Newbie der problem

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I bought a bike used off the net last year, and it's been
great so far. It's an older Specialized "Epic Comp" with the
unlikely combination of a carbon frame and aluminium fork.
The previous owner seemed to know what he was doing, and I
am now starting to learn.

Recently tho, I've got a problem shifting.

I can't get into the lowest (biggest) sprocket. I can shift
into the sprocket, but it won't stay in that gear, it always
slips immediately back into the next gear. I don't hear the
shifter "clicking". This had worked fine for about 16 mos,
and now it doesn't. I can ride in the lowest gear by
manually holding the shifter in the shifting position, but
it always returns to the other gear as soon as I let it go.

The der is a 600, the STI is Shimano 105 - I think the
original owner added this.

All else seems to be fine.

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it
thru google.

Any advice? What needs adjusting?

TIA,

Dave

ps - I'm panicking a bit, as I've signed on for my
first race - a
1/2 IM duathlon on Sunday. Undertrained, overweight, and now
a gear problem?. Yikes.

In article <40EDCD33.B9069343@rogersNOWAY.com>, David Harris <david.harrisNOT@rogersNOWAY.com> wrote:

>I can't get into the lowest (biggest) sprocket. I can shift
>into the sprocket, but it won't stay in that gear, it
>always slips immediately back into the next gear

You can initially try turning the threaded cable adjusting
barrel, where the loop of cable goes into the back of the
derailleur. Looking from the back of the bike, turn it, say,
a half turn counterclockwise, making sure that this doesn't
cause the derailleur cage to touch the spokes. (If so, back
off immediately!). See if that helps, and if so, that it
hasn't caused mis-shifting on other gears.

Art

yup, sounds like the cable stretched...might be a good idea
to replace it since it's a couple years old.

check out this on the Park Tools site:

http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQrindx.shtml

"David Harris" <david.harrisNOT@rogersNOWAY.com> wrote in
message news:40EDCD33.B9069343@rogersNOWAY.com...
>
>
> I bought a bike used off the net last year, and it's been
> great so far. It's an older Specialized "Epic Comp" with
> the unlikely combination of a carbon frame and aluminium
> fork. The previous owner seemed to know what he was doing,
> and I am now starting to learn.
>
> Recently tho, I've got a problem shifting.
>
> I can't get into the lowest (biggest) sprocket. I can
> shift into the sprocket, but it won't stay in that gear,
> it always slips immediately back into the next gear. I
> don't hear the shifter "clicking". This had worked fine
> for about 16 mos, and now it doesn't. I can ride in the
> lowest gear by manually holding the shifter in the
> shifting position, but it always returns to the other gear
> as soon as I let it go.
>
> The der is a 600, the STI is Shimano 105 - I think the
> original owner added this.
>
> All else seems to be fine.
>
> Sorry if this has been asked before, but I couldn't find
> it thru google.
>
> Any advice? What needs adjusting?
>
> TIA,
>
> Dave
>
> ps - I'm panicking a bit, as I've signed on for my first
> race - a
> 1/2 IM duathlon on Sunday. Undertrained, overweight, and
> now a gear problem?. Yikes.

On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 22:37:27 GMT, David Harris
<david.harrisNOT@rogersNOWAY.com> wrote:

>Any advice? What needs adjusting?

Read the information in the link below, in addition to the
Park Tools page posted by another respondent.

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

The most likely adjustment needed is, as another
poster mentioned, on the cable. It's also the easiest,
in my opinion.

Good luck on your race!
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug. Some gardening required to
reply via email. Surrealism is a pectinated ranzel.

Werehatrack wrote:
>
> On Thu, 08 Jul 2004 22:37:27 GMT, David Harris
> <david.harrisNOT@rogersNOWAY.com> wrote:
>
> >Any advice? What needs adjusting?
>
> Read the information in the link below, in addition to the
> Park Tools page posted by another respondent.
>
> http://www.sheldonbrown.com/derailer-adjustment.html#rear
>
> The most likely adjustment needed is, as another poster
> mentioned, on the cable. It's also the easiest, in my
> opinion.
>
> Good luck on your race!
> --
> Typoes are a feature, not a bug. Some gardening required
> to reply via email. Surrealism is a pectinated ranzel.

Well all you guys were right. I made the cable adjustment,
and that was the ticket.

I'd found the Sheldon Brown site (most excellent), but
got a bit lost in trying to figure out which adjustment
to try first. And I live in fear of making it worse at
this late stage...

So I'll spend a bit more time checking that the other gears
are still working, and I think I'm good to go.

Thanks to all for your advice, and the links. I've got a lot
to learn about this thing.

Dave