SRAM Cassette

On 8 Feb 2005 16:25:26 -0800, "Tom" may have said:

Andrew,

I'm not sure but are you joking or serious? Thanks.

He's serious.

He's also correct.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

wrote:
having a spacer there is not normal at all and
sounds sort of sketchy

I thought Mavics all have a spacer back there when used with Shimano
cassettes???

wrote:
Tom wrote:
I asked my LBS to replace my chain and they said afterwards the bike
would not shift to the smallest cog, even at the maximum limit screw
setting on the derailleur. The solution was to remove a spacer from
the inside of the cassette (next to the hub) and place it between the
lockring and the smallest cog. Though the bike will now shift to the
small cog, it has made the cassette wobble a bit and looks a little
off. My cassette is a sram 12-25 on a Mavic Kyserium Elite wheel.

Is this the best solution or common? Thanks.

Something is definitely wrong - there's no reason why replacing a
chain would cause this. Also, having a spacer there is not normal at
all and sounds sort of sketchy - I haven't thought about it but I
definitely wouldn't just do it on a customer's bike. If I was
convinced that there was actually an issue with the cog being out to
far, which I probably wouldn't be (see below), then it seems much
safer to just put a little spacer between the derailer and the
derailer hanger.

Some things that could be going on that others haven't mentioned:
Derailer pivots aren't moving freely enough for the derailer to get to
the outermost position (somewhat common)
The rear derailer's initial tension was high enough to cause the
derailer to be unable to spring into its outermost position regardless
of how far out the limit screw was (common beginner's mistake)
The spacer wasn't supposed to be there in the first place, other
spacers on the cassette were out of place, or there was grit keeping
the cassette from being positioned right (all of these things could
have put the small cog further out than normal, but I don't think
there are any derailers that wouldn't have been able to hit the cog
anyway).

Would putting too long or too short a chain on keep the derailer from moving
freely between it's limits?

--
Perre
I gave up on SPAM and redirected it to hotmail instead.

"Tom" wrote in message
oups.com...

I asked my LBS to replace my chain and they said afterwards the bike
would not shift to the smallest cog, even at the maximum limit screw
setting on the derailleur. The solution was to remove a spacer from
the inside of the cassette (next to the hub) and place it between the
lockring and the smallest cog. Though the bike will now shift to the
small cog, it has made the cassette wobble a bit and looks a little
off. My cassette is a sram 12-25 on a Mavic Kyserium Elite wheel.

Is this the best solution or common? Thanks.

That spacer is REQUIRED BY MAVIC on the hub side of their Ksyriums. As
others have said, your LBS has royally screwed up, and you should either
have them fix it, or if they are incompetent, have another LBS fix the
entire problem.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Well, I ended up taking it to another shop for a 2nd opinion. The
second shop also could not get the bike to shift to the small cog at
the max limit on the rear derailleur. He took the spacer off the small
cog and put it between the large cog and hub (as a Mavic hub should be
w/a shimano cassette) and put a spacer between the derailleur and
derailleur hanger. It seems work a lot better. The wobble is gone
anyway and it doesn't look "off" any longer.

I'm still perplexed as to why this occurred. Both shops had competent
techs that are experienced with high-end equipment. Thanks everyone
for their help and suggestions.

Tom wrote:
Well, I ended up taking it to another shop for a 2nd opinion. The
second shop also could not get the bike to shift to the small cog at
the max limit on the rear derailleur. He took the spacer off the
small cog and put it between the large cog and hub (as a Mavic hub
should be w/a shimano cassette) and put a spacer between the
derailleur and derailleur hanger. It seems work a lot better. The
wobble is gone anyway and it doesn't look "off" any longer.

I'm still perplexed as to why this occurred. Both shops had competent
techs that are experienced with high-end equipment. Thanks everyone
for their help and suggestions.

Did anybody check the drailler hanger for alignment? Sounds like it may have
been bent inwards a bit.
--
Perre
I gave up on SPAM and redirected it to hotmail instead.

Well, I ended up taking it to another shop for a 2nd opinion. The
second shop also could not get the bike to shift to the small cog at
the max limit on the rear derailleur. He took the spacer off the small
cog and put it between the large cog and hub (as a Mavic hub should be
w/a shimano cassette) and put a spacer between the derailleur and
derailleur hanger. It seems work a lot better. The wobble is gone
anyway and it doesn't look "off" any longer.

I'm still perplexed as to why this occurred. Both shops had competent
techs that are experienced with high-end equipment. Thanks everyone
for their help and suggestions.

How old is the rear derailleur? It sounds like it's having difficulty
pulling the chain down onto the smallest cog, which can be caused by a
number of things, including-

- Old worn out derailleur with loose pivots and springs that aren't as
strong as they should be. Also a worn out upper pulley.

- As someone else pointed out, bad derailleur hanger alignment. But,
thinking back on it, could be a bent derailleur as well.

- (Some people are going to hate this one) Sometimes Sachs/SRAM chains don't
shift quite as well as Shimano. This mainly shows up on the front, but
sometimes I've seen cases where we replaced a Shimano chain with an SRAM and
it absolutely, positively brought out the worst in shifting issues.

- Problems in the cable/housing (too much friction). Easiest way to rule
this one out is to remove the cable from the derailleur and push the
derailleur from the smallest up to the second-smallest cog, and then let go
of the derailleur and see how readily it comes back down. If it works great
without the cable attached, could be too much friction someplace in the
cable & housing.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

The end of the story is I put a mavic spacer back on the hub side,
removed the spacer on the derailleur hanger, and adjusted it myself.
Works great now. Thanks for all the suggestions and help. Not sure
what the LBS issue was, but it works now.