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rear der adjustment

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Cycling Equipment
Published
15 March 2008
Last activity
16 March 2008
Original author
Jim F
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20
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  1. I changed out my rear wheel for my wife's, and now it won't shift to the
    highest gear.

    Both are Shimano nine-speed.
    The derailer is c. 2000 Ultegra.
    My wheel was a low-end Mavic rim with some whatever hub.
    Hers is a Rolf Sestriere.
    Low gears are fine, and shifting is otherwise okay.

    I tried the H limit screw on the derailer.
    The derailer hanger seems aligned fine.
    I reviewed Sheldon's page.

    Any suggestions?

    --
    JF

    "Here comes the lightening and here comes the thunder. Ride on the storm and
    take it to the sea. "
    - Jim Hunter

  2. Jim F said:

    I changed out my rear wheel for my wife's, and now it won't shift to the
    highest gear.

    Both are Shimano nine-speed.
    The derailer is c. 2000 Ultegra.
    My wheel was a low-end Mavic rim with some whatever hub.
    Hers is a Rolf Sestriere.
    Low gears are fine, and shifting is otherwise okay.

    I tried the H limit screw on the derailer.
    The derailer hanger seems aligned fine.
    I reviewed Sheldon's page.

    Any suggestions?

    If the limit screw isn't what's limiting it then the cable may be too
    tight.

  3. Jim F said:

    I changed out my rear wheel for my wife's, and now it won't shift to the
    highest gear.
    Both are Shimano nine-speed.
    The derailer is c. 2000 Ultegra.
    My wheel was a low-end Mavic rim with some whatever hub.
    Hers is a Rolf Sestriere.
    Low gears are fine, and shifting is otherwise okay.
    I tried the H limit screw on the derailer.
    The derailer hanger seems aligned fine.
    I reviewed Sheldon's page.
    Any suggestions?

    Check that it's aligned, set the limit screws and double check by
    shifting smartly with your left thumb before connecting the gear wire.
    --
    Andrew Muzi
    www.yellowjersey.org
    Open every day since 1 April, 1971

  4. "Ben C" <[email hidden]> wrote...

    Quoted message said:


    If the limit screw isn't what's limiting it then the cable may be too
    tight.

    Bingo. That, plus I opened it up half a turn.

    Thanks,

    --
    JF

    "Here comes the lightening and here comes the thunder. Ride on the storm and
    take it to the sea. "
    - Jim Hunter

  5. Jim F said:

    "Ben C" <[email hidden]> wrote...

    Quoted message said:

    If the limit screw isn't what's limiting it then the cable may be too
    tight.

    Bingo. That, plus I opened it up half a turn.

    Thanks,

    --
    JF

    "Here comes the lightening and here comes the thunder. Ride on the storm and
    take it to the sea. "
    - Jim Hunter

    The only thing the high and low limit screws do is limit how far a
    derailleur can move in either direction. That adjustment can be made
    without a cable being attached. After that how well the indexing works
    is determined by cable tension.

    There are videos on Utube that explain the concept very well.

  6. Dave said:
    Jim F said:

    "Ben C" <[email hidden]> wrote...

    Quoted message said:

    If the limit screw isn't what's limiting it then the cable may be too
    tight.


    Bingo. That, plus I opened it up half a turn.

    Thanks,

    --
    JF

    "Here comes the lightening and here comes the thunder. Ride on the storm and
    take it to the sea. "
    - Jim Hunter

    The only thing the high and low limit screws do is limit how far a
    derailleur can move in either direction. That adjustment can be made
    without a cable being attached. After that how well the indexing works
    is determined by cable tension.

    I find that a very confusing description 'adjusting cable tension'. The
    tension is determined by de spring in the derailleur. You adjust the
    POSITION of the upper pulley with barrel adjuster.

    Lou

  7. Lou Holtman said:
    Dave said:
    Jim F said:

    "Ben C" <[email hidden]> wrote...

    > If the limit screw isn't what's limiting it then the cable may be too
    > tight.
    Bingo. That, plus I opened it up half a turn.

    Thanks,

    --
    JF

    "Here comes the lightening and here comes the thunder. Ride on the storm and
    take it to the sea. "
    - Jim Hunter

    The only thing the high and low limit screws do is limit how far a
    derailleur can move in either direction. That adjustment can be made
    without a cable being attached. After that how well the indexing works
    is determined by cable tension.

