The something odd is that the rear mech seems to need a slightly different pull ratio than what the shifter is producing for each shift.

So if sprocket No 2 (2nd from bottom of cassette) is bang on, then by the time you shift to sprocket No 8 (2nd top of cassette) the chain is jumping trying to shift to sprocket 9. If you adjust the indexing so that No 8 stops jumping then by the time you shift down the cassette to No 2, then the chain wants to jump down to No 1! As if the shifter is pulling slightly more cable than is required for every shift.

Its as if the the cam in the shifter is ever so slightly larger than it should be….

It can't be loose outers as that would have the opposite effect. And the cable seems to be routed correctly as the manual states.

If it makes any difference its a 1X9 setup, 2009 short cage R. mech and shifter.

Im puzzled. Any ideas?

it is a sram 'x series' shifter isn't it? Shimano and sram mechs have a different cable pull ratio so you can't use a sram 'x series' mech with shimano shifter pods.

If it's been working for a while and suddenly started doing this then I'd look at a bent mech hanger or bent / very worn mech

Yes the shifter is for sram mechs. Both are 2009 X.9. And its all new kit, inc. cassette, chain, and chainring.

The indexing is ever so close, but just not quite.

Stops set properly? B tension set? Cable tension?

Your mech hanger may be ever so slightly out of alignment. Check that then start again.

As Nickc said, if it's jumping on the 8/9th sprocket could be your limit screws aren't set properly. Likewise with the b tension screw, either that or a worn chain/cassette. If they're all brand new as mentioned, could be that you've slightly damaged the cassette when putting it on.

Could also be worth checking the way you've routed the cable in the shifters. They're a pain to put new cables in, so that could be the problem…

Stops aren't the problem, indexing is out before the stops, but yup, they are bang on.

B tension is set for 6mm clearance at the largest sprocket, its no where near 6mm on the smallest but not much you can do about that.

Cable tension I think is correct. When i have set up sram previously the cable always seems every so slightly slack when on the bottom stop (H).

Hanger seems pretty straight both vertically and horizontally…..

Thanks for the ideas but none of the above i think

I'm sure its not the limit screws as watching the mech you can see the indexing shift distance is out ever so slightly on each and every shift.

The cassette is straight as a die.

The cables came pre-inserted, but thats an idea, ill have a check now.

brand new shifter and mech or old ones that worked fine before?

I had a bit of a nightmare setting up a new xt mech on a 12month old xt shifter. Eventually what sorted the indexing perfectly was new cable outers. No idea why but it was my last resort before binning something….

is it a 9 speed chain?

Brand new unused.

Right checked the cable routing: it looks right to me, same as is shown in the diagram in the setup guide anyway.

Any other ideas before I go with DT78's suggestion of changing the outers (which are re-used as it happens)?

Like the lateral thinking there basspine, but yes 9sp chain, pc991 (and i've just measured the chain width to make sure i'm not going mad).

The chain, and mech are sram but the cassette is XT, but that shouldn't make any difference right?

i had a similar problem when i was setting up my x.9 shifter and x.0 rear mech. i tried for a couple of hours to work out why it would shift OK on cogs 1-5 but then go out of sync on 6-9. After messing around and changing various things i routed the end of the cable differently – the part from the final frame stop to where it goes into the rear mech. What i was finding was as the rear mech moved it would interfere with the cable resulting in mis-shifts.

if its just jumping on the last few my money is on a bent mech hanger. take a gander at that.

joe x

Is it possible to clamp the cable wrongly to the mech? (wrong side of the bolt or something like that?)

Thanks alpinejason, ill check out for any shifting interference in the morning.

Pretty sure the mech hanger is dead straight Joe.

I don't think it's possible to mis clamp the cable with these new x.9 mechs (its a plastic slider clamped by a bolt on the opposite of the mech) but ill have a look.

Thanks All!

well shifter and mech are the same so its got to be either the cables or an issue in the the mounting of the mech. its so tricky to sort these things without seeing them in the flesh. at work we see allot of bent hangers and it sound allot like that. could be sticky cables. rock and roll make cable juice which is amazing and revives even really shitty cables. double cheak the hanger and the mech itself. once those sram mechs take a whack there never quite right. if it still isnt working i think lbs is the answer. goo luck joe x

you havent kinked the cable in the shifter have you?

Managed to do this once when fitting new cables & I scratched my head for age before I spotted the problem 😉

check the cable is going through the tiny hole in the back of the mech, its easy to miss, and check its in the little groove before the clamp bolt and check the lockring on the cassete, if the cassete is loose it will do this as well and try new outers as said above, good luck

Could your problem be related to mine? I have a sticky X-9 that stays in 1st (a bit of a knock – bunny hop for example – gets it moving) then shifts fine from 2 to 8 but refuses to go into 9th. See here.

