[Closed] Does Anybody Have Perfect Shifting?

Is the cable running smoothly?

Ditch the Shitmano and get some Sram it is loads better IMO.

Always used to use shimano but switch to sram due to the 2:1 ratio. It is obviously a lot less sensitive to cable tension/movement and stopped 95% of my problems. I hardly re-adjust the rear mech now where as before I was like you always adjusting the damn thing. As you when I had a road bike which was shimano rear mech never had a problem, i'm guessing you mtb in a muddy area? The only downsides to sram are the change is more 'clunky' and its more expensive.

yep the shifting on my gearies is spot on using XTR flappy paddle spak shifters and mechs, sound like you just need to tweak the barrel adjusters, after checking the limit screws on the mech and the B screw to make sure it's all spaced and playing nicely.

Bike shop, WTF?? learn to do it yourself it's much more fun 🙂

Never had problems with any level of shimano gear set ups. Most issues IME with MTB gears is rough cables. Either loads of crap gets in there or the cables kink and cause problems.

You have to regularly pop them out and give them a clean and an oil. fnarr.

After that it's crap in the mech or a bent hanger.

sounds like cable stiction.

you need to put new cable and outer on but if you have exposed cables, even with those clever grommit doohickies, you will get gunk in your outers before long and be ready to rip the deurallier off

I gave up running exposed inners and dremmeled out the stops on all my bikes changing to full length outers. Now my shifting works. Is it always perfect? no, cables still stretch in but it's 200% more reliable than before. You could try it first, just zip tie the outer to the frame before resorting to power tools

It's not a full suss is it? I've seen some bikes where you have to be careful about cable length on the rear mech as compression of the bike can cause the cable to pull tight over part of the frame. Specialized Enduro is one that springs to mind.

Sounds like either a cable problem or the top jockey wheel bush is worn.

Since I put in full length outers a few years back the only time I've had bad shifting is after mangling the mech hanger. Bending the hanger back restored damn good shifting. New cables, full length outers, some magic thin lube on the cables set it up right and away you go.

As above it just sounds like you have stiction in the cables, either give them a good clean out or replace the inner and outer.

A clean, well maintained set up will give good shifts whether it be Shimano or Sram.

Shadow XT mech. They're the work of the devil. I can set mine up after a cable change eventually, but if I'm honest they' re the most sensitive rear mech I've ever owned.

To counter you there nick I can almost throw mine on and it works!
Mines been faultless, but I don't know what the answer to your problems is. I pay attention to the radius of the outer sections of cable. And I look carefully at teeth wear including jockey wheels.
XTR shifters, XT R/M F/M & Cassette BTW.
I always assume I'll only get perfect shifting if everything is in tip top condition. Thinking you'll be alright if just one component is a bit worn is wrong.
I also only use light lube.

"Perfect" shifting has been reality since Shimano gave us Hyperglide...God bless 'em!
I run a complete XT set up and it's as good as perfect, I'm still amazed how good it is. I've fitted dozens of Shadow mechs and not had any problems yet. The problem with Barca's set up is most likely cables, they've gotta run free and smooth. As other have said, check for links, corrosion - also check for burred housing ends and ferrul seals which are too tight and cause drag. The length of the last outer section is critical too, make sure it's long enough - couple of mm too short will throw things out.

New chain, new cassete, new front ring, new cable. Will last till tomorrow night.

Reluctants last sentance is so true. I've ridden behind a rider moaning about his Shadow, but when he changed gear I could see the outer stretching as it was so short. He had it almost like a SRAM set up, but you still need a nice loop in there with Shimano.

All-bran is supposed to help.

yeah, shadow rear mech fine here...

though that wasn't always the case - on some dropouts it's easy to get the little thin plate that actually bolts to the frame in the wrong orientation - it needs to go horizontally backwards from the mounting bolt. As mentioned, its sometimes easy to get it at an angle pointing down and back and you will never get good shifting like that.

Mine was going to be ****ted with a hammer till I moved it to another bike and noticed the error of my ways.

And clean cables - any gear system needs that really.

Does Anybody Have Perfect Shifting?

Another here that just 'threw' a Shadow mech on and it just worked, with minimal set-up. However, over time it's developed an annoying habit of not dropping down the block with a single click - having to click twice, then push back up. Co-incidentally, this happened with an old XT mech, but not for years.

I had Sram X9 on my last bike and whilst initially impressed, it all turned crappy pretty quickly with sticky jockeys, loose pivots and inability to get the smallest cog without packing the mech off the hanger with a washer.

Personal preference at the moment is Shimano.

I was just thinking about this the other day. I've been running my current X0 triggers & rear mech for almost a year now with absolutely zero adjustment, and it never misses a shift or slips. First time in my biking career I can say I've gone that long without having to mess about with mech/cable adjustments.

i use sp41 cables with no grease/oil, change them every year and have perfect shifting with shimano.