    I find that a very confusing description 'adjusting cable tension'. The
    tension is determined by de spring in the derailleur. You adjust the
    POSITION of the upper pulley with barrel adjuster.

    If the derailleur is on its lower limit screw and you turn the barrel
    you will be increasing tension in the cable.

  8. Ben C said:
    Lou Holtman said:
    Dave said:

    On Mar 15, 5:29 pm, "Jim F" <[email hidden]> wrote:
    > "Ben C" <[email hidden]> wrote...
    >
    >> If the limit screw isn't what's limiting it then the cable may be too
    >> tight.
    > Bingo. That, plus I opened it up half a turn.
    >
    > Thanks,
    >
    > --
    > JF
    >
    > "Here comes the lightening and here comes the thunder. Ride on the storm and
    > take it to the sea. "
    > - Jim Hunter
    The only thing the high and low limit screws do is limit how far a
    derailleur can move in either direction. That adjustment can be made
    without a cable being attached. After that how well the indexing works
    is determined by cable tension.


    I find that a very confusing description 'adjusting cable tension'. The
    tension is determined by de spring in the derailleur. You adjust the
    POSITION of the upper pulley with barrel adjuster.

    If the derailleur is on its lower limit screw and you turn the barrel
    you will be increasing tension in the cable.

    Yeah by 0.001% or something. The main purpose is POSITIONING the upper
    pulley, by in- or decreasing the length of the outer cable between two
    cable stops. The tiny weeny in- or decrease of the tension, which you
    can not feel in the cable, is a side effect. Why not call by the right
    name instead of that voodoo bicycle tech talk nobody 'not in the
    business' understands. It's like calling shifting to another gear in- or
    decreasing cable tension.

    Lou

  9. Lou Holtman said:
    Ben C said:

    On 2008-03-16, Lou Holtman <[email hidden]> wrote:


    [...]

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    I find that a very confusing description 'adjusting cable tension'. The
    tension is determined by de spring in the derailleur. You adjust the
    POSITION of the upper pulley with barrel adjuster.

    If the derailleur is on its lower limit screw and you turn the barrel
    you will be increasing tension in the cable.

    Yeah by 0.001% or something. The main purpose is POSITIONING the upper
    pulley, by in- or decreasing the length of the outer cable between two
    cable stops.

    Why the outer cable?

    The way I assume it works is like this: the shifter is clicked into the
    position for third gear (for example). You set the (inner) cable length
    to just the right length to position the derailleur nicely on third
    gear.

    You should now hit the other gears correctly as the shifter changes the
    cable length by the right amount for the distance between gears.

    Quoted message said:

    The tiny weeny in- or decrease of the tension, which you
    can not feel in the cable, is a side effect. Why not call by the right
    name instead of that voodoo bicycle tech talk nobody 'not in the
    business' understands.

    Anyway if you did rack up the tension with the derailleur on the lower
    limit screw you wouldn't achieve anything useful.

    Quoted message said:

    It's like calling shifting to another gear in- or
    decreasing cable tension.

    Which it isn't. As you say it's the cable length you're setting here and
    the tension is always the same and determined by the derailleur spring.

  10. Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    tension is determined by de spring in the derailleur. You adjust the
    POSITION of the upper pulley with barrel adjuster.

    If the derailleur is on its lower limit screw and you turn the barrel
    you will be increasing tension in the cable.

    Yeah by 0.001% or something. The main purpose is POSITIONING the upper
    pulley, by in- or decreasing the length of the outer cable between two cable
    stops. The tiny weeny in- or decrease of the tension, which you can not feel
    in the cable, is a side effect.

    Here's how I would describe the physics. You apply a torque to turn the
    barrel, which transmits a force to the cable and pulls it a little harder -
    this pull is the cable tension. The other end of the cable transmits this
    pull to the derailleur. As the derailleur moves, its spring lengthens, and
    the spring force increases to balance the increased cable tension.

    Look at it this way. If the derailleur spring was replaced by something like
    a solid rod, the derailleur would hardly move, and cable tension would have to
    be increased a lot for a tiny bit of movement. On the other hand, if the
    spring was very weak, a small increase in cable tension would cause a large
    movement. If you find it clearer to refer to cable length instead of tension,
    that's fine. But I think it's wrong to call the tension increase a "side
    effect," as it's the increase in tension that causes everything else to
    happen.

