Hey everyone, I dropped my bike off last week to a bike shop to replace a hanger.
I picked up the bike and went for a ride and noticed this started happening whenever I peddle backwards or when I’m pedaling fast and stop pedaling. (Not sure how better to describe this sorry).
I went back to the shop (REI since that’s where I bought the bike and originally thought I’d have a warranty claim). I showed the tech the issue and he told me it’s because my bearing aren’t greased and the momentum of the wheel makes the chain and gears stuck. He greased up the wheel for me after a little back and forth (trying to charge me for it), and the problem still keeps on happening. He told me they would need to further take apart the wheel and really grease everything up.
Today I also noticed the bike doesn’t shift into the lowest gear. I click the shifter and it clicks but nothing happens.
Does anyone know what’s going on? I want to have some sort of knowledge before I go back to REI. Or if this is an easy fix I can do at home.
TLDR: Went to REI to get a hanger replaced and now my gears seem out of line. REI tech told me it’s because my wheel isn’t greased but I think it’s more of a gear issue.
Just picked up my bike from the shop and this happens now, what is the issue?
byu/pawlisko inbikewrench
by pawlisko
9 Comments
Take it back Immediately
Looks like the rear derailuer needs to be properly aligned. Those REI techs don’t know what they’re doing. Go to a real bicycle shop or watch a few youtube videos on how to align the rear derailuer and do it yourself. Park Tool guys have decent videos.
Could be poor indexing…
Definitely not ghost shifting. Must be an alignment issue with the rear derailluer as the chain doesn’t stay in place.
Return it to the shop and tell them what happened.
limit screws not set and maybe derailleur alignment is off
Rear wheel hub too much thick grease. Tell them to use a lighter grease. Or else wipe and reduce the grease they applied.
After that, check the indexing.
I just had a similar issue when I “upgraded” to carbon wheels from my fast and reliable Mavic aluminum wheel set. The problem with the carbon wheels that was causing your exact issue was the dust seal that installs in the hub was rubbing way too much on the freehub causing the freehub to spin with the wheel especially on the smaller cogs. The fix was to pull the dust seal out (you have to remove the cassette and freehub) and bend it slightly outward so the rubber seal diameter would enlarge slightly so it wouldn’t create so much friction on the freehub. Problem solved! Hope my explanation made sense lol
Bottom stop needs to be screwed in a bit.
At the very minimum, the derailleur needs to be adjusted after a bent hanger replacement. A part of the hobby of cycling is learning to do all the maintenance yourself. Because a bike is very finicky. If you always want to ride as smoothly as possible, you can either become a dentist and visit a bike shop once a week or just learn to do it yourself.