Why the eff do I find it so difficult? Last night, I removed my compact chainset to replace with a standard, but discovered that the spindle on the replacement was too big, so had to reinstall the compact.
First problem.
But then, after changing my cassette and chain, do you think I could get my derailleur perfect? No. Not a chance.
This happens to me every flipping time I try to work on the transmission.
Is there a book of bike mechanics' secrets for effective gear adjustment? GCN and Park Tools videos are helpful, but I never end up with the results they do on the screen.
Oi! Are there no sympathetic, mechaniccaly-inclined, folk on the forum right now? 😉
Can't help but sympathetic, usually just shift onto largest cog, smallest chainring and set limits after setting height, angle etc.
My big problem is getting the guard not to rub on the chain in the highest gear, tolerances in 11 speed seem so minute compared to 10 speed.
Or could be my cack-handedness.....
I first started mountain biking after a friend gave me an old BSO. It was in a pretty sad condition, but I had no idea how to repair bikes and this was before Google existed. I figured out how deraillers worked, but had no idea how to adjust them, so I took to the front derailler with a hammer, vicegrips, and length of pipe that I used as a lever. I just bent the cages around until it shifted properly. Later I learned how to set them up properly, but I don't think I ever actually got one working any better than that first attempt.
Front mech adjustment for me:
1. Vertical adjustment on the frame - 1-2mm gap between top of teeth and bottom of outer plate
2. Rotational adjustment - parallel with chainset (can set by eye)
3. set lower limit screw - small chainring, large sprocket. Chain should be just clear of the inner mech plate and run silently)
4. cable fit - install cable, set tension appropriately
5. set upper limit screw - large chainring, small sprocket. Chain should be just clear of the outer mech plate
6. Fine tune adjustment - should shift chainrings easily without over-shifting. Once shifted, should be able to move the whole width of the cassette block without the chain rubbing on the front mech. Fine adjust as needed.
Note: Some setups are impossible to get completely silent in every gear. Always prioritise non-crossed gears (i.e. small chainring, large sprocket and large chainring, small sprocket should be silent)
Yup front mechs are a PITA to set up.
My last frame swap there would have been a bottle cage boss in the way, except "luckily" my chainset didn't fit so I had to fit an MTB chainset and bodge away to get a functioning chain line. That took about 50% of the total frame swap time!