    Barry

  11. Ben C said:
    Lou Holtman said:
    Ben C said:

    On 2008-03-16, Lou Holtman <[email hidden]> wrote:


    [...]

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    > I find that a very confusing description 'adjusting cable tension'. The
    > tension is determined by de spring in the derailleur. You adjust the
    > POSITION of the upper pulley with barrel adjuster.
    If the derailleur is on its lower limit screw and you turn the barrel
    you will be increasing tension in the cable.


    Yeah by 0.001% or something. The main purpose is POSITIONING the upper
    pulley, by in- or decreasing the length of the outer cable between two
    cable stops.

    Why the outer cable?

    The outer cable has to be filled by the same amount of inner cable. That
    is only possible if the RD moves thereby positioning the upper pulley.

    Quoted message said:


    The way I assume it works is like this: the shifter is clicked into the
    position for third gear (for example). You set the (inner) cable length
    to just the right length to position the derailleur nicely on third
    gear.

    Correct.

    Quoted message said:


    You should now hit the other gears correctly as the shifter changes the
    cable length by the right amount for the distance between gears.

    Exactly.

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    The tiny weeny in- or decrease of the tension, which you
    can not feel in the cable, is a side effect. Why not call by the right
    name instead of that voodoo bicycle tech talk nobody 'not in the
    business' understands.

    Anyway if you did rack up the tension with the derailleur on the lower
    limit screw you wouldn't achieve anything useful.

    Correct. That's what goes wrong often. Alway check if the RD doesn't
    bottom out against the limit screw(s). Limit screws are just safety
    devices an with a proper set up indexed system redundant.

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    It's like calling shifting to another gear in- or
    decreasing cable tension.

    Which it isn't. As you say it's the cable length you're setting here and
    the tension is always the same and determined by the derailleur spring.

    Correct

    Lou

  12. Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    Which it isn't. As you say it's the cable length you're setting here and
    the tension is always the same and determined by the derailleur spring.

    Correct

    I disagree. As the derailleur moves, its spring lengthens or shortens, and
    the spring tension changes:

    en.wikipedia.orgHooke's law

  13. Barry said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    > tension is determined by de spring in the derailleur. You adjust the
    > POSITION of the upper pulley with barrel adjuster.
    If the derailleur is on its lower limit screw and you turn the barrel
    you will be increasing tension in the cable.


    Yeah by 0.001% or something. The main purpose is POSITIONING the upper
    pulley, by in- or decreasing the length of the outer cable between two cable
    stops. The tiny weeny in- or decrease of the tension, which you can not feel
    in the cable, is a side effect.

    Here's how I would describe the physics. You apply a torque to turn the
    barrel, which transmits a force to the cable and pulls it a little harder -
    this pull is the cable tension.

    When turning the barrel you lengthen of shorten the distance of the
    outet/inner cable between two cable stop. By doing so the RD has to move
    because the length of the inner cable is fixed between the shifter and
    the fixing point on the RD when the shifter is in a gear position.
    Because the RD moves the tension alters a tiny bit, but it is a side
    effect caused by the movement of the RD. The same happens when you shift
    from one gear to another only you shorten or lengthen the length of the
    inner cable between the shifter and the RD. The rear derailleur takes up
    the slack and moves because it is pre loaded by the RD spring.

    The other end of the cable transmits this

    Quoted message said:

    pull to the derailleur. As the derailleur moves, its spring lengthens, and
    the spring force increases to balance the increased cable tension.

    Look at it this way. If the derailleur spring was replaced by something like
    a solid rod, the derailleur would hardly move,

    No it moves the same. You only have to apply more torque when turning
    the barrel or operate the shifter.

    and cable tension would have to

    Quoted message said:

    be increased a lot for a tiny bit of movement. On the other hand, if the
    spring was very weak, a small increase in cable tension would cause a large
    movement.

    No it doesn't. Only the torque would be smaller to turn the barrel or
    the force to operate the shifter. The spring in the RD is a compromise
    between the force needed to operate the shifter of the sensitivity for
    sticky cables. The amount of movement is determent by the lever ratios
    in the shifter and RD

    If you find it clearer to refer to cable length instead of tension,

    Quoted message said:

    that's fine. But I think it's wrong to call the tension increase a "side
    effect," as it's the increase in tension that causes everything else to
    happen.

    No it doesn't. See above.

    Lou

  14. Barry said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    Which it isn't. As you say it's the cable length you're setting here and
    the tension is always the same and determined by the derailleur spring.


