I ride into work every day, usually on the road bike but also on the mtb if the weathers foul. The gears on the mtb never need touching but my road bike indexing needs adjusting 2-3 times a week, usually on the way home.

Initial thoughts were that the temperature variation between morning and evening journeys could be doing something(sometimes about 15 degrees warmer onteh way home) but it takes about 1/4 to 1/2 a turn on the barrel adjuster to get the gears working properly again. It’s Sram red/force ten speed stuff and works fine when I ride in the mornings (having got it right on ten way home) so now I’m thinking that someone is purposely tweaking the cable tension to screw it up, not sure what they’re motivation would be though 😕

Anyhow, what can I use to demonstrate that my paranoia is real! Thought about tippex etc but don’t really want to paint my pristine mech…

1. There’s no way that’s actually happening.

2. You could put small blob of nail polish or similar on the barrel adjusters, and take photos of the mech position(s) when you leave the bike, then compare when you return to it.

3. There’s no way that’s actually happening.

Use tippex. Little dot on the underside. It will pick off once you’ve got your answer.

Stick a hair on the barrel adjuster with saliva. If it’s been disturbed when you get back it’s been tampered with… or you need stickier spit.

Either way, you’re clearly nuts.

Cover the barrel adjusters in your own excrement, then have a sniff around

you’re aware tippex can be removed ?

Get a single speed. That’ll learn the meddling swine!

simple?

either ask the CCTV / security people to monitor your bike, or move it somewhere only you have access to.

It could be simpler, in that your bike has some mechanical issues that need addressing like poor quality cabling and / or bad setup

Never heard of temperature causing issues with cable indexing?

It definitely can cause issues with hydraulic disc brakes, suspension oils and freehubs in extremely cold weather though…

I guess I’d be paranoid if all my colleagues hated me, too 😉

Cover your bike in your own excrement. Sniff everyone at work the next day to see who smells of it.

Your using Sram. Thats the answer right there.

Punji trap, that will learn ’em.

Tell me more chip…. 🙂

Cables are all good, thing works perfectly when indexed

No CCTV in the bike room and I’m sure I’d get laughed at I requested footage if there was any. I didn’t think the temperature could do it, hence the convulsion that someone is having a laugh with me.

I only have colleagues on one floor, the other 6 floors are people who rarely talk to each other by all accounts, they’d rather stare at the lift buttons than say hi, so I guess there are plenty of oddballs to choose from!

remember to put your headphones in before you ride home.

I was always fiddling with my cables on my road bike, every ride, there’s nothing else to think about bike wise. I’m too busy riding my mtb, so just push the lever again if the first shift doesn’t take.

Don’t know about road gears, but used to have an SLX Shadow mech on an old mtb and it needed reindexing after almost every ride.

Wire your mech up to the mains? Soon see if someone touches it!

Could the mech be getting knocked? Are you trapping the cable when you lock it?

Back in the day of toe clips and straps it was easy to accidentally step on the toe strap as you dismounted, thus tightening up the strap. One of my friends was convinced that somebody at work was tightening up his toe straps from time to time, just to annoy him 😀

UV pen and torch?

On a regular commuter my moneys on gummed up cables though.

here

I could just print this thread out now and tape it to the bike, that’d give “them” a hint that I know what’s happening 😐

someone flicks through my bike computer as its not the same display as when i leave it –