Ok, just built a new bike up then booked in at LBS to fit a Gore Ride On gear cable kit and set up front/rear gears (i am rubbish at it). Now 3 rides later the gears constantly ghost shift/try to change and the chain rubs in most gears now on the front mech cage. Guessing its the new cables stretched or another prob?

Should i take it back to LBS to sort out. If i do is it chargeable? (they charged £15 to set up gears/cables on top of cable set cost).

Or is it a quick simple (and it needs to be simple) fix by me?

Thoughts?

id do it myself (ex shop mechanic) but if you find unsure just take it back with a pack of hob nobs (choco ones) and they will prob take 2 mins and sort it for you if there any good

Do it yourself, once you spend 15 mins learning you’ll kick yourself for ever paying someone to do it.

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/workshop-how-to-set-up-the-gears-on-your-bike-23582/

read from point 12 onwards on the above link. All you will need to do is tighten the cables, don’t mess with the positioning screws.

If the above link doesn’t flick your switch – find a video on YouTube.

I bought the parktool big blue book when I was a poor student to save repair costs. Due to the book, the only thing I can’t do now are jobs with require expensive tools which I do not have (and would not make any economic sense buying).

Good luck

DIY.
Gear fettling is one of those things you should learn how to do yourself.

Just have a go yourself. Bikeshop mechanics aren’t magic, they had to learn the same as anyone else. From past experience, trust me when I say that no bike shop will put quite as much care into looking after your bike as you will.
Good luck!

If you do take it back, I would imagine it’d be without charge as it sounds like a bit of stretching, part of life and not a major job to rectify.

Although I agree its an easy skill to get and you should learn, I think if they charged you £15 to set them up, and 3 rides later they are completely out then yes you should take it back to them and ask them to have a look.

Have you thought abot giving them a bell and asking?

Should have added any decent shop would have said that the cables would stretch and pop it back in if they need adjusting, or show you how to do it.

Or maybe they didnt realise it was a case of ‘all the gear, no idea’ 🙂

Unless you carry an LBS everywhere that you go on your bike 😯 I would learn how to do it yourself.

Guessing its the new cables stretched or another prob?

Cables don’t stretch. The new outers and end fittings tend to compress. Best advice is to fit the inners and outers. Select low gear at the rear and high at the front.

Have a cuppa and let it all settle down under tension.

Now start to fettle the indexing.

Hth
Mark

The generally poor quality of bike shop spannering I have encountered over the years, led me down the DIY route. Once you are into it, you will never look back.

Not really the shops fault, this tends to happen when you install new cables, they always need re-tweaking after a few rides once they’ve bedded in.

Take it back to the shop and ask them to tweak the gears, Im sure they wont mind and wont charge you.

Or stop being mong and learn to do it yourself!

Best advice is to fit the inners and outers. Select low gear at the rear and high at the front.

Have a cuppa and let it all settle down under tension.

Just give the inners a really good tug, far more effective.

I’ve not had to fettle with gore ride-on cables after installing them and I’m running them on 3 bikes. Even with el cheapo normal cables it should take more than 3 rides before they ‘stretch’ and need tweaking (unless they were three long rides). Chain rubbing on mech is a set-up issue not a bedding-in one as well. Given you’ve already paid for the privilege I’d ask them to sort it out, however in future then you really should look at doing gears yourself as it doesn’t take much to learn it (a bike stand is kind of a necessity though) and it’s one of the more common maintenance tasks.

a bike stand is kind of a necessity though

No it isn’t, just turn the bike upside down. In fact, many FS bikes I find it easier to get them ‘thereabouts’ on the stand and then give it a ride to do the final tweak.

Anyone else have trouble with ride ons? I cut the outers, filed them square and fit so forget about them? Nope. on Tight cable turns the outer ends are no longer square, the wires in the outer are different lengths and one punctures the inner cable sheath. How do you get round this?
Bend the outers into shape then file them square? (tricky?)
Use longer cables so there’s aren’t tight turns? (can’t go too long)

A couple of old inner tubes hung from hooks in the garage ceiling can be a cheap and easy way to get the bike off the ground for fettling purposes.

A couple of old inner tubes hung from hooks in the garage ceiling can be a cheap and easy way to get the bike off the ground for fettling purposes

Or an old seat post screwed to the ceiling?

It’s what I used for years before getting a bike stand

If we’d replaced the cables on a bike we would re-tune the gears if required for free after a short period. Take it back to the LBS with a smile and they should sort you out.

Thanks for the comments folk. Think on this occasion i may take it back to the LBS so they can tweak it as i paid for the install.

In future think i will try and learn how to do it, can do most other stuff i just have a mental black hole with setting up gears that i find it difficult to pick up.

Damn it, had a go myself and i have made it bloody worse than before. Got a headache now, second try tomorrow morning , from scratch i think.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr 👿