use the tallest gear on the middle chain without rubbing, but now it always rubs once I get higher than the middle gear (if 1=lowest, it now rubs on gears 6-9 on the back;s sometimes even on 5). This doesn't leave many effective non-rubbing gears for me on the middle chain...

Without re-reading everything previously posted, this sounds like a tension issue to me (assuming that FD body is in the right position to begin). Trimming can sometimes be done on the middle chainring, depending on the shifters, and sometimes not. Setting up a triple to use all cogs while in the middle ring and without trimming is tricky business.

[OakLeaf]

Okay. Try just tightening the cable and I bet that'll solve your problem.

You ought to have a barrel adjuster on the cable housing. Likely it's integrated into your shifter perch. Possibly it splits the housing near the shifter.

Shift into your small chainring to take the maximum tension off the cable. Feel the cable near the FD, is there a little slack in it? There shouldn't be. It should be taut but not super tight. Turn the barrel adjuster in the direction that lengthens the housing until all slack is removed from the cable and any further tightening moves the derailleur. If it isn't obvious which direction that is, turn the adjuster in each direction with a finger on the cable to find which way makes it tighter and which way makes it looser.

Once you've taken all the slack out of the cable, stay in your small chainring, but trim it one click to the up-side, and shift to your small cassette cog. Cross-chaining - you wouldn't do this on the road, but to tweak the derailleur adjustment you need to. Is it rubbing? If so, continue to turn the adjuster until it no longer rubs.

Now leave your RD in the highest gear, shift up into your big chainring, trim it so it's in its farthest outside position, and make sure the FD isn't rubbing there. If it is, tighten the cable a little bit more. (The cable will already be very tight here. Since you have finger/hand strength issues, you may need to shift the FD back down to the small chainring to be able to turn the adjuster. If that's the case, just turn it about half a turn, shift back up to the big ring and see if that took care of it.)

Go up and down through the gears both front and back to check the adjustment in all positions. If all seems good, you're done.

[Catrin]

Cool! I will try tonight - or tomorrow night if I get home too late tonight (alarm goes off at 4am).

Thanks - and will report back here when I've done this.

[Catrin]

Oakleaf -

I followed your directions and noted a good amount of slack in the cable on the FD side of the bike. The OTHER side was even looser but I left it alone. When I had removed the noise in the first step I cross-chained it in the granny gear and did not notice any noise.

Then I shifted into the big gear and found that the cable was looser and rubbing the FD so am continuing to tighten it. The other cable is now more taut than the one on the DR side and I cannot seem to get the cable tighter than it is. Indeed, even with a lot of tightening it does not seem to be significantly tighter - though the cable on the other side is. Does that make sense?

I will have the guys at my LBS check it Friday when I pick up my new saddle