I cannot get the shifting to work on one of my bikes with a shadow mech.
The bike has slx shifters/mech, sram cassette and shimano chain. All is 'barely' used and in good condition, cleaned, properly oiled with a good condition cable. It still won't shift properly, its impossible to get a good up/down gear shift.
I've tried all manner of adjustments of the cable tension, b-tension screw and even chain length.
I've not had to ask about derailleur help since before I was a teenager! Help!
Is the outer too short?
seen this ?[url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/shimano-xt-shadow-rear-mech-rd772-for-dummies-guide ]STW shadow mechs for dummies thread[/url]
bent derraileur hanger?
wheel lined up properli in dropouts?
Hanger 100% straight, bolt through rear end so definitely lined up correctly.
I was pulling my hair out trying to set up my shadow mech, the indexing was out, it would jump 2 cogs at the bottom end going down and 2 again at the top going up. Then I noticed the cable was a mite too tight!
Slackened it of and all was well. 🙂
it would jump 2 cogs at the bottom end going down
Yep me too! Couldn't understand why as it worked perfectly fine in all shifts up the cassette and all others going down. Slackened the cable off and it worked fine. I seem to have got the nack now =)
Is the outer too short?
I had exactly that issue with an XT shadow last week.The bike I was on was ghost shifting like ****,& no amount of adjustment with the barrell adjuster at the shifter end had any effect,I even slackened off & retightened the cable at the mech,to no effect.
Anyway the bike has a 3 piece outer,& the last section which goes from 3/4 down the seat stay to the mech seemed 'tight',so I cut a new piece slightly longer,(1cm),& it did the trick!No more problems.
I've found that shadow mechs have to be set up from scratch without skipping any steps in the instructions (no pun intended). Even then, I took my bike into the lbs as I wasn't happy with the shifting. They set it up and it was OK'ish in the shop but on the trails it didn't feel right. After about an hour's riding it had settled down. No idea why it took an hour riding to settle down as the cables weren't new.
Still think my 6 year old XTR on my commuting bike is a better mech - only had to change the jockey wheels whereas a XT shadow mech lasts less than a year.
Built my bike with Shadow mech and XT shifters. Set it from scratch and needed one adjustment. Then a few rides in, it seemed to hesitate coming down the block so I adjusted the B tension bringing it into the cassette slightly. Otherwise faultless.