Gear slipping

[bornfree]

Hi

I have had my current bike for 8 months, and the gears slip a little
bit on occasions.

If I put off getting this fixed, will the problem become more
expensive to fix later?

 

[Pete Biggs]

POHB wrote:
> "bornfree" <[email protected]> wrote
>> Hi
>>
>> I have had my current bike for 8 months, and the gears slip a little
>> bit on occasions.
>>
>> If I put off getting this fixed, will the problem become more
>> expensive to fix later?
>
> You probably just need to adjust the gear cable tension a bit. There
> should be a knurled knob where the cable joins the der. Select one
> of the middle gears and twist the cable tension knob and you'll see
> the mech move in or out a bit. Try to get it to line up nicely on
> the cog. Go for a little test ride and fiddle around with the
> tension until it changes nicely and doesn't slip.

There may also be a gear cable adjuster at the front of the bike that can be
adjusted while riding along. Rear and front adjusters do the same thing.
One of the adjusters probably just needs a quarter to half a turn.

If the chain is reluctant to shift to the next largest sprocket, turn the
adjuster anti-clockwise to tighten the cable, and vice versa.

> Alternatively, if you've done a lot of miles your chain might be worn
> out. See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html#wear
>
> If the chain is very worn you'll have to change the chainrings and
> cassette too, but it isn't a huge expense or difficult job.

You don't always have to change the chainrings too; they tend to last
longer. If the chain is worn out, first of all try just replacing the chain
and cassette.

~PB

 

[Señor Chris]

bornfree wrote:
> Hi
>
> I have had my current bike for 8 months, and the gears slip a little
> bit on occasions.
>
> If I put off getting this fixed, will the problem become more
> expensive to fix later?

Depends what you mean by 'slipping'. Have you tried adjusting them ?

 

[bugbear]

bornfree wrote:
> Hi
>
> I have had my current bike for 8 months, and the gears slip a little
> bit on occasions.
>
> If I put off getting this fixed, will the problem become more
> expensive to fix later?

On a dearailleur there are two principal
causes of slip.

1) chain not in gear - effectively running in the gap
between two sprockets.

2) worn chain and/or wrong sprockets


case 1) AFAIK won't get worse, cost of fix constant.

case 2) will get worse over time. If the problem
is (at the moment) SOLELY a worn chain, the cost will
increase, since a worn chain damages chain rings
and sprockets. If the cause is SOLELY a worn chain
the fix is a new chain, which is cheap.

If the cause is worn chain AND sprockets,
again the cost is already "maxed" since the cure
is replacement.

BugBear

 

[POHB]

"bornfree" <[email protected]> wrote
> Hi
>
> I have had my current bike for 8 months, and the gears slip a little
> bit on occasions.
>
> If I put off getting this fixed, will the problem become more
> expensive to fix later?

You probably just need to adjust the gear cable tension a bit. There should
be a knurled knob where the cable joins the der. Select one of the middle
gears and twist the cable tension knob and you'll see the mech move in or
out a bit. Try to get it to line up nicely on the cog. Go for a little
test ride and fiddle around with the tension until it changes nicely and
doesn't slip.

Alternatively, if you've done a lot of miles your chain might be worn out.
See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html#wear

If the chain is very worn you'll have to change the chainrings and cassette
too, but it isn't a huge expense or difficult job.

 

[naked_draughtsman]

On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:53:27 -0700, bornfree wrote:

> Hi
>
> I have had my current bike for 8 months, and the gears slip a little
> bit on occasions.
>
> If I put off getting this fixed, will the problem become more
> expensive to fix later?

As other have said they may just need adjusting which you can do by hand
with no tools, but there are loads of reasons why the gears are slipping.

If your bike has seen some filth (e.g. used in wet/muddy conditions) and
if you have small cogs they could also be full of crud. Running a
screwdriver between the bottom few cogs will scrape some of this out.

This assumes you have derailleur gears, if you have hub gears which are
slipping it could be something serious (but unlikely) or it could be
something simple like the wheel not being straight which is easy to fix.

On my bike there's an unusual problem where the chain sometimes skips and
the chain appears kinked as it goes around in certain gears. When I work
out what this is and how to fix I'll let you know!

peter

 

[POHB]

"naked_draughtsman" <[email protected]> wrote
> On my bike there's an unusual problem where the chain sometimes skips and
> the chain appears kinked as it goes around in certain gears. When I work
> out what this is and how to fix I'll let you know!

That'll be a stiff link. Never had one myself, but apparently you can sort
them out by flexing the chain sideways where the stiffness occurs. A bit of
oil at that point would probably help too.

 

[Steve C]

POHB wrote:
> "bornfree" <[email protected]> wrote
>> Hi
>>
>> I have had my current bike for 8 months, and the gears slip a little
>> bit on occasions.
>>
>> If I put off getting this fixed, will the problem become more
>> expensive to fix later?
>
> You probably just need to adjust the gear cable tension a bit. There should
> be a knurled knob where the cable joins the der. Select one of the middle
> gears and twist the cable tension knob and you'll see the mech move in or
> out a bit. Try to get it to line up nicely on the cog. Go for a little
> test ride and fiddle around with the tension until it changes nicely and
> doesn't slip.
>
> Alternatively, if you've done a lot of miles your chain might be worn out.
> See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chains.html#wear
>
> If the chain is very worn you'll have to change the chainrings and cassette
> too, but it isn't a huge expense or difficult job.
>
>

If a more thorough adjustment is needed look at the Park Tools' website

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=64

Steve C

 

[naked_draughtsman]

On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:11:28 +0100, POHB wrote:

> "naked_draughtsman" <[email protected]> wrote
>> On my bike there's an unusual problem where the chain sometimes skips and
>> the chain appears kinked as it goes around in certain gears. When I work
>> out what this is and how to fix I'll let you know!
>
> That'll be a stiff link. Never had one myself, but apparently you can sort
> them out by flexing the chain sideways where the stiffness occurs. A bit of
> oil at that point would probably help too.

Cheers for the tip of - that was one of my suspicions. I have 2 powerlinks
in the chain (as i cut the chain a bit short first time!) and 1 is always
difficult to undo and clip together again so I think it needs replacing
and throwing out.

peter

 

[Sandy Morton]

In article <[email protected]>, POHB
<[email protected]> wrote:
> > On my bike there's an unusual problem where the chain sometimes
> > skips and the chain appears kinked as it goes around in certain
> > gears. When I work out what this is and how to fix I'll let you
> > know!

> That'll be a stiff link. Never had one myself, but apparently you
> can sort them out by flexing the chain sideways where the stiffness
> occurs. A bit of oil at that point would probably help too.

Easy check for a stiff link is to lift the back wheel off the ground
a turn the pedals backwards.

 

[mr p]

On 14 Jun, 21:00, Sandy Morton <[email protected]> wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, POHB
>
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On my bike there's an unusual problem where the chain sometimes
> > > skips and the chain appears kinked as it goes around in certain
> > > gears. When I work out what this is and how to fix I'll let you
> > > know!
> > That'll be a stiff link. Never had one myself, but apparently you
> > can sort them out by flexing the chain sideways where the stiffness
> > occurs. A bit of oil at that point would probably help too.
>
> Easy check for a stiff link is to lift the back wheel off the ground
> a turn the pedals backwards.

I had a stiff link after taking the chain off to clean it. I find they
often sort them selves out eventually, I did have a chain snap on me
once with nasty effects ( got thrown over the bars !) so would rather
ia link too tight than not rivited properly.

My 2 year old mountain bike is on 4500 miles and it's 3rd chain/
sprocket and 2nd crank set ( that's including the original ) if this
helps the OP