Hi I am generally very handy but bikes have always vexed me. I was simply trying to tune up my daughter’s bike. When trying to get the rear shifter cable back into the guides I loosened the nut holding the rear derailleur cable . How do I lesson the tension to get it back into the nut to then tune the shifters? Thank you!
by Status-Actuary7570
3 Comments
Did you shift to highest gear? Then let deraileur “fall” to smallest gear, pedal to let this happen, then pull cable tight, tighten clamp and tune.
Go to the right-hand shifter on the handlebars and click as if you’re trying to shift onto the smallest cog on the cassette. Click 5-6 times. Pull on the cable while you click on the shifter.
make sure the RD shifter is set to the highest gear possible so that it’s not pulling on the cable and then check if you can turn the barrel adjuster/s clockwise to lower the tension further; generally you have one in the rear derailleur and one right beside the shifter, or somewhere in a housing down the frame. they’re these things:
https://preview.redd.it/ah8vflxo8eje1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ef03b6b8cf9207f3910aa2be001353a6af32ef1
once you get the cable clamped at the derailleur you can adjust tension as needed with em
if you can’t get the cable through after doing that then it might be worth it to just get a new shifter cable, they’re very cheap