My mech is a lot better now I've hosed it with GT85 repeatedly but still sticks from time to time.

Ian

sounds like your mech hanger is slightly bent inwards. It might only be 3 or 4 mil, so it'll look fine by eye but by the time you get to the 2nd sprocket the bend is exaggerated enough to mess up the indexing.

I have the same problem, also new set-up – X9 shifters and rear mech along with new cables. I reckon it's gotta be the mech hanger / dropout, just ordered a new one. 😀

It is definitely the hanger.

SOLVED!!

Visited my lbs this morning. They has a look, checked cables, stops etc etc and then brought out rear mech hanger alignment tool. Turns out the rear mech was bent inwards a few degrees. Not noticeable visually but still bent nevertheless.

So they correctly aligned it and sure enough indexing is now bang on!

And when you think about it really was the most likely reason. Because of the way the rear mech moves diagonally across the cassette any hanger dings will result in asymmetric indexing. Lesson learnt for me.

All those who guessed correctly give themselves a pat on the back.

Thanks All,

Mike

IT'S THE NEW MECHS NOT THE SETUP.

For 2010 SRAM changed the cable routing to go behind the mech. This seems to of altered the pull ratio of their mechs and causes the indexing to be ever so slightly out no matter what you do. I noticed this first on a brand new X.7 mech. I have a hanger alignment tool, so checked that, changed cables, cleaned cables etc all to no avail. I then swapped the mech onto another bike and made no other changes and put that old and battered X.7 from that one on the bike that I was experiencing problems with. The problem appeared on the other bike and you guessed it it was solved on the first. I did make sure that the cable was routed correctly on both occasions. Also yesterday I bent my old 2009 X.9 mech, so the cage is knackered, with a bit of man handling I moved it out of the spokes and although it would not back peddle it indexed well. This is why we use SRAM gears because they are not as bloody minded as Shimano ones when it comes to indexing, however I think the new cable routing is a real issue.

In case anyone else wanders into this; there's a product recall on the X9. OH's bike is in the LBS next week for a warranty replacement.

UPDATE
Had no choice but to use an 2010 X9. And have to say that all seems well with this mech. must say that I was hasty to condemn the new cable routing on all of their mechs, but maybe something else is affecting the 2010 X7 mech that has never shifted from new. I heard that the recall of SRAM mechs was due to sticking pivots that in itself could not affect indexing, so why so many of us have experienced problems with the 2010 models seems a mystery to me then.

Thankfully there are other people having problems with the indexing of Sram X9 rear derailleurs, so i don’t feel alone on this major issue.
My situation is as follows:

as of July 2011

Brand new X9 (9 speed) long cage derailleur
Brand new X0 9 speed grip shifter
Brand new Wipperman stainless steel 9 speed chain
Brand new Shimano 9 speed cassette – 11-34
Brand new derailleur hanger
Brand new X0 teflon cable
Brand new cable outers.

Ok, for the life of me i can’t get this damn X9 derailleur to index properly.
It indexes perfectly on the small gears through to the 5th gear in the cogset, then it doesn’t want to jump up the cassette on the next two cogs (using shifter indexing). After that, it’s fine jumping up the last two largest cogs (using shifter indexing).
The B-tension screw is set to 6mm and i have acceptable chain tension.
If i use the adjustment screw on the X0 twist grip, so that the derailleur jumps up the two gears from the 5th gear, it will not index on the down change in 7th and 8th smallest gears.
I have bought a Park Tool Derailleur alignment gauge and the hanger is straight and in alignment.

This is driving me crazy. I just want this damn X9 derailleur to work, just plain and simple – i want it to work, just like a Shimano does!

My email: yldflight@hotmail.com

Cheers to anyone who has any ideas

And this is my current setup:

Photos: http://motorizedbikesforum.the-talk.net/t135-multi-combination-bicycle-trailer-setup-bike

The video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wF-KO9g48PI

I’ve had a similar problem with my X7 10sp rear deraileur, bought new in January.

It was playimg up really bad, felt like the indexing was out or the hanger was bent.

It turned out the body was worn where the pivot/mounting bolt goes in causing it to wobble about. I did a Mud, Sweat and gears race at Tunstall a while back and I reckon some sand got in there as it had a lot of play in it. It was fixed by a friend with a lathe who drilled it and put a phosphor bronze bush in. It works great now, nice precise changes again.

But my rear derailleur is “brand new”; i’ve only just installed it and the indexing isn’t working properly.