setting up gears

why is it taking me like 2 hours to get the gears working perfect lol, got the high adjustment sorted and the low adjustment sorted and every time i get the top gears changing correctly something else jumps out that was originally working fine and its just repeating its self, the cable tensions is fine ive just bought a new inner and outer, the shifter its self is shimano slx. only prob is the barrel seems a bit stiff when adjusting, any one know of any probs with slx shifters? it should work but still some gears are wanting to jump, ive watched vids etc and they dont tell you enough if gears are jumping it just shows you how to set it up

itz coz you gots shimano. should’ve gone Sram.

cant really choose when u buy a full alpine 160 bike though can ya lol

Have you checked the mech hanger is straight?

looks straight to me, ive not touched the hangers, its a shimano saint derailleur

Looks straight and is straight are two different things.

The rear mech is a 9 speed version isn’t it?

generally if the gears are jumping up = too much tension and if gears are skipping down = not enough tension. sometimes it can be just a tad too much each way.

Try doing quarter turns with the barrel adjuster while spinning the cranks round.

If this doesn’t work start again and check hi lo and b screws.

If it still doesn’t work check the mech hanger.

you’ll probably get the tension right eventually. usually takes a good few hours to set a shimano rear mech up.

serriously, you’ve probably pulled the cable too tight to start with so undo the clamp on the rear mech and start over. wind the barrel adjuster on the shifter out a couple of turns so you have something to work with. put shifter into highest gear. pull the cable through the mech but not too tight – that’s important! then fine tune with quarter turns.

double seriously, SRAM are so much easier to set up! i built my bike the other night and didn’t have to even touch the barrel adjuster.

oh, and you’re supposed to set Hi & Low before you even put the chain on the bike. bolt mech to bike, set Hi & Low!

serriously, you’ve probably pulled the cable too tight to start with so undo the clamp on the rear mech and start over. wind the barrel adjuster on the shifter out a couple of turns so you have something to work with. put shifter into highest gear. pull the cable through the mech but not too tight – that’s important! then fine tune with quarter turns.

Good tip. Forgot about this as I do it without thinking now.

When I was learning I used to have the barrel adjuster wound all the way in and would wonder why it would take me so long to set up a rear mech 😆

ok thanks all, i know my cannondale uses sram and it was alot easier , ill get there cheers 🙂

you’ll probably get the tension right eventually. usually takes a good few hours to set a shimano rear mech up.

Seriously? It shouldn’t even take a few minutes.

cant get chain off so have to do it with it on

+1 Kudos100

You don’t realise the things you do without thinking about them.

plus set the B adjust if the mech has one

Not willy waving but I can get mine setup from scratch in say 15 mins – 2 hours seems a long time – is it a new build or an old one and the hanger is very slightly off? I had a very sl. bent hanger and I thought it would be OK after I bent it back – I even bought a new mech – couldn’t get it indexed for the life of me so got a new hanger and hey presto 5 mins later perfect indexing – you shifter OK?

think ive sorted it, gona test ride it and see how it goes, its best ive had it all day, been at it for hours on end new cassette chain jockeys the lot lol, i cant stand messing with bikes i just ride em but wen it comes to maintenance my ocd kicks in lol

i built my bike the other night and didn’t have to even touch the barrel adjuster

I usually find that too, cable off, adjust the screw so it sits on the small ring fine, hand tighten the cable change up the gears adjust the other screw and usually its fine, at a push it’ll need a twist here and there at the shifter, but usually runs fine straight off, if there are shifting issues after that, it’s either: bent hanger, dirty cables or or worn cassette/chain(I check in that order too.).

nah it wont be worn chain or casette or bent hanger cause its a new chain and casette and jockets, and ive not banged the mech in anyway for it to be bent ive not fallen off any bad falls on this bike “yet” lol but just been out to test it and it seems fine uphills and downhills, underload seems fine as well so ill accept it as working, thx for the help, i shouldent have to ask on here cause ive done it all before but that was with sram so no problems lol, but then again its good to know if others have had the same problems so i can see what needs doing etc 🙂

Something to remember is cables stretch. Regardless of whether they are labled as pre-stretched on not.

To counter this I back off the top screw 1/8th turn. This stops you pushing against the screw at the extreme of shifting but should be not far enough to drop the chain over the back.

could be that the mech has a floppy cage?

It could be several culprits along the way, firstly I assume that the cables aren’t routed badly and that there are no kinks or sudden corners along the way?

The best option is to unbolt the cable from the mech, spin the cranks and let the gears change into the smallest sprocket. You should then pull the cable so that it’s straight and not sagging anywhere before you bolt up the rear mech again. It should be pretty much spot on.

If it’s still skipping then you need to ensure that the mech isn’t damaged in any way and doesn’t feel sloppy when you tension it by hand. Also, you should check the torque of the mech and hanger bolts too.

[edit] I run SLX shifters on one of my bikes, they’re slightly trickier to set up than SRAM, but are better than Shimano of old.

of course, my shimano comments were of a facetious nature.