    Correct

    I disagree. As the derailleur moves, its spring lengthens or shortens, and
    the spring tension changes:

    en.wikipedia.orgHooke's law

    What makes the RD move?

    Lou

  15. Barry said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    Which it isn't. As you say it's the cable length you're setting here and
    the tension is always the same and determined by the derailleur spring.

    Correct

    I disagree. As the derailleur moves, its spring lengthens or shortens, and
    the spring tension changes:

    en.wikipedia.orgHooke's law

    Yes I think you're right.

    Although it may be more complicated if there are also leverage changes
    caused by the shape of the parallelogram.

    At the end of the day it's the position of the derailleur you care
    about, which corresponds to cable length. The spring is only there so
    you can change up.

  16. Quoted message said:

    What makes the RD move?

    Like anything else, the rear derailleur moves because a force acts on it. In
    this case, there are two opposing forces, coming from the cable (tension) and
    the spring. When the two forces are equal, the RD stays put. If the forces
    are unequal, the RD moves.

  17. Barry said:
    Quoted message said:

    What makes the RD move?

    Like anything else, the rear derailleur moves because a force acts on it. In
    this case, there are two opposing forces, coming from the cable (tension) and
    the spring. When the two forces are equal, the RD stays put. If the forces
    are unequal, the RD moves.

    OK, lets rephrase my question: What determines the position of the RD.
    That's is the only thing that is important for the adjustment and
    whether it shift or not.

    Lou

  18. Lou Holtman said:
    Barry said:
    Quoted message said:

    What makes the RD move?

    Like anything else, the rear derailleur moves because a force acts on
    it. In this case, there are two opposing forces, coming from the
    cable (tension) and the spring. When the two forces are equal, the
    RD stays put. If the forces are unequal, the RD moves.

    OK, lets rephrase my question: What determines the position of the RD.
    That's is the only thing that is important for the adjustment and
    whether it shift or not.

    Lou

    dude, this tread is already painfully retarded - now you're just
    prolonging it. cable length. end of story. now let's go home.

  19. Ben C said:
    Barry said:
    Quoted message said:

    > Which it isn't. As you say it's the cable length you're setting here and
    > the tension is always the same and determined by the derailleur spring.
    Correct


    I disagree. As the derailleur moves, its spring lengthens or shortens, and
    the spring tension changes:

    en.wikipedia.orgHooke's law

    Yes I think you're right

    Of course that is right.
    ..

    Quoted message said:


    Although it may be more complicated if there are also leverage changes
    caused by the shape of the parallelogram.

    At the end of the day it's the position of the derailleur you care
    about, which corresponds to cable length. The spring is only there so
    you can change up.

    That is what I meant. Adjusting the RD is posioning it in- or decreasing
    the cable tension. In a certain position of the RD corresponding to a
    shifter position/click I can change the RD spring by a stronger one or a
    weaker on. The RD stays in place. I changed the tension but not the
    position of the RD.

    Lou

  20. Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    >> "Ben C" <[email hidden]> wrote...
    >>> If the limit screw isn't what's limiting it then the cable may be too
    >>> tight.

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    > "Jim F" <[email hidden]> wrote:
    >> Bingo. That, plus I opened it up half a turn.

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    Dave wrote:
    > The only thing the high and low limit screws do is limit how far a
    > derailleur can move in either direction. That adjustment can be made
    > without a cable being attached. After that how well the indexing works
    > is determined by cable tension.

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:
    Lou Holtman said:

    I find that a very confusing description 'adjusting cable tension'.
    The tension is determined by de spring in the derailleur. You adjust
    the POSITION of the upper pulley with barrel adjuster.

    Quoted message said:
    Ben C said:

    If the derailleur is on its lower limit screw and you turn the barrel
    you will be increasing tension in the cable.

    Lou Holtman said:

    Yeah by 0.001% or something. The main purpose is POSITIONING the upper
    pulley, by in- or decreasing the length of the outer cable between two
    cable stops. The tiny weeny in- or decrease of the tension, which you
    can not feel in the cable, is a side effect. Why not call by the right
    name instead of that voodoo bicycle tech talk nobody 'not in the
    business' understands. It's like calling shifting to another gear in- or
    decreasing cable tension.

    Well phrased, Lou. Thanks
    --
    Andrew Muzi
    www.yellowjersey.org
    Open every day since 1 April, 1971

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