gears and reliability

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by timadlam
Am I the only person who is fed up with 27 speed gears that go out of adjustment every week and never seem to work quite right? I have a 2003 Marin Nail Trail with Deore LX on it, but I find that the gears never stay in tune for long.

I really like the bike - it fits me well, is light and climbs well, but the gears are getting to me. I've taken it to my local bike shop to get them set up, but after about a week or so they're out again.

I would like to go back to bomb proof 21 speed Deore LX / STX that was on my old Bear Valley SE. These didn't need adjusting so frequently.

Is it still possible to get a new 7-speed Deore rear mech and shifters?

Thanks,

Tim Adlam

actually, all you need is rear shifter, 7 speed casette,maybe chain, and a 4.5mm spacer to go on your 9 speed hub before the casette. Try ebay for the shifters.

If you don't yet know how to tune derailleurs, it's a very handy skill to have. Park tool have a great guide:

rear derailleur http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQrindx.shtml
front derailleur http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQrindx.shtml

It's a bit of a test of patience when you first start out, but when you start to link everything together in your mind (i.e. turning the barrel shifter THIS way affects cable tension THAT way, which results in THIS difference in shifting behaviour, etc.) it all starts to make sense and will be able to get it set up sweetly.

In my experience, most shifting problems are due to poor tuning of cable tension, and unreliable cable movement due to gunk around the cable (and its housing.) And of course the big one, the initial "stretch" period that new cables always have.

On that note, nothing makes a bike's drivetrain as wonderfully crisp-shifting as a new set of cables and housings, especially if your existing ones are more than a year old. Unless something is really worn out or broken of course. 😉

If you really want to throw money at the problem, you could look at getting a SRAM ESP rear derailleur and shifter -- they have double the cable throw per gear than Shimano, so they aren't as finicky in the cable movement department.

i got new cables and it made a difference

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by IKON
i got new cables and it made a difference

My bike is less than a year old, so the cables are fairly new anyway. Maybe I've still got a newish cable stretching.

I'll persevere with adjusting it for a bit longer and then see about changes if nothing sorts out.

I looked up the Park Tool website on how to adjust the deraillieur - very clear and helpful.

Thanks,

Tim

The "new cable stretching" thing mainly happens for the first 5-10 hours of riding.. they'd be settled in after a couple of weeks.

Assuming you have the L and H settings right on the rear derailleur, it's a fairly simple procedure for adjusting cable tension.

If you have trouble shifting to a slower gear -- cable doesn't have enough tension to move the derailleur cage to the right spot -- turn the little barrel adjuster on the rear derailleur COUNTER-CLOCKWISE a bit

And vice versa, if you have trouble shifting to a faster gear, there's too much tension; turn the barrel clockwise a little.

Only do about half-turns at a time until you can get it dialed in. Actually there's another barrel adjuster at the rear shifter unit too, but the one at the rear derailleur is usually easier to use because there aren't a zillion cables around the place.

For the front derailleur the L and H screws control where the derailleur is for the granny and big rings respectively; the cable tension adjustment will influence where the derailleur sits for the middle ring. There's usually a barrel adjuster on the shifter unit for the front. As for the rear, counter-clockwise turns increase tension, clockwise decreases it.

If no tension adjustment seems to work right, I'd then look at replacing your cable inners and outers. (From experience, replacing inners but not the outers works sort of ok, but not for very long..)

In any case cable inners & outers are cheap, especially compared to the cost (and time cost) of hunting down 7 speed shifters etc. 9 speed LX (as on your bike) is definitely not junk and unless it's been damaged, will be able to be tuned to perfection and should keep it.

Don't throw your money away, 9 speed Shimano LX has to work as well your old 21 STX

I have a Marin Palisades Trail with 9 speed LX-XT combination that works clean and crispy, with every week light cleaning and extensive lubrication.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by timadlam
Am I the only person who is fed up with 27 speed gears that go out of adjustment every week and never seem to work quite right? I have a 2003 Marin Nail Trail with Deore LX on it, but I find that the gears never stay in tune for long.

I really like the bike - it fits me well, is light and climbs well, but the gears are getting to me. I've taken it to my local bike shop to get them set up, but after about a week or so they're out again.

I would like to go back to bomb proof 21 speed Deore LX / STX that was on my old Bear Valley SE. These didn't need adjusting so frequently.

Is it still possible to get a new 7-speed Deore rear mech and shifters?

Thanks,

Tim Adlam

Sometimes even newer cables and housings get damaged and/or dirty. Take the cable loose at the derailer end and move it through it's "shifting- range-of movement" and make sure the cable runs very smooth throughout the range.
The article that Sheldon Brown has on cables shows and discusses many of the important details. In order for cables to do their job all the details need to be correct:

<http://sheldonbrown.com/cables.html>