Trying to refurb an old schwinn. Using original suntour hero with friction thumb shifters.
Started with RD on smallest cog and front on biggest chain ring. Set hi limit visually close to smallest cog. Tensioned cable. Can shift to bigger gears and can shift down, but the thumb shifter runs out of return travel before the RD moves to the smallest cog. I can shift up and back down when i am in the small chainring, so I don’t think it is a limit thing. Have tried different tension settings with no luck.
Would originally have used a 5 speed, I have a 7 speed freewheel on there now.
The RD definitely looks a little wonky but I can’t tell it it is the hanger or the cage or both. Did not notice before I put it back on.
Any suggestions? I am stumped as to why it works well in small chainring and not large one.
Thanks!
by BikeBeerBird
2 Comments
To add, I have tried it with the hi limit pretty much all the way out, still with no luck.
Song lyric of the moment: ‘Old, tired bent and busted, a dirty old mech and it cant be trusted”
Looks like it is bent out of alignment. Derailleur alignment is required, which may be fun with that direct mount derailleur if the mount bolt isnt standard thread. May have to do it by eye which takes quite a bit of practice to get good at.
Fixing rental shop bikes is one way to master the align by eye method.