Sloppy shifting in the rear

[slyjackson]

My shifting rear gears use to be so smooth until today. For some reason each time I down shifted or went up a gear, My chain would "clank" going into the gear. Shifting going up hills does it as well. Yesterday it was running perfect.
To the life of me, I cant seem to find a reason for the sudden shifting problem.
I'm afraid to stand on the pedals now in fear of a gear slipping and clank out and I bust my "Jewels" on the bar.

I have looked but don't see where it went out of adjustment nor do I know why if it did. Anyone got any pointers on what I should look for? Thanks in adance.

[hd reynolds]

My shifting rear gears use to be so smooth until today. For some reason each time I down shifted or went up a gear, My chain would "clank" going into the gear. Shifting going up hills does it as well. Yesterday it was running perfect.
To the life of me, I cant seem to find a reason for the sudden shifting problem.
I'm afraid to stand on the pedals now in fear of a gear slipping and clank out and I bust my "Jewels" on the bar.

I have looked but don't see where it went out of adjustment nor do I know why if it did. Anyone got any pointers on what I should look for? Thanks in adance.
Put bike on stand where you can operate pedal by hand. Look at back of rear mechanism and you'll see a barrel adjuster where the cable meets the mech. rotate clockwise doing half a turn then pedal by hand and shift to a big gear then to a low gear. If you notice an improvement try rotating the adjuster by half a turn until shift is fluid. If you dont notice an improvement rotate anticlockwise and do the same procedure.

[daveornee]

My shifting rear gears use to be so smooth until today. For some reason each time I down shifted or went up a gear, My chain would "clank" going into the gear. Shifting going up hills does it as well. Yesterday it was running perfect.
To the life of me, I cant seem to find a reason for the sudden shifting problem.
I'm afraid to stand on the pedals now in fear of a gear slipping and clank out and I bust my "Jewels" on the bar.

I have looked but don't see where it went out of adjustment nor do I know why if it did. Anyone got any pointers on what I should look for? Thanks in adance.
Sudden changes usually happen when something gets out of alignment.
RD took a hit and is bent. could have happened when "parked"
RD hanger on the frame is bent
Cable housing is pinched, worn, or just not properly seated
RD cable is hanging up in the housing or under the bottom-bracket guide.

[slyjackson]

Thanks for the replies, I will try the cable adjusting. The bike is new and I have been putting a lot of "Foot" into it. I shift a lot going up and down hills into the flats. I may have stretched the cable some because of my heavy usage of the gears. I think it's just an adjustment thing since I do not see any other problems such as a bent derailer. Thanks again for the help.

[daveornee]

Thanks for the replies, I will try the cable adjusting. The bike is new and I have been putting a lot of "Foot" into it. I shift a lot going up and down hills into the flats. I may have stretched the cable some because of my heavy usage of the gears. I think it's just an adjustment thing since I do not see any other problems such as a bent derailer. Thanks again for the help.
Cables don't stretch unless you pull them out of thier elastic region; about 1,500 ponds of force for a gear cable.... and over a ton for brake cable.
If a dimension changed it could be due to further seating of cable housing ends. That seating should have been taken care of during assembly and checked when the bicycle shop did it's delivery check list.
If the bicycle is new, take it back to the shop and ask them to care for the issue. You can ask them what they did to resolve the issue,,,... and take it for a test ride yourself to make sure you are satisfied before you ride off and take it home in/on a vehicle.

[SUPER RIDER]

Put bike on stand where you can operate pedal by hand. Look at back of rear mechanism and you'll see a barrel adjuster where the cable meets the mech. rotate clockwise doing half a turn then pedal by hand and shift to a big gear then to a low gear. If you notice an improvement try rotating the adjuster by half a turn until shift is fluid. If you dont notice an improvement rotate anticlockwise and do the same procedure.Actually, what you want to do is isolate whether the problem is shifting to lower or upper gears of the cassette.

If the shifting is not smooth going up, then turn the barrel adjuster reffered to clockwise. If on the other hand, shifting down is where the issue is at, then the barrel adjuster should be turned counter-clockwise.

At all times, only turn a quarter to half-a-turn at one time.

The quickest way to address cassette-based shifting issues is to always turn the barrel adjuster towards which gears on the cassette you are having non-smooth shifting issues.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Luc

[slyjackson]

Actually, what you want to do is isolate whether the problem is shifting to lower or upper gears of the cassette.

If the shifting is not smooth going up, then turn the barrel adjuster reffered to clockwise. If on the other hand, shifting down is where the issue is at, then the barrel adjuster should be turned counter-clockwise.

At all times, only turn a quarter to half-a-turn at one time.

The quickest way to address cassette-based shifting issues is to always turn the barrel adjuster towards which gears on the cassette you are having non-smooth shifting issues.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Luc
It does, thanks Luc :)