Day 10 - think I am learning a bit (a new commuters journal)

Hi again,

After my struggle to get to work yesterday I tried to figure out last night
what the problem was and I think I was succesful.

Coming home from work on Monday I used gears 3-6 for the first time (my
highest gear) - was excellent down the flats and downhill - bought my max
speed close to 30mph ( a record for me) and as I used it for the first time
when i was nearly home i thought nothing of it.

Little did i realise that for some reason when i then change back to 2-5 or
2-6 the chain doesnt move from the 3 position so im effectively riding a lot
harder than i should be! What I have to do is change all the way down to
1-1, 1-2 then build it up again - I think that yesterday morning i came the
majority of the distance in my 3rd gear!? no wonder it nearly killed me!

Think I will need to take my bike to the LBS and get a new gear system put
on - think some of the cogs are worn and the cables may need to be looked
at.

Only 5 more cycles before I am off for a fortnight - hope i make them, then
my body gets a well deserved 2 week rest!!!

Keep peddlin'

Lee

"Lee" gnippernospampleasemuchly@nospampleasemuchlyverym uch.btinternet.com
wrote in message ...
Hi again,

After my struggle to get to work yesterday I tried to figure out last
night
what the problem was and I think I was succesful.

Coming home from work on Monday I used gears 3-6 for the first time (my
highest gear) - was excellent down the flats and downhill - bought my max
speed close to 30mph ( a record for me) and as I used it for the first
time
when i was nearly home i thought nothing of it.

Little did i realise that for some reason when i then change back to 2-5
or
2-6 the chain doesnt move from the 3 position so im effectively riding a
lot
harder than i should be! What I have to do is change all the way down to
1-1, 1-2 then build it up again - I think that yesterday morning i came
the
majority of the distance in my 3rd gear!? no wonder it nearly killed me!

Think I will need to take my bike to the LBS and get a new gear system put
on - think some of the cogs are worn and the cables may need to be looked
at.

Some minor adjustment should sort the problem.

See

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html

T

Think I will need to take my bike to the LBS and get a new gear system put
on - think some of the cogs are worn and the cables may need to be looked
at.

This may be the case, but chances are there is nothing nearly so major
wrong. Unless your bike has a many hundreds of miles on it the
chances of the gears or chain being worn are pretty slim. The most
likely problem is that the cables have either stretched or slipped a
bit, both of which are simple repairs.

Poor gear changing is a pretty common problem. You should immediately
notice that you failed to actually change down or up on the front
chainring since it generally makes a huge difference to the amount of
effort required. If you think you didn't change look down and verify.
I don't know what sort of gear levers you have but it should't be
necessary to change through a lot of gears to get to where you want to
go. If you want to go from the large ring (3-something) to the middle
ring (2-something) and it won't change you can often suceed by just
depressing the lever towards the next position without actually
changing for a few seconds. Alternatively change down to the small
ring (1-something) and immediately back up to the middle ring
(2-something) without fiddling with any rear gears at all.

The best solution is to get your gears all finely tuned but it can be
hard to keep them like that. I bit of tweaking the levers will
generally get the bike in to the gear you want even if at first it
doesn't want to go.

Eric

"Lee" gnippernospampleasemuchly@nospampleasemuchlyverym uch.btinternet.com
wrote in message ...
Hi again,


Think I will need to take my bike to the LBS and get a new gear system put
on - think some of the cogs are worn and the cables may need to be looked
at.

Not sure if they are worn really.....

A lot of Shimano cogs look like they are falling apart from strange shaped
teeth and bent bits all over the place. They are like that from the factory.
The makers claim it improves gear changing, though between my various bikes
I'm hard pushed to say I've noticed a big difference.

A small adjustment to the front gear changer cable adjuster should fix your
problem.

If the chain has not been cleaned and oiled in a while that would be useful,
along with a check as to whether the chain is worn (stretched). Consult
Sheldon Brown (links earlier in thread) for details on chain cleaning and
chain wear.


Keep up the riding

Nigel