Something else that might throw it out is if the lock ring to the cassette has come loose, or there's play in the freewheel, allowing the cassette to wobble about.

Does Anybody Have Perfect Shifting?

Roadies do, even my perfectly set up XT is positively agricultural compared to the Ultegra on my CX

After what seemed like months of problems I seem to have almost perfect shifting since I went to a single cable run to the rear mech - using Shimano XTR shifters & Mech.

I reckon your bits are worn 😉

And I have never even as much as felt, let alone heard the gears ever change on my mtb. It's SS of course!

Does Anybody Have Perfect Shifting?

Only us Rohloff riders.

BigJohn - Member

All-bran is supposed to help.

I have pretty consistent shifting - I use Gore Rideon cables and they've been faultless once set up correctly.
The only slightly niggle is the front shifter, which I've never managed to set up right, but that's more my incompetence than anything 🙂

Shadow SLX, full length outers, and perfect shifting here!

XT shadow rear , (very) old XT front, full length housing, SLX shifters all mounted on an old flavour heckler and regularly lubed - perfect shifting. Sorry.

yes, on all three mtbikes, not even regularly serviced. full length outers help but are not essential. Cables stretch etc... take up a bit of slack now and again on the shifter. Ok, I did ditch the xt shadow, like nickc says far too sensitive for my liking, rapid rise medium cage mechs for me.

Kev

rear mech : tweak the barrel adjusters ! i rememeber having a problem on my hartail with the rear mech it wud always mess up in 7-8th gear (its a case of tweaking the barrel sdjustments till it gets near as dam it...

No barrel adjuster included with Shadow rear mechs.
It's furbar'ed. Well, it is now I've given myself spanner rash on my knuckles, turned green, ripped my shirt and dragged the bike out of the workstand and launched it across the garage!
My leisure time is too minimal for this bollocks, to The Bike Smithy it will go.
RHSno2's comment made me chuckle though.

i do not - just refitted gears to my xc race bike as it was SS for winter/strathpuffer

well used XTR shifters , XTR shadow mech and new XTR cables with XT chainset/rings chain, jockey wheels and cassette

SSstu is on the money with top jockeywheel probably causing alot of issues if its well used. my mech is on its third set of jockey wheels in 2years

sram stuff - yup jockey wheels dont go sloppy they just sieze up .... and the cages go sloppy rather than the jocky wheels - based on my experiance of x.0 / x9 and x7 on my old downhill bike

At the risk of turning into TJ here.. I've said this before and I'll say it again... (blah blah)
After a few rides the flexure of the sleeves will make the wires poke out the ends. These compress at high tensions and throw out the indexing. Cut the sleeves a bit long at first and then trim them off later. After a bit of work they settle down. I would dare say that there is no such thing as cable stretch.. only sleeve shrinkage.
And always always use sealed end caps. The little rubber grommet does a very good job of keeping the crap out. Thanks little rubber grommet!

Edit.. and as above, jockey wheels are always the first bit to die in a mech. LX ones are always cheap though.

XT shadow mech on mine and it is perfect. As is the STX on my old bike and 105 on the road bike. Sure it's lacking 1 barrel adjuster compared to older MTB setups, but the one on the shifter has more than enough range.

All were set up by following the instructions on the Park Tools website.

Only problem I've had is the front mech getting clagged with snow mid-ride, but after letting it defrost and then hoovering out the dried mud it worked perfectly again.

I run Sram X9 rear mechs on both my MTB's and and the shifting has been really good on them compared to Shimano ones I had. On the rough stuff Shimano's 2:1 ratio just skips gears constantly and just don't compare to Sram's 1:1 in comparison.

SLX here, fine.

You have to give it a bit of attention now and then (barrel adjuster) if you feel things changing for the worse.

On the ride on sat last week it was pissing down all day, mud all over the shop and i didnt have to tweak the indexing once.
XTR shifter, SP41 cables, XT shadow rear mech, XT sprockets and SRAM chain. All on an '04 enduro too.
I think sometimes people cut the outers a smidge too short which can cause problems when the suspension is moving.

full length cable outers = a fighting chance of good shifting

God is trying to tell you to get a single speed...

If you're having problems with shifting on a shadow mech it's almost certainly down to the cable housing length on the last run of outer casing, too long and the mech won't operate correctly. Seen it loads of times, I'll see if I can't dig out the Shimano documents and give you more info later.

never have anything but silent buttery shifting myself.
and never had much of a problem with any level of mech either, acera through to XTR.

i cant understand the people crunching around trails on 2k bikes and then mangling the drive chains by not maintaning them or setting them up properly

it makes me cry a little bit.

Gore rideon sealed cables for me.

Haven't had to **** about with gears at all since I put them on the bike. Took a while to install but well worth it. I really can't stand fiddling around with bloomin gears....