D
Dan Braasch
Guest
I picked up a used Trek 220 (24" girl's mountain bike, 21-speed) for my
9-year old daughter. It has "Twist-Shifters", where part of the handle is
rotated to shift gears. The bike is in great shape, but she does not have
the hand strength to rotate the front shifter into the #3 (largest gear)
position.
The resistance increases as you twist toward the 3, and decreases toward the
1. I find it surprising how much effort is required, even for me (my hand
hurts after a while). This resistance I am speaking of is not the
"easy/hard" click stops that you can adjust with the gray ring, this is more
of a really high spring-tension type of resistance, that only gets really
bad just when the chain is about to jump to the large gear in front.
The front derailleur is a Shimano Altus, and the rear is a Shimano SIS.
I have cleaned and lubricated the derailleurs, gears, and the chain. I have
adjusted the derailleurs for best shift. I have not touched the cables or
the shifter yet, for lack of knowledge about what's inside the shifter.
Is this resistance normal for this type of shifter? Forgive my ignorance,
but it's been a while since I've researched bikes. My wife and I purchased
our last bikes in the late 1980's, and they have Shimano SIS and Exage
packages on them with flip-lever type shifters. I don't remember Twist
Shifters being around then.
One thing I may consider is replacing the shifter with an SIS flip-lever
type if it's available. (I'm sure that will initiate more questions from
me....... )
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
--
Dan Braasch
9-year old daughter. It has "Twist-Shifters", where part of the handle is
rotated to shift gears. The bike is in great shape, but she does not have
the hand strength to rotate the front shifter into the #3 (largest gear)
position.
The resistance increases as you twist toward the 3, and decreases toward the
1. I find it surprising how much effort is required, even for me (my hand
hurts after a while). This resistance I am speaking of is not the
"easy/hard" click stops that you can adjust with the gray ring, this is more
of a really high spring-tension type of resistance, that only gets really
bad just when the chain is about to jump to the large gear in front.
The front derailleur is a Shimano Altus, and the rear is a Shimano SIS.
I have cleaned and lubricated the derailleurs, gears, and the chain. I have
adjusted the derailleurs for best shift. I have not touched the cables or
the shifter yet, for lack of knowledge about what's inside the shifter.
Is this resistance normal for this type of shifter? Forgive my ignorance,
but it's been a while since I've researched bikes. My wife and I purchased
our last bikes in the late 1980's, and they have Shimano SIS and Exage
packages on them with flip-lever type shifters. I don't remember Twist
Shifters being around then.
One thing I may consider is replacing the shifter with an SIS flip-lever
type if it's available. (I'm sure that will initiate more questions from
me....... )
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
--
Dan Braasch