The black tube and nut act as a barrel adjuster, but the shifter is old so I can't tell if the cable is correctly adjusted and just the shifter doesn't feel nice or if the tension is wrong…. Never adjusted an IGH before. Tips? Thanks!
by AnyBarnacle9287
3 Comments
Are you pedalling while shifting? You mustn’t do that with hub gears and that might be why the shifter doesn’t ‘feel nice’.
> The black tube and nut act as a barrel adjuster
That’s not the adjuster. The knurled cylinder connecting the cable to the chain is your adjuster.
Sheldon Brown does a good job of explaining cable adjustment on these things [here](https://www.sheldonbrown.com/sturmey-archer_tech.html#adjustment).
First step is to set the lever to the gear that corresponds to the lowest tension (for mine, that‘s third gear). Then set the barrel adjuster to slight tension. Now shift the other two positions and observe the pull chain. Does it move roughly the same amount on both shifts?
If it doesn‘t, look at which steps there is little movement. If there is little movement between the slackest and medium position, the tension is too slack. If there is little movement between the medium and the tightest position, or if it‘s very hard to move the lever to the tightest position, the tension is too tight.
If everything feels sluggish and gears don‘t seem to „click“ into place properly, the grease inside the internal gear mechanism may be gummed up. In that case, remove the pull chain (disconnect barrel adjuster and remove black plastic cover first). Typically these pull chains screw out if you rotate them counterclockwise like a propeller. Then pull out the pin attached to the chain that goes into the hub. You can now lay the bike on its side and drip or spray some lube into the hollow axle (if it‘s really gummed up, it may be a good idea to use some WD40 first).
After relubing the hub, put the pull chain back in, adjust tension as described, actuate the mechanism several times. I also recommend riding around immediately and shifting back and forth to move the mechanisms and loosen everything up properly. Now the shifting should be much improved.