Inherited this bike from a friend before he moved away, so i'm totally unfamiliar, and mechanical engineering has never been my strong suit. The front derailleur won't shift, and the cable for shifting has been dangling loose (friend says it's been like this since he was hit by a car while riding). The front shifter attempts to pull on the cable, but it doesn't move the derailleur (it moves when I push it manually, but doesn't stay in place). The rear shifter works just fine. Is there anything I can do? I primarily cycle on pavement so having the chain stuck on the small ring has made my commute a hassle.
Please ELI5 if possible, I cannot express how hopeless i am at things like this.
by fishmemeboi
7 Comments
First of all it’s covered in mud and grime. Try giving it a quick rinse off. The other thing I’m wondering is whether the cable is very loose. Is there any tension in it when you wiggle it?
Clean the bike off, then watch a Park Tool video on a front derailleur setup.
Looks like the bolt to tension the cable was loose, and the cable pulled out to the end. You will need to find that bolt, loosen it more, put some tension on the cable and re-tighten in. The video will explain how to tension the cable correctly
Off topic bur you want to cover your handlebar ends, those things can do serious tissue damage in a crash
Shift the lever to the smallest ring position, undo the cable clamp, pull it finger tight and tighten the clamp – that’s the starting point then after that you’re into small adjustments to get it perfect.
Probably worth a good clean too – that leafy stuff that accumulates this time of year can really gum up the mechanism.
https://preview.redd.it/0v4kuhprmbuf1.png?width=1079&format=png&auto=webp&s=805fe6ad7fc1dbac9d83aec8b3a4837e5d629070
Do not adjust anything, do not tighten the cable. The cable housing has come out of the cable stop on the frame. Pull the smaller shift lever to shift into gear 1, then follow the directions in this picture.
Looks like the cable is just loose. Before you do anything clean that thing up with some water and and old toothbrush. At the shifter there is a plastic bit where the cable meets the shifter, turn that all the way to the right, then back out 2-3 clicks. That bit is called a “barrel adjuster” it’s for fine tuning the tension on the cable if your than is skipping when it should be going to a larger cog turn it counter clockwise, if the chain struggles to drop to a smaller cog turn it clockwise to release some tension. Clockwise = more tension, like you’re trying to shift to bigger cog and counter clockwise = less tension like you’re shifting to a smaller cog.
Looking at the first picture I see a screw and a washer/plate under it on the left of the cable, the cable is meant to go under that plate. Back the screw out just enough to feed the cable under the plate, use pliers to grab the cable (not by the cap it will slip) and apply tension(just enough so there’s no slack) to the cable and tighten the screw back up to hold it in place. Should be good to go. Don’t mess with the screws labeled L and H unless the chain is dropping off the smallest/largest cog when you shift, those are limiting screws that should prevent that from happening.
I hope that makes sense, this is a second language for me so I struggle sometimes.
https://preview.redd.it/c77cjq71obuf1.jpeg?width=939&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=128aa72daf43b46e4bc74dd7c2c2a2330c42cad6
At first try 2 easy steps:
1. Put the shift cable housing where it belongs. See attached picture. There is an endstop on the top tube where it’s supposed to be. To do so put the shift lever for the front derailleur on the smallest gear. You should need to pull a little to get it in there, don’t loosen any bolts or the tension adjuster on the shift lever because you will loose your indexing adjustment
2. Clean your derailleur and try shifting
Now at least there should be motion on the derailleur, if not there might be not enough tension on the cable or something mechanically stuck. Let me know know what’s going on and we can proceed from there (or have a look on YouTube how to dial in a derailleur)